Weapons Factory
| Weapons Factory | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Faction | GDI |
| Function | Vehicle Production |
| Health | 4800 |
The Weapons Factory is one of the main Buildings of the Global Defense Initiative.
Appearance
The Weapons Factory is a tall structure with a smokestack, but only has a ground floor on the inside. There are doors in front next to the vehicle assembly pad, as well as on the side towards the back.
The interior consists of a front area by the assembly pad, a back area leading out the side door, and a connecting middle area with the MCT on the outside wall and a window on the inside wall showing the vehicle spawn.
Its' Flying version added a single high ramp, leading from the ground beside the front door, up to the roof above the side door towards the back. The roof has 3 sections, the section the ramp first leads to, the section up above the vehicle assembly, and the section below where the smokestacks come up from.
Function
The Weapons Factory is the vehicle production structure for the Global Defense Initiative. It is tied to vehicle acquisition, and if it is destroyed, GDI will lose the ability to purchase most of their vehicles, while Humvees and APCs require an increased credit cost.
The loss of the Weapons Factory, limits the real threat to structures, to just infantry only, although that infantry can still be deployed by APC to get to the structure, and can still be dangerous in a focused attack from the outside.
Strategy
Attacking
The front doors are right beside the vehicle assembly. This can prevent enemies from getting to their newly purchased vehicles, but may also face the most enemy aggression. The back door is usually a lot more secluded and not often watched, leaving it vulnerable to infiltration by infantry, and with any luck allows time to diffuse defending Proximity C4.
In Flying maps, the roof can be very convoluted when searching for enemies, and on some maps is also wide-open to sniper fire, although snipers can also use ramps as cover to counter-snipe.
After the building is destroyed, effort should be made to kill any remaining vehicles. The Weapons Factory is also considered the most important of the two production structures, compared to the Infantry Barracks. However, the loss of the Weapons Factory might encourage GDI to try to deploy infantry in effort to destroy structures, either through infiltration or through blunt force damage on the outside by Gunners or Mobiuses.
Defending
In maps with Advanced Base Defenses, it's always suggested to use Proximity C4 to defend the frequently-infiltrated and seldomly-checked side-door, and optional to defend the front door as it is high-traffic and often covered by automated defenses.
When repairing, it is advised to stay by the window in the middle section in case of stray tank fire into the doors. Tanks given a line of sight can also shoot far into the building and even hit the MCT for additional damage if either teammates or enemies hold doors open, encouraging focus on keeping the doors shut when not in use.
The ramp, either towards the bottom or middle, can be mined to prevent enemy rooftop access. This allows aerial vehicles to land on it for relatively safe repairs, so long as mines are kept in place, and enemy aerial vehicles that pass overhead result in a sweep of the rooftop for any hiding enemies.
Trivia
- It is possible to drive a ground vehicle up to the roof through the Flying version's ramps. It is not advised as most servers will ban you for doing this.
- The Weapons Factory prefab lacks the Vehicle blocking volume in the SDK. Most mappers tend to place the blocking volume themselves. If left alone, it is possible to go through the doors with either a Humvee or a Buggy. This also reveals that the doors of the buildings have no collision with the vehicle.