It's been a while since the last blog post, but today I'll be delving into my ideas for expanding on the Marked of Kane, Nod's newest cybernetic army.
The Marked of Kane was the brainchild project of Kane himself, desiring an emotionless army that was unquestionably loyal to him and the Brotherhood's cause. Building off the partial success of Project Re-Genesis from the First Tiberium War, Nod scientists in hidden facilities in Central Asia began their research to fulfill Kane's desire. While sister projects managed to yield some success with the TWII-era Cyborgs & Cyborg Commando (and, by extension, the Cyborg Reaper), the loss of the war, along with the unexpected CABAL Uprising, resulted in Nod's usage of cyborgs being abandoned, and the MoK project being delayed until its reactivation in 2052.
The Marked of Kane project's extensive usage of cybernetics and Tiberium-based technology and weaponry makes them a fascinating addition to Nod, and expanding on them further is what I'm going to attempt here.
Part 1 - Infantry
1) Replacing the Militia Rocket Squad with a new cyborg equivalent. Seriously, a cyborg army that uses poncho-wearing militants armed with RPG-7s? Not going to happen here. Replacement unit may end up looking like a modified form of the Awakened, perhaps with some influences from the (ugh) C&C4 Ascended unit. I'll probably draw up a concept art for it at some point. EDIT: Here it is.
2) Use KaneNash's design for the Enlightened (Design in question is this one here). His design looks nicer than the original one, so why not?
3) Improve the Tiberium Trooper's art design a bit. The overall design is fine, it's just that there's a few things I find... off about it. It's probably the fuel tanks' size, or the awkwardly-shaped sprayer weapon, or maybe the helmet visor just doesn't look right. Just some minor adjustments to improve it a little bit.
4) Replace the Shadow Team with Twisted Insurrection's Infector unit. TI's Infector infantry look to be a perfect fit for the Marked of Kane: cybernetically-enhanced, Tiberium-mutated, and unquestionably loyal to Kane - plus, they are armed with a Tiberium-based sniper rifle! Incidentally, Tiberian Essence is going for a similar unit in the next version, oddly enough (did Carnius get the idea from TI too? Huh).
5) Giving the Marked of Kane a unique Commando - the Chemical Maiden. Rise of Omnius's Chemical Maiden seems like another perfect fit for the Marked of Kane. The unique part of this addition would be the Maiden's main weapon: a Liquid Tiberium-fueled shoulder-mounted laser cannon (ala Halo's Spartan Laser). The weapon would have two functions: the laser cannon itself, which would be for anti-tank and anti-aircraft duties, while an integrated underbarrel chemical sprayer uses the cannon's Liquid-T fuel for anti-infantry purposes; the weapon cannot use both systems at the same time, however, so players would have to switch between them manually.
6) Replace the Secret Shrine (aka Shrine of Nod) with Twisted Insurrection's Hall of Faith. I rather like the design, and it looks like a Secret Shrine-esque building, so why not give it to the Marked of Kane?
Part 2 - Vehicles
1) Give the Marked of Kane a new Scorpion Tank design. I'm giving the Black Hand their own version, so why not give the MoK one as well? Conceptually, I'm thinking of something that's a fusion between TI's Scorpion Tank and the Tiberium FPS Scorpion Tank.
2) Replacing the Flame Tank's empty slot with the Cyborg Reaper. Namely, ErastusMercy's Mark II version. This not only gives the MoK a Flame Tank-esque unit to use, but also brings back the TS Cyborg Reaper, now new and improved.
3) Giving the MoK the TI Demolition Drone. I'm referencing a lot of Twisted Insurrection's stuff here, aren't I? Anyways, the Demolition Drone seems like another good fit for the MoK, being an unmanned AI-controlled rolling bomb. One small addition I would make to it, however would be something like the GLA Demo Truck upgrades from Generals - three bomb upgrades to choose from: 1) a bigger high-explosive charge, 2) a Tiberium-based bomb (available only with a Tiberium Chemical Plant present), or 3) a Tactical Nuke (available only with a Temple of Nod present).
4) A new unit: the Phantom Missile Launcher. It's basically supposed to be a Specter Artillery variant, but with a twist to it: instead of the standard artillery cannon, it has a missile tube loaded with a Chemical Missile. Think of this unit as a fusion between the Specter and the MEC2 Gehenna.
5) Replacing the vNod Stealth Tank with Reign of Steel's Chameleon Stealth Tank. The Chameleon looks the part of a next-generation stealth tank, so therefore it would definitely be something that the Marked of Kane would use. A custom twist of my own devising: using a similar Tiberium Absorption ability that the Scrin Devourer Tank uses, the Chameleon can absorb Tiberium to power two new abilities: 1) an advanced Nano-Repair function, to heal itself with, or 2) a Tiberium Vapor canister launcher, which launches Tib-Vapor gas around the tank, lethally poisoning infantry and inflict crippling damage to vehicles or structures. Both cannot be used at the same time, however, as they both consume the entire absorption charge during each use, so be careful.
6) A new Avatar variant called the Sentinel Warmech. This idea was based off the Avatar system that Tiberian Essence used in an earlier version (the upgrades to the Avatar were named "Purifier" and "Sentinel"). The Sentinel here would be using a similar weapons loadout that its TE counterpart used (I recall it using a anti-aircraft laser and a stealth system).
Part 3 - Aircraft
1) The return of the Banshee Fighter. Pretty much the only change in aircraft for the Marked of Kane, but a pretty powerful change at that.
Additional Notes
1) The missile warhead upgrade for the MoK would be the "Tiberium Core Warheads", and would be exclusive to them only. Additionally, the MoK laser upgrade would be the "Tiberium Particle Beam", mixing both the original "Charged Particle Beam" and "Supercharged Particle Beam" upgrades from KW, cutting down on the redundancy. Both the "Tiberium Core Warheads" upgrade and the "Tiberium Particle Beam" upgrade would be available at the Tech Lab.
2) This idea's still pending, but another potential Tech Lab upgrade would be changing the Liquid-T fuel that the Tiberium Trooper and Cyborg Reaper uses from the standard "Green" Tiberium to the "Blue" Tiberium. This change in Liquid-T fuel I'm currently dubbing "Cerulean Mist".
----------------------------------------------------
That concludes the Marked of Kane so far, the only remaining problem left so far would be finding new faction-specific upgrades for them, a similar problem I'm running into with the Black Hand, as I've mentioned before.
Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments are welcome. Some of the things I referenced here, such as pretty much everything Twisted Insurrection-related, are all property of their respective owners, and no attempts to use mentioned materials will be made unless permission is given.
