The Scorpion Hunters

"Hang in there Recon 1, we're sending a Commando."

- Adam Locke

The Scorpion Hunters is the first mission in, where GDI searches for a hidden Nod installation.

Background
GDI Intelligence has received reports of an uncharted Nod installation. As the storms interfere with satellite scans, Eagle Base dispatches a reconnaissance team, Recon One, to investigate.

Events
As Recon One drives through the desert, they are suddenly ambushed by Nod forces. In response, Eagle Base sends Captain Nick "Havoc" Parker to assist the team, via a Transport Helicopter. He is deployed near Recon One's position. With Havoc's arrival, the tide quickly turnsin GDI's favor, and soon the initial Nod ambush force is wiped out. Engineers arrive and repair the last surviving GDI vehicle - a.

A destroyed Nod is demolished by the Engineers, allowing the remaining elements of Recon One to proceed, with reinforcements in the form of a Humvee. Shortly after, a Nod is located and quickly destroyed. After disabling two Nod s, Recon One discovers the Nod installation, confirming its existence. Unfortunately, the pointman Humvee gets fried by the Obelisk of Light when it came too close to it.

An ORCA Assault Craft is sent in, but s made the attempt futile, shooting it down. When the SAMs are destroyed by Havoc, an A-10 flies in, but suffers the same fate as the Orca earlier.

Unwilling to risk any more pilots, Eagle Base radios in that they will not be sending in anymore aircraft and ordered an Ion Cannon strike on the facility. The base is destroyed, allowing GDI to capture and dissect the base computers for intel.

Aftermath
GDI forces captures the base and intercepts Nod records. While most of it was not important, there is one recording of a transmission between members of the Black Hand. This leads to the discovery of Black Hand operations in Latin America, which in turn sparked a major GDI campaign.

Walkthrough
After you gain control, move directly to your left to pick up some Automatic Rifle ammo. There's another magazine straight ahead of you. (Note: THe Automatic Rifle magazines in your starting position respawn, so you can stock up on ammuinition for the firefight ahead, although it's not really necessary.) Move forward with the Engineers and you will see a Black Hand sniper directly in front of you on some rocks, and another one on a small cliff a little above and to the right (from your point of view). Resist the urge to pepper their heads with Automatic Rifle 6.8 lead, and use your pistol instead, because for some reason, these Black Hand die from a single shot anywhere to the body. Put a single 9mm bullet from your pistol into their heads, and countinue (a pity you can't pick up their Sniper Rifles. Fight off the Nod soldiers on the cliffs above you. There's a small spot underneath a cliff to your right as you come in, by the APC. There's a respawning Automatic Rifle magazine, a large health and a large armor pickup here. Restock as you see fit. Take out as many Nod soldiers as you can. Eventually, a Rocket Soldier will come out of one of the caves and destroy the GDI APC. He's invincible, so don't bother wasting ammuinition on him unless you want to increase your accuracy status. Make sure to stay clear of his rockets when they detonate. A Nod Transport Helicopter will soon arrive and two Nod soldiers will rappel down. Try to kill them before they hit solid ground. Another Nod chopper will arrive. Either the Rocket Launcher Officer with you will shoot it down, or he won't shoot or shoot but miss, and flamethrower troopers will rappel down, Kill them before they land. They won't drop any flamethrowers, though.

Nod has been repelled, and GDI engineers arrive and repair the destroyed Medium Tank which you should have noticed by now. Once it's repaired, hop in, and a destroyed Light Tank will be cleared by the Engineers. Follow the path. A GDI Humvee will be dropped in front of you, so follow it. There will be a Nod Harvester, a Nod Buggy, several soldiers, and two Turrets. Kill the Buggy, and then the turrets if you want (if you don't, a fellow Medium Tank will take care of them). Simply squish the soldiers. Ignore the Nod Transport Helicopter that is dropping off troops on a cliff above the Tiberium field; it can be damaged, but not enough to destroy it before it takes off. Follow the Humvee again, and you will stumble across a Nod base. The Humvee will be incinerated by the Obelisk, but don't worry, it won't target you. There are three Nod vehicles, a Mobile Artillery, a Light Tank, and a Buggy. Take care of them in that order, and then knock out the SAM sites. Kill off any remaining opposition. There should be two Nod soldiers behind some sandbags and a Gun Emplacement on the wall in the distance. Now, this part is very important. Drive up to the wall of barbed wire seperating you from the canal which the Nod base is across. When you can't go any further, exit your tank. There are two Rocket Launchers here, lying along the wire. Pick them up. Otherwise, you won't get any until Mission 3. Make sure to get both. Then sit back and watch the Ion Cannon blast the Nod installation into oblivion.

Trivia

 * If you can reach the Obelisk and wait for the Orca to crash into it before the Humvee can be destroyed, the Humvee will be spared but you still have to protect it from enemy gunfire.