Cybernetics

Soviet Research
During the Great war against the allies, the Soviets persued a number of different options in research, one of which was cybernetic systems. A man named Volkov was chosen, although it is unclear whether this was simply a codename, or his actual name. His cybernetic advancements made him nearly indestructable; he was capable of absorbing literally hundreds of mammoth tusk missiles that would kill normal infantry in a single volley. Even Nod's later research would be unable to duplicate this spectacular success in resiliancy. He was also armed with an experimental silenced grenade launcher, which he used with deavastating effect. Out of the same research project came a cyber-augmented dog, who, like Volkov, was extremely resiliant to enemy fire. Though he attacked in a similar manner as a regular attack dog, he could leap great distances and run much faster than any other dog.

Despite his efforts, however, the Soviet Union was eventually defeated, as the allied tanks and forces were simply too numerous to be repelled. Eventually, Stalin was killed, and the cyborg project - with most of Stalin's other projects, was cancelled.

Under Nod
With the coming of the Brotherhood of Nod, Nod's tacticians decided that they could create a new type of cyborg. This time, a chosen human could be mutated with Tiberium to grant enhanced resiliancy, with Cyborg components matched to Tiberium-mutated flesh. Although these cyborgs were not nearly as powerful as Volkov was in his day, the new cyborgs were considerably cheaper, and more importantly, could be mass produced. The use of Tiberium in their construction made them use up a considerable amount of resources in their construction as compared to regular infantry, but this was deemed an acceptable trade-off in comparison with their resiliancy and firepower. Nod created two variants of the Cyborg, the regular Cyborg, and the Cyborg Commando.

Under CABAL
Cyborgs had a control chip implanted into them, which rendered them an extension of a central computer control. Under Nod, these computer systems were placed under a central control computer, CABAL. Therefore, during the Firestorm Crisis, when CABAL broke from Nod, he also pulled away a small cyborg army, whose first action was to massacre Nod's command staff, except for Slavik. He then proceeded to augment his army through the use of cyborg production plants, but to do that, he needed a way to efficiently harvest humans. For this purpose, he created the Cyborg Reaper unit. As CABAL controlled all of the cyborgs, when he was destroyed it was presumed that all cyborgs were destroyed with him.

Cyborg
The Cyborg stood approximately 8 feet tall, towering over a regular Light Infantry or Disk Thrower unit. It was armed with a small chaingun with a very rapid rate of fire. This hail of bullets was very effective against infantry and light vehicles, but not very effective against heavier vehicles such as Titan Walkers. Furthermore, the heavy armor mounted on Cyborgs gave it considerable protection against most enemy machine gun fire, allowing a Cyborg to mercilessly mow down waves of enemy light infantry. However, the heavy armor and weapon systems meant that the cyborg was limited to a very slow rate of speed. Furthermore, the heavy armor and size of the cyborg rendered it vulnerable to anti tank weapons, such as the 120mm cannon of the Titan Walkers.

If the cyborg had taken enough damage, its legs would blow off, spewing out Tiberium and reducing the cyborg to a torso, head, and gun arm. This assembly was even slower to move around than the cyborg was normally. However, both the damaged and regular forms could regenerate their health in Tiberium fields, which helped to increase its combat usefulness.

Nod commanders used cyborgs as a heavy infantry unit, intended to assist in assaults by delivering firepower and soaking up enemy damage. Its great effectiveness against enemy infantry meant that it could be employed as an anti-infantry unit to screen heavier tanks from GDI Disk Thrower units. Some Nod commanders also used them as patrol units, particularly in defense of important installations such as prisons for mutant soldiers. Furthermore, the fact that they healed in Tiberium made them excellent guards for harvesters.

CABAL was forced to rely upon cyborgs as his main infantry unit, and therefore used them to do everything. Under CABAL, cyborgs were used as attack units against enemy bases, raiders, ambushers, and even as main-line units. It should be noted that the cyborg's lack of an effective offensive against buildings and heavy vehicles sometimes prohibited CABAL from making effective use of certain tactics. CABAL sometimes tried to make up for this with numbers. In the ambush role, for example, he would deploy as many as 16 cyborgs - in quantities like that, cyborgs could rip even the heaviest vehicles to pieces.

Cyborg Commando
Despite their computer chips, and the supposed standard techniques of Tiberium injection that went into a cyborg, cyborgs still varied in their levels of performance. Certain cyborgs distinguished themselves, and gained a 'promotion,' and became cyborg commandos. Commandos were completely different from regular cyborgs, and were more along the lines of Volkov from the Great War, although again, no where near as powerful.

Cyborg commandos were armed with a forward firing plasma cannon that packed a considerable amount of powerful plasma. This plasma was powerful enough to kill a soldier in one shot, and destroy Titans in 2 or 3. It was also frighteningly effective against buildings, and only a few shots were needed to completely level a structure. However, the massive recoil and power requirements the weapon needed meant that only a Cyborg commando could carry it. To help them with this, cyborgs were given further tiberium enhancement, as well as improved motion devices. They were also clad in very heavy black armor.

Cyborg Commandos, being cyborgs, also were vulnerable to vehicles; no infantry would ever dream of taking on the cyborg commando and living to talk about it. However, being more potent, it would often take a number of Titans to subdue a cyborg. As Tiberium enhanced soldiers, they would also heal in Tiberium. Unfortunately, only one Cyborg Commando at a time was granted to Nod Commanders, as the technologies involved were experimental and could not be easily duplicated.

Nod commanders used Cyborg commandos as Harvester hunters, as defenders for important structures, and as heavy assault units. One favored strategy was to load the cyborg commando into a subterranean APC and send that APC into an enemy base, then unloading the commando and wreaking havoc. However, the cyborg's vast amount of power and formidable defenses meant that there were a wide variety of options to employ with the cyborg commando.

CABAL, having carried cyborg research forward, was fond of using cyborg commandos as guards for important installation. When Nod first went on the offensive, a cyborg commando was found guarding CABAL's core - although it later turned out to be only a fake. Later, GDI was forced to defeat two cyborg commandos before being able to destroy a cyborg production facility.

Cyborg Reaper
When CABAL broke from Nod, he knew that his best chance of victory was to build up an enormous army of cyborgs that had been programmed to be loyal only to him. To do this, he first devised a way to convert captured enemy soldiers into cyborgs. Then, it was simply a matter of capturing enemy soldiers. To capture enemy soldiers, as well as civilians, he created the cyborg reaper.

A Reaper was a four legged spider like walker, which was affixed to a significantly mutated human in the center of the spider. It was armed with a pair of multiple missile launchers that were effective against slow moving enemy vehicles and aircraft. Against fast moving vehicles, however, the missiles had a hard time tracking fast moving vehicles, and often missed.

Against infantry, the reaper deployed a net launcher to stop them in their tracks. The nets in question were not only weighed down, but they were also sticky, making it difficult for infantry to get out of them. While they were thus incapacitated, regular cyborgs would disarm and haul away the unfortunate soldiers to be converted into cyborgs.

Reapers were used in most of CABAL's campaigns, and were often combined with cyborgs. As deadly against infantry as the cyborgs' guns were, they were even more deadly when used against an ensnared enemy who could neither dodge, nor shoot back. Their quickness and ability to heal very quickly in Tiberium meant that they were both effective Tiberium field guards, and powerful skirmish / patrol units. However, they were handicapped by a lack of armor.

Huey
Huey was the nickname for a particular cyborg that was reprogrammed by the GDI to deliver a virus into a cyborg production plant. The plan was to infect the plant through one of CABAL's communications links. Other than his carrying the virus, he was identical to every other cyborg.