Cairo (mission)

"Your mission is to take out a massive Nod nuclear weapons facility in northern Cairo, the same base that was used to launch the strike on the Philadelphia. This is now the highest priority GDI target worldwide. Time is of the essence: Nod is likely to launch everything they have if they think you're getting too close."

- Mission briefing

Cairo is the eighth mission in the GDI campaign of Tiberium Wars.

Background
InOps confirmed that the silo which launched the missile that destroyed the Philadelphia was connected to a Nod nuclear launch facility in northern Cairo, where Nod's entire nuclear arsenal was consolidated. Since Nod was now on the run with nothing left to lose, they may launch their entire nuclear stockpile at once. To prevent this, the GDI Commander was ordered to destroy this facility.

Plot
By the time GDI forces arrived in the area, Nod was already preparing for another missile launch. The launch facility was heavily fortified, especially at the entrance. However, there were also several notable gaps in Nod's defenses.

After the GDI Commander's forces entered the Nod base, Kane himself contacted the Commander and taunted him, telling him that this is where his success story will end.

In the end, the GDI Commander successfully stopped the missile launch and destroyed the Nod headquarters that controlled the facility, driving Nod forces out of the region.

Walkthrough
(Note: This walkthrough assumes Hard difficulty.)

Start off by building a crane, then simultaneously build a war factory and airfield, with your air field placed preferably on the northwest corner of your base. Build two APCs, two more Predator tanks, and an additional harvester. Send the tanks and the APC to your starting units and move your Zone troopers into the APCs (to protect them from Flame tanks). This should be enough to hold off the initial attacks.

In the mean time, build a Surveyor and an engineer, and start constructing a refinery and another war factory. Fly the Surveyor and the engineer to the upper right corner of the map using Call for Transport, make sure to stick to the western edge, where there is no anti-air. Drop them off near the Tiberium spike and the blue Tiberium field, capture the spike with the engineer and immediately unpack the surveyor.

Place the refinery and the war factory as soon as possible, then begin building up Predator tanks and APCs, since Nod forces will quickly begin attacking your new base. You may also need to build a barracks and train some grenadier squads to deal with garrisoned enemies. Meanwhile, move the forces defending your base due east. You will unlock an Intelligence Database entry (The Blunder that Nearly Finished GDI) and find another blue Tiberium field, which you can capture. There is also a ledge accessible by jumpjets, which can be used to allow Zone troopers and commando to safely enter the Nod base and wreak havoc.

Use the Predator tanks from your outpost to destroy the three power plants and stop the silo countdown. Build a tech center, purchase the Railgun Upgrade, then begin constructing Mammoth tanks. Then, simply destroy all the Nod structures in the compound, starting with the silo, until the "destroy all Nod structures" bonus objective is marked as complete. In particular, destroying a cylindrical structure named "Nod Compound HQ" will unlock a piece of intel (Nod's Nuclear Arsenal).

After this, simply move on to the Nod buildings to the north east to finish the mission.