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Command & Conquer
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==Gameplay== One of the quintessential titles of the modern [[Real-time strategy video games|real-time strategy]] [[genre]],<ref name="C&CRTSInfluence" /><ref name="HistoryofRTS" /><ref name="RTSPrimerArticle" /><ref name="ccorigins" /> ''Command & Conquer{{'}}s'' gameplay mechanics will typically require the player to construct a base and then acquire a flow of resources, in order to fund the ongoing production of various forces to assault and conquer the opponent's base. ''Command & Conquer'' features around 50 different units and structures.<ref name="ccfaq" /> Virtually every type of structure in the game acts as a [[tech tree]] node, and additional units, structures and special abilities become available to the player as new structures are built and placed. Access to advanced units and abilities can be temporarily blocked if the required structures are destroyed, or if they are not being provided with adequate power by the supporting "power plant" structures. All structures available to the player are built on-site at a "construction yard" building, which can either be already deployed on the battlefield as the mission starts or begin as a large-sized [[mobile construction vehicle]] ("MCV"), which is capable of deploying itself into a construction yard at a suitable location of the player's choice. As a structure is being constructed, resources will steadily be deducted from the player's credits counter until construction is completed. When the construction yard has finished building the new structure, the player can select a spot next to a pre-existing structure in order to place it, where the prefabricated building will rapidly begin unfolding in a distinctive manner. Base defense is provided by specialized defensive structures, as well as fortification in the form of sandbags, wire fences and concrete walls. Later on in the game, the player can build lethal defensive structures like guard towers with machine guns or rockets, gun turrets, or the iconic "Obelisk of Light" of the [[Brotherhood of Nod]]. While the two sides largely mirror each other in regards to [[tech tree]]s and unit types, each has a distinct strategic preference. [[Global Defense Initiative|GDI]] units are intended to be sturdy and are often more powerful than their [[Brotherhood of Nod|Nod]] counterparts, at the cost of being more expensive and having slower movement. GDI forces also have access to air and naval support. Stationary defenses include the guard tower and missile armed advanced guard tower which can engage ground and air targets. Conversely, Nod's units are cheap and fast, at the cost of withstanding less punishment. Nod forces are made to avoid direct engagement as much as possible, relying on hit-and-run tactics, active camouflage and guerrilla warfare to gain the advantage. Nod also has access to limited air support and naval support. Stationary defenses include the anti-tank gun turret, the Obelisk of Light laser guard towers and the surface-to-air missile (SAM) site. [[Tiberium]], the game's sole resource (except for the occasional money crate), is acquired by specialized "harvester" units which bring their cargo to a "refinery" structure and which in turn will convert the crystals into usable resources, expressed as credits. The Tiberium itself requires storage space in the form of "refineries" and, in the case of excess, "storage silo" facilities. Deposits of Tiberium are able to slowly regenerate and proliferate on the battlefield if not depleted beforehand, and can also cause nearby plant life to mutate itself into so-called "Blossom Trees". Blossom Trees seed Tiberium spores to their surroundings, and once one or several are present on the battlefield Tiberium deposits will regenerate themselves on the map indefinitely. ===Single-player=== ''Command & Conquer'' features two story-driven single-player campaigns which together consist of a total of 50 missions.<ref name="ccfaq" /> The player is required to complete about 15 missions as either GDI or Nod to end a single-player campaign successfully, however the missions can differ depending on the route of conquest the player takes throughout the campaign, which allows for a higher replay value with each playthrough.<ref name="ccfaq" /> Most of the mission briefings in the single-player campaigns are presented in the form of a [[full-motion video]] which features live actors, with the two campaigns together having over 60 minutes worth of FMV material.<ref name="ccfaq" /> Campaign mission objectives range from complete destruction of enemy forces to selective destruction, special operations or objective defense. Some of the missions of ''C&C'' first innovated various twists to the standard RTS single-player formula such as limited or no base building, and mission-specific rewards for goal completion. A common bonus reward for the GDI faction for example is the availability of the "Airstrike" power after the destruction of all SAM sites on the map, though if the computer is GDI, airstrikes would be available to it from the beginning of the mission, regardless of any anti-air missiles the player possesses. In almost every mission in the single player campaigns(except the first three of each one), the computer is given a huge resource advantage over the player, and always starts out with fully operational bases with all structures already built, and armies ready to attack from the beginning of a mission. The player however, usually starts out with nothing but an MCV and a handful of troops, and has to build everything from scratch, thus making the first ten minutes of a mission the most difficult. The computer also has an advantage in unit and building costs. It costs the computer 10 times less than the human player to construct or train any unit or building, meaning the computer has almost