Zone Trooper (Tiberium Wars)

= Tiberium Wars = "Here! want some more?"

- Zone Troopers on the assault

Following the events of the Firestorm Crisis and the proliferation of Tiberium, GDI desperately needed a way to operate in Tiberium infested areas without exposing their soldiers to Tiberium poisoning. As remotely controlled weapons and unmanned vehicles were not suitably powerful, GDI Research and Development used the Mobius Suit and Wolverine as the basis for a new weapons system.

The Zone Trooper was the result of this effort, an advanced, self-sufficient powered suit made from the same composite used in the Mammoth 27's armor. Its advanced life support systems allows the wearer to survive in heavily Tiberium contaminated areas such as Red zones. In addition to being able to survive in such conditions Zone Troopers are equipped with jump jets, allowing them to move long distances in seconds, often dropping into the heat of a battle as reinforcements. For combat the Zone Troopers are equipped with an advanced portable railgun based off the same design employed in the new Mammoth 27 and Predator tanks. Besides offering protection from light weapons fire, the armor also absorbs the recoil the railguns produce and probably also increases the wearer's strength and power as some zone troopers can be seen doing one handed push-ups while in their power armor when idle and they could run faster than regular riflemen even. The weapon itself is capable of causing serious damage to vehicles, structures, and infantry.

Squads of four Zone Troopers are deadly foes, often accompanying larger tanks on their way into combat. Their suits can be upgraded with sensor packs giving them limited stealth detection abilities, and with advanced power packs which amplify the suit's performance, resulting in increased resilience and firepower, and allows the suit to self repair and also give the wearer medical attention. "Sit tight"

- Zone Troopers deploying into the battlefield via drop pods

Zone Troopers can also be dropped from orbit using atmospheric entry drop pods, allowing for rapid insertion onto the battlefield as either reinforcements or to establish beachheads, the drop pod squad is composed of 3 veteran squads of troopers which simply adds to their effectiveness and lethality. This makes an effective and surprising attack force. Also unlike the Bloodhounds, GDI airborne and Sharpshooter teams which had to be dropped in via Ox transports, which made reinforcement somewhat slow, Zone troopers were directly inserted into the area, which allowed them to provide reinforcement rapidly.

However, the cost of equipping a single Zone Trooper is enormous as a single suit and associated equipment costs nearly 50% more than an entire rifleman squad. They are also completely defenseless against aircraft (especially the Venom) and armor piercing projectiles of the shredder turret and flame-based weaponry are highly effective against them. It is advised to cover them from such threats using Anti-Air Units and heavier tanks.

Within blue zones, some Zone Troopers operated without a cockpit cover since the environment is less hazardous and allows for better vision, though they are only seen like this in concept arts and in-game their suits fully encase them. A heavily modified variation of the Zone Trooper armor is deployed by ZOCOM, and utilized by soldiers known as Zone Raiders.

Assessment
Pros
 * Deadly against armor and infantry
 * Wonderful when placed in APCs or Hammerheads
 * High Accuracy
 * Heavily Armored
 * Cannot be suppressed nor crushed except by heavy Tier 3 units or upgraded Scorpions and  Reckoners.
 * Jump jets allow for great mobility and surprise attack capability. This also lets them get out of tough situations
 * When upgraded, it can be a versatile (albeit cumbersome) stealth-detecting anti-tank unit
 * Surprisingly faster than regular infantrymen while on foot.
 * Immune to Tiberium poisoning

Cons
 * Advanced infantry (Grenadiers, Black Hand, Shock Troopers, Shadow Teams etc.) are highly effective against Zone Troopers
 * Cannot attack aircraft (e.g. the Venom)
 * Expensive (1300 credits)
 * Cannot garrison buildings

Development
The initial zone trooper design did not have sealed armor. The fanbase complained this did not make sense given the Tiberium-contaminated environment they were supposed to operate in. The final design was sealed.

Gallery
= Tiberian Twilight =

A similar unit appears in Command & Conquer 4 concept art. The game is set in 2062.