Zone Trooper (Tiberium Wars)



Zone Troopers are advanced infantry soldiers used by the Global Defense Initiative since the Third Tiberium War.

Description
They wear advanced, self-sufficient powered suits made from the same composite used in the Mammoth 27's armor. Its advanced life support systems allow the wearer to survive in heavily Tiberium contaminated areas such as the 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 carry an advanced portable railgun based off the same design employed in the new Mammoth 27 and Predator tanks. Besides protection from light weapons fire, the armor also absorbs the recoil the railguns produce and increases the wearer's strength and power. Some Zone Troopers do one handed push-ups while in their power armor when idle, and they can run faster than regular riflemen.

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.

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 experienced squads of troopers. Unlike the Bloodhounds, GDI Airborne and sharpshooter teams which have to be inserted via Ox transports, making reinforcement slow and vulnerable, Zone troopers arrive on the battlefield instantenously.

However, the cost of equipping a single Zone Trooper is enormous as a single suit and associated equipment costs 25 credits more than a whole 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.

Variants
A heavily modified variation of the Zone Trooper armor is deployed by ZOCOM, and utilized by soldiers known as Zone Raiders.

Some Zone Troopers modify their armour, customizing its appearance with decals and different colour schemes.

Legacy
Following the conflict and in the years leading up to the Incursion War, GDI had managed to make improved versions of Zone Armor which for a time led to the units being somewhat immune to the effects of the fires from Nod Flame tanks until a new series of such vehicles were introduced. The Zone Trooper also has a new type of variant known as the Zone Captain, as well as other variations such as the Zone Enforcer or Zone Lancer.

In-Game Unit
Pros
 * Lethal against armor, infantry and grounded aircraft
 * Cannot be suppressed nor crushed except by Tier 3 units or upgraded Scorpions and Reckoners
 * Jumpjets greatly increase mobility and allow the crossing of otherwise impassible terrain
 * Can be quickly deployed via drop pods
 * Power Packs enable recovery without an Armory or Rank 3
 * Scanner Packs allow for short-range stealth detection
 * Surprisingly faster than regular infantrymen while on foot
 * Immune to Tiberium poisoning

Cons
 * Advanced infantry are highly effective against Zone Troopers
 * Very vulnerable to aircraft
 * Not very effective against heavily armored structures
 * Quite expensive
 * Cannot garrison buildings or Foxhole

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.

Idle

 * Troopers, ready for action.
 * Trooper squad.
 * Troopers in the field.
 * That's right.
 * Whattaya need?
 * What's the call?
 * We're here.

Moving

 * I'll check it out.
 * Let's move.
 * Let's go, troopers.
 * Moving.
 * We hear ya.
 * Time to go.

Jump Jets

 * Hit it!
 * Punch it!
 * Let's go!
 * Over easy.

Attacking

 * Oh yeah.
 * Have at it.
 * We got this one.
 * Pin them down.
 * Take 'em.
 * Shut this party down.
 * Get a load of this.

Trivia

 * Zone Troopers bear a striking resemblance to the original Mobile Infantry from Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers. They both wear large and bulky powered armour, both use jetpacks to perform long jumps and make sudden entrances onto the battlefield as opposed to flying, they use extremely powerful handheld weapons, and both are deployed from orbit via a disposable transport pod.
 * They also bear a reassemblance to Warhammer 40.000's Space Marines, as they both are highly mobile elite infantry forces equipped with fully sealed power armour. Space Marines are also known to use advanced weapons (the Lascannon in particular is similar to Zone Trooper railguns) and jetpacks and have preferance for drop pod assaults. However, they are also heavily augmented to the point of no longer being merely human, and their heavy ranged weapons and jetpacks are mutually exclusive.