unlimited resources. For example, the computer can sell a barracks, and from the money brought in by that alone, it can build another barracks, an Obelisk, and a Tiberium refinery. The computer also has the ability to construct buildings anywhere on the map except near the player's own initial base, whereas the player cannot construct any buildings except in very close proximity to his other buildings. And of course the computer has the known advantage of speed and micromanagement, it can give a hundred orders in a second to all units on the map at the same time, whereas the player can only handle one selection at a time. All this, and many other computer advantages, serve to make the campaigns more challenging and give more playing time. The computer does have a disadvantage though, it attacks in small groups instead of committing all of its forces at the same time like the player. There are multiple ways to finish off an enemy in the single-player missions. The most costly is an all out assault relying on superior numbers, which often results in huge unit loss for the player, and if the attempt is failed the computer could easily fully recover with its cost and resource advantages, while it would be very difficult for the player to build another sizable force to replace the original. Another method, which is often very effective, is to stay away from the enemy base, while constantly attacking and destroying the enemy's harvesters(which the computer would continually construct in large numbers) until it is completely bled out of resources and is unable to build anymore, resulting at that point in giving the player time to take out the computer's base defenses and units slowly and with care until the computer is finally defeated. The fastest and often silliest method to win is to pack an APC(only available in the GDI campaign) with engineers, and steer it past enemy defenses; with its fast speed it is only vulnerable to obelisks; then unload it inside the enemy base and instantly capture all buildings in sight(with first priority being to capture the construction yard so that the computer can't rebuild any of the buildings it loses), thus completing a mission in a few minutes. But this method requires lots of saving and loading until it finally works. Five "secret" missions are included on the ''Command & Conquer'' [[CD-ROM]]s, and can be accessed by providing the word ''funpark'' as a command line parameter. In the original [[DOS]] release, ''Command & Conquer: The Covert Operations'' [[expansion pack]] (which automatically updated the base game version to 1.20) was required to access these missions. The DOS ''C&C'' 1.22 patch also unlocks the <code>funpark</code> parameter and the 'Untamed Land' track. According to the release notes of patch 1.02 of the ''[[Command & Conquer: The First Decade]]'' compilation pack:<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://web.archive.org/web/20070321030241rn_1/www.ea.com/official/cc/firstdecade/us/news.jsp?src=Patch102&ncc=1 | title=Command & Conquer The First Decade Patch 1.02 Release Notes | accessdate=April 2006 | publisher=Electronic Arts }}</ref> {{Cquote| ''Creating a shortcut for Command & Conquer and adding on 'funpark -cd.' (without quotes) to the end of the 'Target' will allow the funpark missions to be accessed when the user selects 'New Game' from the Command & Conquer in game menu.''}} Note that the <code>-cd.</code> parameter is added to activate the game's inbuilt No-CD system, which is used by the First Decade compilation pack. ===Multi-player=== The original [[DOS]] release features multiplayer with up to four players, which was a rarity at the time,<ref name="C&CRTSInfluence" /> and supports play over network, [[w:c:pc:Null MODEM|null modem]] and [[w:c:pc:MODEM|modem]].<ref name="ccfaq" /> Multiplayer over an internet connection was added in the ''Gold Edition''/''Windows 95 Edition'' release of ''Command & Conquer'', which sports several other improvements over the original DOS version.<ref>{{Cite web | url=http://www.gamespot.com/pc/strategy/commandconquergoldedition/review.html | title=Command & Conquer Gold Edition for PC Review | author=Stephen Poole | accessdate=27 December 2006 | publisher=Gamespot| date=1997-04-16}}</ref> As a result of changes to the [[IPX]] protocol libraries for the [[Windows XP]] and [[Windows 2000]] environments, however, network play through this method has been rendered unavailable, except for matches that are played over parallel or serial link. [[Westwood Studios]] released a patch that disabled the game's [[LAN]] function to prevent the malfunctioning protocol from crashing the game on startup. This problem was later solved when an alternative version of the patch was released by a community member.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20080604005108/http://www.understorm.net/cnc/lan/cnc95_ra1.php |title=Understorm: Command & Conquer 95 and Red Alert 1 LAN Patch |publisher=Web.archive.org |accessdate=2010-03-15}}</ref> The patch converts the game's network traffic to the [[w:c:pc:User Datagram Protocol|UDP]] protocol. Despite the fact the combination of the community-controlled [[XWIS]] servers and the unofficial network patch enabled online play again, the method to start a game through an external application remains tedious, and the system only supports 2-player games. Several attempts have been made to enhance and facilitate multiplayer gaming. In 2009, an anonymous community member calling himself "CnCNetServer" released the CnCNet [http://cncnet.cnc-comm.com/] application for this purpose. It works with a server which sends the game's packets to all other players that are logged in, but which intercepts and replaces packets so the game uses online IP addresses in its LAN player list. The game then runs a normal LAN game, the only difference being that the opponents are online.
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