The question of Liquid Tiberium

[Meyerm]

Liquid Tiberium. It's green, it's toxic, and it's very explosive.

It's explosive element is exactly what this thread is about. The GDI ion cannon strike on Temple Prime detonated a large liquid T. explosion that ultimately lured the Scrin to Earth. We also know that Nod destroyed a Liquid Tiberium research facility in Australia in 2034 (KW). However, is the glowing green liquid seen in tiberium refineries not liquid tiberium? I know for balancing reasons they chose not to turn refineries into giant stationary bombs, but is there a logical in-universe reason why destroying a TW3-era refinery doesn't cause a massive explosion? My only possible theory is that it's some kind of slurry mixing solid tiberium with other, non-corruptable chemicals (if that's possible.) Any other theories out there?

[Lauren]

I guess the structure of Liquid T is just different than what we see in the Refineries. It's liquid, yes, but that could just they are breaking down the crystals into that.

[Revanchist]

Essentially, yes. Think of it this way:

Liquid Tiberium is Tiberium that is naturally liquid.

The liquid in the refineries is Tiberium that is being smelted or otherwise broken down. They are removing the minerals from crystal Tiberium that is not naturally a fluid. It hasn't gained it's explosive properties yet.

[Kyang]

Kane also mentioned that Liquid T needed a certain amount of energy to detonate the way it did. Hence his plan to get GDI to fire an Ion cannon on Temple Prime. Why he didn't simply hijack the network isn't explained.

[WeedWhacker92]

Kane also mentioned that Liquid T needed a certain amount of energy to detonate the way it did. Hence his plan to get GDI to fire an Ion cannon on Temple Prime. Why he didn't simply hijack the network isn't explained.

Probably the same reason for why Nod had made false news reports of GDI attacking civilians in Tib Dawn: to sway the public to their cause.

[Lauren]

Kane also mentioned that Liquid T needed a certain amount of energy to detonate the way it did. Hence his plan to get GDI to fire an Ion cannon on Temple Prime. Why he didn't simply hijack the network isn't explained.
What network? I guess you confuse TW with TT here.

[Kyang]

What network? I guess you confuse TW with TT here.

The GDI ASAT network. That orbital grid of Ion Cannons they had defending the Philadelphia.

One of the Nod missions involved conquering the command center for the ASAT grid. But instead of commandeering it, and detonating the Liquid Tib at Temple Prime right then and there, at the same time they could destroy the Philadelphia, they just destroyed the commander center, fired a separate nuke to destroy the Philadelphia, and then went through a whole convoluted invasion of GDI to bait them to use their Ion Cannons, which they had to wait for, while GDI restored control of the Ion Cannons.

It got the job done, but in a convoluted and stretched out way. Some genius Kane was.

[stephanovich]

I assume because GDI could show it was Nod and they would lose support for killing millions of their own?

[Stygs]

Because by the time they captured the ASAT network, Kane didnt know he would need the Ion Cannon to detonate the bomb.

If you play the Nod campaing, there is a old guy that tells Kane that they have no idea how to detonate it - while it is never stated what he is talking about, its obvious that he is refering to the LT bomb.
However, I think this was later retconned in KW...

[Lauren]

I don't think it was retconned. It was stated Kane needed a guy like Boyle as Commander in Chief because of his ultimate task: to retake the Tacitus. With the other leaders still alive Kane's plans might have been impossible because of better decision making.
My guess is they searched for another option to create the detonation because it's still a big loss of Nod forces. Having the Ion Cannon to destroy Temple Prime seemed more like a backup plan. Also Ion Cannon shooting on a seemingly unimportant position to detonate a huge bomb... not easy to present that to the public. Additionally it has to look like Kane dies with it for GDI letting their Guard down to not instantly crush the incoming Scrin forces.

[Kyang]

I assume because GDI could show it was Nod and they would lose support for killing millions of their own?

Those millions could be somewhere else in the first place. After all, Kane has had years to work out a plan from the end of TS, through KW.


--------------------------------------------

After reading the other posts:

The implication that Kane apparently didn't know how to detonate the LT, and using the Ion Cannon was a backup plan just shows that he's making things up as he goes along, lol.

Some super plan.

The lore is pretty solid, but the plot seems like such a mess, I really would like a reboot.

[Zocom7]

Isn't Tiberium crystallized, liquified or both?

(FYI, looking for the term "one cup of Tiberium" winds up getting over 150,000 results in Google. http://forums.cncnz.com/public/style_emoticons/default/ohmy.gif)