Obelisk of Light (Tiberian Dawn)

	For other uses, see Obelisk of Light.

Obelisk of Light
Structure
Internal ID	OBLI
Faction	Brotherhood of Nod
Role	Advanced anti-surface base defence
Armament	Laser
Tier	2
Tech level	4
Properties
Hit points	400
Production
Cost	$1500
Build time	1:40
Produced by	Construction yard
Requires	Communications center
Combat
Ground attack	200 (Super)
Cooldown	90
Attack range	7.5
Sight range	5
Function
Power	-150

“

Tall, ominous towers of doom. Does wonders for morale - Anonymous GDI soldier, describing the structure

”

The Obelisk of Light is a shining example of military applications of LASER technology, serving as the advanced anti-surface defense for Nod in Tiberian Dawn.

Background

“

This high-power laser effectively destroys troops and armament at long range. It is the most powerful on-board weapon in the game. Its slow recharge time means that it cannot be the only weapon defending your base, however. Make sure you have excess power before building these, because damage to your power plants will keep the obelisks off-line. - Command & Conquer (1995) manual

”

Born out of the need for a powerful defensive mechanism for Brotherhood military bases, the Obelisk is quite possibly the most powerful laser weapon in recorded history, result of Project Obelisk WDTA2411 5. Its mode of operation remains basically the same throughout the wars - massive capacitors underneath the structure amass power, which is then used to create a powerful laser beam, directed against enemies via a system of advanced optical and focusing systems. Obviously, it requires massive amounts of power to function. In Tiberian Dawn, the Obelisk of Light is a sloped back obelisk that ends in a large focusing crystal that projects the laser. It's under complete computer control, with humans only needed to oversee that it works properly.

An interesting offshoot of Nod research was the development of portable Obelisk modules, codenamed Firefly and Tarantula respectively, which utilized a similar technology, though much less powerful. These weapons never made it outside limited field testing and did not have a major effect on the resolution of the conflict.

Deployments

Obelisks were always a prominent part of Nod bases, especially around important Nod structures. For example, the bases defending Sarajevo featured nearly a half dozen of these powerful base defenses, including one that was specifically assigned to defend the Temple of Nod itself.

After the war, the Forgotten seem to have acquired a single Obelisk of this type and used it to defend their main headquarters in the Second Tiberium War. Nod built a more advanced version of the Obelisk in the Second Tiberium War.

Game building

This powerful emplacement suffers from its poor armor, low fire rate, and inability to target air. However, it outranges the vast majority of all ground units, making direct assaults certain suicide unless confronted with an overwhelming force.

To take care of an Obelisk, players may choose to outflank it and concentrate the firepower to destroy or capture power plants, as it can't function without power. A GDI APC may survive one direct hit but will suffer critical damage. The Ion Cannon can also be used to destroy any Obelisks in an instant.

Changelog

• Remastered Collection patch 735514: fixed an issue where the laser from the Obelisk of Light was graphically corrupted in legacy graphics mode

Gallery

• 
  DOS manual render scan
• 
  PDF manual render
• 
  First generation Obelisk firing on GDI Humvees
• 
  A damaged TWI Obelisk of Light in Tiberium Wars

Cameos

DOS	English	Textless

Videos

An Obelisk of Light destroying a Humvee

See also

• Advanced Guard Tower, GDI advanced base defense
• Military applications of lasers