Camouflage (Tiberium)

= Concept =

Camouflage is, whether naturally occuring or manufactured, an adaptation to help lessen the ability to discern an object from it's surrounding environments. This can mean anything from decreasing the chances of getting shot to blending in to a background outright. Also, camouflage can be as simple as the specially-designed uniforms of GDI Sniper Teams, to the high tech active camouflage systems used by The Brotherhood of Nod.

= History =

Military Camouflage, while understood as beneficial for centuries, did not enter standard military service until the 1900s. Prior to that, most armies adopted brightly colored uniforms for service, in order to ease identification and foster unit cohesion. During the 1700s and 1800s, the typical accuracy of rifles and the tendency of armies to march in rows and columns largely mitigated the need for camoflague. Scouting units and militia would wear neutral tones, in order to make them harder to spot, but it wasn't until Western Armies suffered enormous losses in certain battles worldwide that they gave regular soldiers drab uniforms.

World War I was the first major war where all the major participants began experimenting with camoflague. While the majority of the soldiers simply had duller, less noticeable unifroms, snipers and scouts developed specialized camouflage gear, including netting to mimic plant life. During the Great World War II, the Allied forces issued their troops with "olive drab" patterns. They also experimented with the Gap generator, which could reset the fog of war over a battlefield, concealing a base from enemy incursions.

The first experiments in active camouflage, the Allied Phase transport, was invented. This system rendered the phase transport invisible to the human eye by bending light around the tank. However, a Soviet cyborg named Volkov stole the transport. The designs were lost, and with the fall of the Soviet Union, it seemed as though the unique invisibility system was lost forever.

During the first Tiberium War, both GDI and Nod forces experimented with camouflage. GDI troopers operating in desert regions were equipped with "chocolate chip" camoflague, a design incorporating six dull colors, and effective in desert situations. Nod designs varied, most units were given typical urban camoflague. Black hand troopers, being Nod's elite forces, typically wore bright red and black uniforms, making them stand out. Commandos on either side generally chose camouflage to fit the situation.

Nod also revealed that it had also developed active camouflage systems. Black Hand Chameleons wore an integrated stealth system, rendering them able to appear invisible. The Nod "Ezekial's Wheel" Stealth tank possessed the lazarus shield; which also allowed it to be cloaked from view. While unconfirmed, it is possible that Nod somehow acquired the plans for the phase transport.

During the Second Tiberium War and Firestorm Crisis, GDI equipped all of it's forces with desert camouflage, as much of the earth had begun to turn into an inhospitable wasteland. Nod forces dressed all in black, generally, they chose nighttime raids. Nod's spies and stealth tanks were equipped with more advanced active camo systems. Also, Nod developed the Stealth generator and a mobile variant, which, like the Allied Gap technology, could conceal an army from view, this time by creating a "bubble" that bends light around it. Instead of making the area inpenetrable to view, it makes the units themselves invisible.

The GDI maintained the useage of tan camouflage in the Third Tiberium War, except for Sniper Teams, who used specialized camoflague patterns and covert ops training to render themselves almost invisible.

Nod forces were now roughly divided into two groups; the Militia and the professional soldiers. Militants wore civilian clothing, and those with rocket launchers often dressed in bright red ponchos, giving no regard to the camo value. The Black Hand soldiers wore black powered armor; their large size and tendency to use flamethrowers made disguising them difficult. The Chameleon Spy program had been altered to a combat role, and these new Shadow Teams were given advanced stealth generators and ninja-esque training, making them virtually invisible. Nod Commandos carried portable stealth systems as well. The stealth tank was even more lethal, and the stealth system was vastly improved as well. Nod Avatar Warmech pilots found that due to design similarities, they could "borrow" a stealth tanks cloaking systems, rendering the Avatar invisible. Nod also fielded a stealth bomber; the Vertigo. Stealth generators gave way to Disruption towers which were cheaper but less effective.

Interestingly, although the alien Scrin appear to have no regard for camouflaging the bulk of their forces, the Assimilator, a scrin "engineer", has a natural ability to blend in with the environment, unless moving.