Background

If there is one defining characteristic that distinguishes the battlefields of the previous Tiberium Wars from the war zones of today, it is the ubiquitous presence of beam weapons. Kane altered the field of battle forever when he unleashed his terrifying Obelisk of Light in the first conflicts between Nod and GDI, but it took decades to develop power supplies strong enough to sustain heavy beam weapons on mobile platforms. Beam weapons are especially effective at penetrating thick armor, making them strategically crucial in a combat environment full of heavy, slow, thick-skinned crawlers.

GDI Central Command was forced to develop entire strategies around the Crawler once it took the field. Despite its thick armor, it is a slow moving, large target for Nod's hit and run strike teams. Escorts became crucial, protecting the Crawler as though it was a naval flag ship. Mammoth tanks provided excellent fire support, but remained vulnerable to the same laser weapons which already were so well suited to piercing the Crawler’s skin. The Refractor was developed to create a shield specifically tuned to counteracting the penetrating qualities of heavy laser weapons. The new design replaced the Mammoth’s signature dual-cannon with a thick laser-resistant shield and a heavy ion cannon style laser of its own. For the first time, GDI was able to field a heavy vehicle that could assault the iconic Obelisk of Light without incurring severe damage. The Refractor’s first trial by fire was and immediate success.

Several Orcas were brought down during a severe dust storm during an assault on a Nod position at the Battle of Gerlach Flats, where the prototype Refractors were initially fielded. The pilots were stranded in zero visibility as the sand began to bury them within range of a line of Obelisks of Light. They were doomed to be buried alive if the storm persisted, or fried by the dreaded laser-towers if the storm abated and revealed their position. Quick thinking GDI commanders deployed four Refractors to create a wall, shielding the half-buried Orcas from the Obelisks while Engineers extracted the pilots. The winds died down before the Engineers had finished their work, revealing the position of the GDI extraction team. The Obelisks opened fire, but the Refractor’s laser-reflecting shields bounced the beams directly back at their sources. Before long the Obelisks were destroyed, and the Refractors seized the moment. They dropped their front shields and rushed ahead, blasting away at the Nod installation with intense beam fire. The tide was turned, and the pilots safely evacuated.

Since then Refractors have become standard issue for any assault on an entrenched Nod position. They can be seen alongside Mammoth and Mastodon attack elements, as well as in defense of front-line crawlers. Attempts have been made to apply the technology to smaller vehicles, but the weight of the shields has so far precluded any successful efforts. For now, the Refractor plays a unique role in the GDI arsenal.

Battlefield Specifications

Beamed Down

The heart of every battle force is the Crawler, and the most dangerous threat to a Crawler is the armor-piercing beam weapon, also known as an ion beam or laser. The Refractor is equipped with a single high-yield ion beam capable of disintegrating large targets. In most cases Refractors are deployed to knock out unreinforced structures, such as bunkers or Obelisks, as well as hostile Crawlers. Some Nod Crawlers are outfitted with laser weapons of their own, so the Refractor is the ideal choice for direct action, approaching with reflective shields before finishing off the target with concentrated ion beams. Refractors can also serve an anti-air role against roving Nod Basilisks, deflecting incoming fire while answering in kind.

Shields Up

The Refractor’s iconic reflective shield is a marvel of engineering. It is constructed with several layers of material, each serving a different defensive application. The outermost layer is a crystal-lattice sustained by an electromagnetic field. Solid weapons may pass through the crystal layer, which is then immediately reconstructed by the energy field, as though a pebble had just passed through water. This allows the reflective portion of the shield to remain effective even after repeated projectile impacts. Next is a honey-comb alloy heavy armor built to resist kinetic force and heat-based weaponry. Most conventional weapons simply bounce off this ultra-hard layer of armor. The final layer in the shield plate is an 18-inch thick metal composite which absorbs any remaining incoming fire. This layer is extremely heavy, so the Refractor is built upon a Mammoth chassis to support the weight.

Mirror Coat

Nod’s scientists never rest, so GDI must constantly improve its combat hardware. The shield plate of the Refractor can be outfitted with Mirror Coating, an electromagnetic field that acts like a layer of plasma, magnetically fused to the crystal layer of the shield. The coating requires immense power, so additional capacitors are supplied to allow for a temporary effect which allows the Refractor to deflect all incoming fire for a short period of time, whereupon the batteries must recharge. In this state the electromagnetic field can be manipulated by a targeting computer to split incoming laser fire and reflect back at multiple hostile targets. When the Mirror Coat is active a single Refractor can stand against many aggressors with little to no damage to itself.