a week into the hols

Finally got hold of Kane's Wrath early in the holidays. Got to play it, so finally I can comment on the units and factions.

ZOCOM: The faction obsessed with sonics. Zone Raiders with sonic rifles, ZOCOM Orcas with sonic shells. No artillery, and Zone Shatterers don't count as good artillery substitutes. Aircraft without Hardpoints upgrade, so not very powerful. Oh yeah, Mammoths don't have Railguns upgrade, so not as powerful as they can be.

Steel Talons: Old school, they like the Titans and Wolverines from Tiberian Sun. Their artillery can be garrisoned, so the Behemoths aren't that vulnerable to Commandos. The only thing is that the Steel Talons don't have advanced infantry like the Commando, Sniper Team or the Zone Troopers, so they are a little short handed on strong infantry. I like the Mobile Repair Transports personally, because of the instant repair facilities during battle.

Black Hand: Purifying Flame makes the Black Hand's Black Hand infantry stronger, but the lack of stealth negates the Black Hand's advantages [thus no Stealth Tanks, no stealthed Spectres]. Also, no aircraft at all, so they have a big disadvantage in that area. Although they can call for 2 Commandos, they still aren't a match for real players, since their Commandos aren't stealthed.

Marked of Kane: Kane's cyborg troops, they are supposed to be a good early game faction, due to the EMP blasts that The Awakened and The Enlightened can unleash. Considered to be stronger than other Nod factions.

Reaper 17: Stronger version of normal Scrin. No Mastermind, so it's comparable to the Steel Talons. Reaper Tripods can convert Tiberium into extra power for their weapons, and Seekers get a Blue Shards upgrade. Increased attack damage for the Reaper units in this way. However, the Reapers don't have Devastators or PACs, so their main strength [and weakness] is in their ground forces.

Traveler 59: Less powerful than the Reapers, they use mainly mind control to take over enemy forces to counter their own kind. The Prodigy [souped up Mastermind] can do too much in the way of mind control, and the Travelers have a group Mastermind in the form of the Cultists. However, the focus on infantry for the Travelers means that their ground forces are not so powerful. Their Tripods cannot upgrade the Forcefields, so this means that Travelers are quite reliant on their mind control abilities.

Kane's Wrath is quite fun now that Nod is a good faction due to the Black Hand and the Marked appearing. Oh well, back to playing Kane's Wrath and global conquesting.