Incursion War

The Incursion War (also known as Tiberium Control Network Conflict or TCN Conflict) was fought between GDI and anti-Kane Nod Separatists in the period between the Third and Fourth Tiberium Wars. The main point of conflict was the far-flung Tiberium Control Network (TCN) that was under construction. The binary pressures of defending the TCN and pursuing the Separatists prompted GDI to reorganize into three branches: Offense, Defense, and Support. This was made possible by the introduction of the Crawler MCV, the next generation MCV. Within a year of the reorganization, GDI defeated the rebels.

History
With the loss of the Tacitus in 2052, GDI's reclamation efforts were horribly set back and nearly halted. Moreover, as a second result of the Liquid Tiberium explosion at Temple Prime, Tiberium had undergone another mutation, rendering resonator technology obsolete and without effect. Without any form of resistance, Tiberium rampaged across the planet, covering the Earth, and making most of it a Red Zone, causing GDI to resort to desperate measures, namely after a visit by Kane: an alliance with the Brotherhood.

GDI began TCN construction in 2062 and was almost immediately assailed by Nod Separatists. The first shot of the war occurred in that year with a Separatist invasion of the city of Paris, within Blue Zone 11, killing thousands of civilians and destroying the entire GDI First Fleet. GDI forces were spread thin defending the network.

During the war, Gideon, leader of the Nod Separatists, hijacked the GDI GST Methuselah and directed it to crash into Chicago. However, GDI commando captain Christian Pierce managed to save the city by knocking it off-course with the Support Crawler Kennedy. In revenge, Gideon captured him and said that Pierce would work for him.

By 2064, the balance of power shifted in GDI's favour, with one of the noted developments being the creation of a new series of Zone Armor for infantry, capable of surviving the fiery attacks from Nod Flame tanks. This resulted in the Separatists reworking the design of the vehicles to be more effective, allowing them to cause a great deal of destruction within the Yellow Zones until GDI managed to develop their Hunter tanks. The success of the Separatists led to the Loyalist Nod forces to develop their own improved flame tank, which yielded in the creation of the AT-6 flame tank to defend the Tiberium Control Network.

The situation worsened in 2070 when the Separatists banded together and executed a series of global hit-and-run attacks on TCN construction sites; not only did this halt TCN progress, but the GDI military was left in disarray. GDI commanders were forced to realize they were not organized or equipped to simultaneously defend the TCN and pursue and destroy the Separatists. In response, GDI embarked on a program to reorganize and re-equip itself to suit its mission of defending the global TCN. The military split into three specialized branches founded on the new Crawler MCV.

Upon completing its transformation the new mobile force structure quickly produced results. The Nod Separatists were defeated and their leaders driven into hiding by the end of 2073, less than a year after the introduction of the Crawler MCV.

Aftermath
The TCN Conflict marked the battlefield début of the Crawler MCV and the three-branch concept. By the Fourth Tiberium War both GDI and Nod forces would be organized along these lines. Moreover, the Idris Corporation had developed experimental ocular implants that were used on a promising GDI commander, in order to save his life from fatal injuries. The commander would soon go on to play a key role in the Fourth Tiberium War.

The Nod Separatists however were not completely destroyed as a unified movement. Its key leaders, most notably Gideon, evaded capture and would continued to harass GDI and Nod loyalists as an underground force, so Kane could not reunite the Brotherhood. With the TCN construction completed and cities being rebuilt, the Separatists would often launch raids to disrupt activity. Furthermore the Separatists adopted the Crawler system after Alphus, a sleeper agent pretending to be on Kane's side, stole Nod's first crawler in 2075, levelling up the playing field. It would not be until the Ascension Conflict that the Separatists would reemerge as a dominant force, and finally crushed by Kane as a splinter movement.