Keys to the Kingdom is the fifth mission of Kane's Wrath.^[1]

Background[]

The year is now 2046, and the Nod AI - now revealed to be named LEGION - was awoken from its slumber by Alexa Kovacs. She explained to the AI that Kane's vision is finally coming to fruition when Kane enters.

Kane explaind to LEGION that the Brotherhood's technology has advanced tenfold while he slumbered, and that it now stands united and strong. He revealed that he planned to destroy the GDSS Philadelphia in order to acquire the Tacitus, which was the "key to ascension", and that Alexa will be guiding LEGION on its quest.

In order to destroy the Philadelphia, however, the Brotherhood must disable GDI's A-SAT defense system, so Alexa ordered LEGION to raid GDI's Johannesburg research facility to steal the blueprints for the ion cannon network in order to find a solution.

New units[]

• Reckoner

Walkthrough[]

(This walkthrough assumes Hard difficulty.)

Since GDI does not rebuild any destroyed buildings in this mission, the key to victory is to destroy as many GDI production structures as possible before they can build up a large force. Other than the Barracks encountered in the first phase of the mission, GDI has six production structures on the map: a Barracks and an Airfield in a large GDI base in the northeast, two war factories just outside the northeastern GDI base, and two Barracks in the northwest.

The initial strike team is composed of four Shadow Teams and a heroic Commando. First, send the Commando to the east of the starting position. There are some GDI infantry in the way, but they are easy picking for the Commando. Destroy the Communications Center and all other GDI structures in the area with the Commando, which completes the first objective.

After that, activate the gliders of the Shadow Teams, and land them next to the civilian structure east of the Ion cannon control. Destroy the upgraded power plants with explosives, which cuts off power to the Watchtowers guarding the area. Use the Commando to destroy the GDI structures, including the Ion cannon control, this completes the second objective.

At this point, an MCV and four Reckoners loaded with Militant rocket squads arrive as reinforcements. Move the Commando and the Shadow Teams to the southeast. Have the Shadow Teams avoid the AA batteries by flying over the Watchtowers and landing them behind the Tiberium field. Quickly use your Commando to destroy the two war factories before they can build any APCs (start from the southern one, since the northern one is covered by Watchtowers), then use the Shadow Teams to destroy the Barracks and Airfield to prevent them from deploying infantry and aircraft. Finally, destroy the power plants to power down the defenses.

Back at home base, move your MCV to the right of the ore patch and deploy. Deploy all your Reckoners above the MCV and build a War factory to repair them. Place some Shredder turrets for added defense. Note that enemies will also come from the east, so make sure your turrets cover the east side as well. Do NOT garrison troops into civilian structures, since GDI will be sending many Grenadier squads.

Build an additional refinery for additional income, then begin building Black Hands and flame tanks until you have enough to break through the infantry mobs coming from the north, then build an Air tower. Have your Black Hands and flame tanks push through the GDI infantry and burn down the two Barracks to stop them from sending any more infantry, then secure the research lab.

Train Saboteurs to capture the research labs, which should now be wide open with the base defenses around them powered down. Use call for transport to put them in Carryalls to make sure they make it in time (alternatively, use Reckoners). Do note that the easternmost research lab is protected by two Battle Bases, which have their own power, and need to be dealt with first (they can be easily destroyed by Black Hands). This should allow you to complete the bonus objective of finishing the mission two minutes before the time limit.

Trivia[]

• One of the Nod soldiers ponders that the area felt oddly familiar, "like [he] fought here before". If one studies the map layout closely, it bears a marking resemblance to the Riverside Rumble skirmish map in Tiberium Wars.
• The bonus objective time limit depends on the difficulty: complete the mission 5 minutes before alignment on Easy, 3 minutes on Normal, 2 minutes on Hard.
• Even after the time is up and the Ion Cannon is fired at LEGION's base, he still has a few seconds during Kovacs' transmission to capture the last building. If he succeeds, the victory will be achieved as normal.
• It appears that this mission was originally going to involve stealing weapons technology from the GDI, but was changed during development: After destroying the communications center and the ion cannon controls, the Nod EVA asks LEGION to "reclaim what's rightfully ours" from the research centers, implying this was originally going to be the mission where Nod reclaims its stealth technology.
  • Alexa's comment about Nod's weapons not meeting Kane's needs and the fact she tells LEGION "the Brotherhood's science division has an arsenal of new weapons available for your use" at the end of the mission supports this as well.

Videos[]

References[]