Rifleman squad (Tiberium Wars)

"Rifle squad ready!"

- Rifleman squad rolling out of the Barracks.

The rifleman squad is the main infantry unit of the Global Defense Initiative in the events from Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath.

Background
Armed with automatic GD-2 rifles and standard GDI body armor, these six men squads are well trained and equipped. Every soldier carries with him a portable shovel, used to create foxholes on the battlefield.

Riflemen have access to advanced Composite armor suits or Tiberium field suits that provide them with better protection. On the battlefield, they maintain their fitness by doing push ups, usually in sets of five or so.

Like all GDI infantry, they can be shuttled around the battlefield in the V-35 Ox Transports. Some infantry squads are members of elite GDI Airborne divisions.

Game unit
Rifleman Squads are GDI's counterpart to Nod's Militants and the Scrin's Buzzers. Riflemen cost 300, as opposed to the 200 credit cost of their counterparts. They have more firepower as well and tend to last longer in battle. Their squad size is smaller than a Militant squad, at only 6 soldiers instead of 8, making them more vulnerable to snipers and sometimes to area attack as well. However, each soldier has more health, increasing their chance of surviving being hit by a highly damaging attack. Keep in mind that in Kane's Wrath, Riflemen are inferior to the Black Hand subfaction's Confessor Cabals, who are the deadliest of the basic infantry units.

Unupgraded Riflemen can defeat unupgraded Militant squads efficiently. However, with the Confessor upgrade Militants can often defeat riflemen, since their Confessor squad leader is particularly strong and also possesses the ability to throw Hallucinogenic Grenades which can turn the Riflemen against each other. Militants can also get the Tiberium Infusion upgrade cheaply and early on, which further bolsters their health and makes them tougher than Riflemen. However, once Riflemen get Composite Armor or Tiberium Field Suits (ZOCOM only), they gain a large health bonus and become much harder to kill, evening the odds.

The Armor-Piercing Ammunition available in Kane's Wrath significantly boosts the damage of Riflemen squads and turns them into one of the most effective counter-infantry units on the field, being cheap, disposable, but good at killing enemy infantry and decent at damaging light vehicles. Combining this with Composite Armor or Tiberium Field Suits makes them very durable as well, being good at ranged combat in general, though still vulnerable to being crushed.

Buzzers, like with most infantry, can instantly kill a Rifleman squad once they get on top of them. However, Riflemen can easily dispatch a single Buzzer unit if they are provided enough range between them and the target, so they tend to only be vulnerable to large groups of Buzzers.

They can also build garrisonable Foxholes, where infantry can garrison for a defense bonus. Unfortunately, it costs 100 credits to create a foxhole, takes time to build, and Foxholes are vulnerable to anti-garrison weapons like flamethrowers, grenades and Buzzers.

GDI commanders (except for Steel Talons commanders) have access to the Armory building, which allows them to replace fallen squad members and heal surviving ones for free. Other factions lack the ability to replace fallen squad members, so a good commander should consider taking advantage of this in the right situations.

Changelog

 * Tiberium Wars patch 1.05:
 * speed increased by 20%
 * attack power increased by 50%
 * Dig In ability cost/build time reduced to 100/5, now causes the Riflemen Squad to begin building a Foxhole immediately at its location.

When created

 * Rifle squad ready! 
 * Riflemen awaiting orders! 

When selected

 * Rifle squad!
 * Keep your weapon ready!
 * Reporting in!
 * Yes, sir!
 * Squad ready!
 * Ground support!

​When moving

 * Securing area!
 * Affirmative!
 * Riflemen, move out!
 * Understood!
 * This way, rifle squad!
 * Move out!
 * Move!
 * Rendezvous point confirmed!
 * Roger out!

When garrisoning a structure

 * Cleared for garrison!
 * Securing structure!
 * Garrison force en route!

​When digging a Foxhole

 * Dig in!
 * Set her up! 
 * Sandbags!

When ordered to attack

 * Entering combat zone!
 * Move to engage!
 * Hostile identified!
 * Approaching the enemy!
 * Yes, roger that, sir!
 * Roger that, sir, right away!
 * Let's go, boys, move out!

When attacking

 * Engage!
 * Fire!
 * Enemy in range!
 * Assault-fire!
 * Cleared to engage!
 * Light 'em up!
 * Yes, sir, we'll hold the line!
 * Make a push!

In combat

 * Hold your ground, soldiers!
 * Don't let up!
 * Let 'em have it!
 * Keep your eyes open!
 * Stay together now!
 * Hold the line!
 * Keep the fire on 'em, boys!
 * That's it!
 * Keep the heat on 'em!
 * That's it, keep them out!
 * Yes, sir!
 * That's right!

When retreating

 * Drop back!
 * Withdraw!
 * Hold your fire!
 * Go back up, men!
 * Retreat! Retreat!
 * We got to move! We got to move out!
 * Let's fallback!

When suppressed

 * Take cover!
 * Watch out!
 * Incoming!
 * Keep down!

Trivia
Originally, the riflemen were supposed to have full body armour, while commandos were supposed to wear lighter, less constraining armour. However, somewhere along the line, commandos were given the fully armoured look, while the riflemen received the lightly armoured models.

Idle animations

 * A rifleman will reload his gun (even if the gun has not been fired yet).
 * A rifleman will do push-ups.
 * A rifleman will drink from a canteen.