Juggernaut (Tiberium Wars)

"I'm the Juggernaut!!"

- Juggernaut

The Juggernaut Mk.III is GDI's long range artillery vehicle appearing in Tiberium Wars and Kane's Wrath.

Background
Based on a Titan Mk. II chassis, perhaps the most significant upgrade, is the inclusion of a turret, equipped with an improved 200mm cannon armament. The unit replaces the Behemoth and this new addition gave the Juggernaut greatly improved flexibility in engaging targets, as it no longer needed to redeploy each time a target's position shifts even slightly, although a slow traversing speed limited the usefulness of this new ability. The crew cockpit was moved into a separate pod which resides on the left of the turret. State-of-the art fire control and tracking systems and an improved, integrated battlefield networking communications package allow GDI sniper teams to relay ballistic data to the mech's crew, allowing it to provide long range indirect fire support, an ability closely mirrored by the newly introduced Nod Specter. The Juggernaut's important role in the GDI forces as a powerful artillery piece remains unchanged even with the introduction of Nod's Beam cannon and the Specter.

The M3 is still required to deploy secondary stabilizers before it can fire due to the huge recoil of its triple barrel armament, although it can complete this process much faster than the MK.I, providing the Juggernaut with improved flexibility.

Juggernauts are still intended for indirect fire support and are not expected to be on the front lines, making its relative fragility a flaw irrelevant to its combat efficiency, amplified by the ability to navigate all terrain. Occasionally they can be seen scratching behind their pilot's module with one foot. In some cases, they were (humorously) seen pecking the ground with their cannons.

If the Juggernaut Mk. III is crippled and falls, an engineer can return it to a working state. The problems with standing up have been resolved by strengthening the construction of the cannons and allowing the walker to use them as quasi-hands to get up.

Like the GDI Mammoth 27 and Titan, Nod Purifier and Avatar, Scrin Annihilator Tripod and Reaper Tripod, Juggernauts can crush light vehicles by simply walking onto them.

M3A Variant
During the early stages of the Third Tiberium War, GDI fielded an improved Juggernaut, known as the Urban Combat Platform Juggernaut M3A in Madagascar, and included numerous enhancements over the standard M3. The M3A featured added gun pods each with a 360 degree field of fire, as well as featuring improved railgun cannons. Its armor was also upgraded, which rendered it all but invulnerable to Nod small arms fire.

The pilot pod was expanded to allow for an additional fourth crew member, and an improved fire-suppression system was added. Although considered field ready, the hasty push for operational status resulted in a number of critical flaws, such as susceptibility to a high powered EMP blast. Following a disastrous initial field test, in which all newly deployed M3A's were disabled, current and additional M3A deployments were recalled, and their units reequipped with the older M3, until the M3A underwent more thorough testing.

After the Third Tiberium War, the M3A was deployed with full operational status.

Game unit
Good points:


 * Extreme range capabilities and can outrange Storm Columns and Redeemers.
 * Very destructive against structures and units. Can cause massive damage before destroyed, if unchecked.
 * Can crush tier 1 and 2 vehicles with ease.
 * Great for laying suppression fire upon an advancing enemy, but only when supported.
 * GDI's ONLY artillery unit after Steel Talons' Behemoth.
 * Can bombard an area spotted by snipers.
 * Perhaps the best artillery unit in the game.
 * Great against slow moving vehicles if all shots hit.
 * Relatively cheap Tier 3 unit, at the cost of 2200 per Juggernaut

Bad points:
 * Inaccurate without Sniper spotting.
 * Defenseless and vulnerable against aircraft (especially the Vertigo).
 * Poor armour (especially for a Tier 3 unit) and slow.
 * Available only at Tier 3.
 * Vulnerable to Commando C4 charges.
 * Vulnerable to missiles.
 * Low rate of fire.
 * Not available to ZOCOM.
 * Certain infantry is hard to kill with this artillery.
 * Can be deactivated by an EMP blast.
 * Fanatics could take out Juggernauts with ease due to it's lack of speed.