Armored personnel carrier

Ever since armored warfare began, one of the important questions was: How to keep the infantry with the tanks. Tanks without infantry could quickly be slaughtered, even in the Tiberium age, by rocket infantry, which often necesitated an infantry screen. Furthermore, some infantry, such as commandos, needed a safe way to get in and out of difficult combat situations. The APC has had a prominant place in modern combat.

Given their reliance on infantry (at least more than the Soviets), the Allied Forces were the creators of the APC. The vehicle was small, heavily armored and fast. Mounting a small machine gun, it was effective against infantry and it's speed and ability to crush infantry made it highly effective against soldiers of all types - with the exception of the shock trooper, whose armored suit prevented him from being crushed. However, the machine gun was still effective against these targets. Although it could be used to transport engineers, the number of engineers required to capture most buildings meant that this was often not an effective tactic.

During the First Tiberium War, GDI used the APC. It was essentially the same APC that the Allies had used, with very few differences. However, owing to the different nature of that conflict, the APC accordingly had a different role. Although powerful against infantry and able to crush all types, the ability of the Engineer to capture full strength buildings meant that the APC could be used to transport Engineers into fortified Nod bases and have him capture enemy buildings, putting them to good use for the GDI.

Armored Personnel carriers could also be used as scouts, owing to their speed and their ability to absorb more damage than could the fragile Humvees. One important feature that the APC provided was the ability for infantry to cross Tiberium fields without damage.

In the final stages of the First Tiberium War, Nod fielded its own wheeled APCs. The design evolved over the years and Nod's APC eventually evolved into the Subterranean APC and GDI's to the Amphibious APC.

Amphibious APC

 * Main article: Amphibious APC

In the Second Tiberium War, GDI's APCs had been completely redesigned. These new APCs were wheeled vehicles, and their machine guns were removed, to increase their speed, especially over water. Although no longer able to fire at enemy ground units, the APC still retained its speed, and could now travel through the water, allowing GDI to quickly move squads of infantry over bodies of water and assault island fortresses, as was the case with Vega.

Subterranean APC

 * Main article: Subterranean APC

Subterranean APCs are heavy assault personnel carriers used by the Brotherhood of Nod that would tunnel into the ground to reach far away locations. These APC's are usually used for sneak attacks into bases that are not paved over with concrete.

Subterannean APCs are equipped with heavy drills that allow for movement underneath the surface of the earth. By doing so, Tiberium exposure is kept at a minimum, allowing the driver and the passengers to stay safe. Also, an APC could safely travel under a veinhole, which would normally destroy the vehicle. Its light armor ensured quick travel speeds underground, but above ground its engines can only clumsily move it at a slow speed.

Guardian Advanced APC
After the Firestorm Crisis, GDI reevaluated the performance of their Amphibious APCs. While fast and well armoured, they weren't used widely due to their lack of any offensive weaponry, forbidding them from partaking in direct offensives, as without the means to defend themselves they needed to be closely protected. The engineers of GDI decided to completely redesign the vehicle from scratch.

The resulting design is an advanced, six wheeled version of the vehicle, with all terrain capability and a dual machine gun capable of engaging both terrestrial and aerial targets. Any squad of infantry garrisoned inside may fire from within the APC, granting it greater offensive capability than when empty; for example, an APC transporting a Missile Squad will gain improved fire power against armoured and airborne targets. In addition to transporting a single squad of infantry, the new advanced APC is outfitted with mine laying equipment, allowing it to deploy a large minefield at any given place on the battlefield.