Infantry
Infantry is the characters that each players play in Renegade X. When players start, or die and respawn, they start out as a Soldier, and change to other free infantry, or upgrade to advanced infantry, or purchase a vehicle
Function
Infantry is purchased at any Purchase Terminal, and are instantly granted to the player upon purchase. As each faction has their own infantry production structure, so too do they have their own unique infantry.
Another way to acquire infantry is from claiming Mystery Crates, which can change the player's current infantry into another type without needing to spend Credits. On certain instances, players could receive a Spy from a Mystery Crate instead, essentially granting them an infantry from their opposite faction.
The Global Defense Initiative have a focus on vehicles, but use infantry that focus on specific roles and uses:
- Soldier (Free)
- Shotgunner (Free)
- Grenadier (Free)
- Marksman (Free)
- Engineer (Free)
- Officer (175)
- Rocket Soldier (225)
- McFarland (250)
- Deadeye (500)
- Gunner (400)
- Patch (450)
- Havoc (1000)
- Sydney (1000)
- Mobius (1000)
- Hotwire (350)
The Brotherhood of Nod have a focus on infantry, that rivals the threat of GDI tanks:
- Soldier (Free)
- Shotgunner (Free)
- Flame Trooper (Free)
- Marksman (Free)
- Engineer (Free)
- Officer (175)
- Rocket Soldier (225)
- ChemTrooper (150)
- Black Hand Sniper (500)
- Stealth Black Hand (400)
- Laser Chaingunner (450)
- Sakura (1000)
- Raveshaw (1000)
- Mendoza (1000)
- Technician (350)
Strategy
Infantry do not usually have the lifespan of vehicles. However, infantry provide support to keep tanks and structures alive, as well as killing enemy tank support and repairmen. They can also commit to low-profile attacks on structures, targeting either the outside or infiltrating the inside.
Infantry has sprint ability and differing maximum speed.
Attacking
Infantry rely on short, quick, damaging attacks on structures. As such, they either need to infiltrate and place Timed C4 on the Master Control Terminal, or hit the outside with a large infantry mass.
Communicating with the team can gather enough numbers to threaten a building with a low-profile attack, either on the outside or by infiltration. Numbers can provide safety against enemies in gunfights, as well as variety of firepower. Officers can defend anti-tank infantry and can also use a Smoke Grenade to get past a base defense structure and into an enemy structure.
Infantry can especially be threatening in tandem with a vehicle strike. If vehicles can attack a structure or rush into the enemy base, it can deflect attention away from few or many allied infantry also slipping into an enemy building while the enemies are elsewhere dealing with cavalry instead.
If not seen, an Engineer can slip into an enemy base and do high damage to a Master Control Terminal all in a single moment. Furthermore, a Hotwire or Technician can instantly destroy a building if all their c4 successfully detonate. This too can be done in tandem with cavalry if a vehicle is used to draw attention of base defenses to make an opening.
Any infantry can be threatening when infiltrating an enemy structure. Officers and other anti-personnel infantry can kill infantry defenders. Alternatively, Rocket Soldiers and other anti-tank infantry can take more mines before dying and do more damage to structures. All infantry small-arms fire do decent damage to the Master Control Terminal, especially coupled with the damage from the 1 Timed C4 carried by all infantry.
Infantry can also purchase and deploy a Superweapon Beacon. These must be defended for 40 seconds, but can destroy enemy buildings if planted anywhere in very close range. This is sometimes the most necessary option if the enemy is left cluttering a single structure in defense. Be aware that defusing a superweapon beacon awards 200 points, important if the score between teams is close.
Infantry can also utilize Airstrikes to force tanks to retreat or strip them of their repairmen, leaving an advantage for allied tanks to push them back or destroy them. These can also, if well timed, interfere with repairmen running between buildings to respond to needs of structure repair.
Defending
Some infantry serve as cheap alternatives to defend against enemy tanks. Rocket Soldier, Gunner, Laser Chaingunner, and to a lesser degree, even Patch and Stealth Black Hand can be options to do sufficient damage to tanks. Classes that are designed to counter tanks, also usually have Flak armor to survive tank shells and explosions easier, as well as Anti Tank Mines to destroy invading tanks at chokepoint entrances to the base. Be aware that AT Mines disappear upon death.
Proximity C4 are the infantry equivalent to mines. They have a team limit, can be used to defend structure doorways, and when placed, a team that carefully watches their mine limit can know if enemies are infiltrating when the number of mines suddenly go down. When the mines go down, check each building to make sure there are no enemy laying in wait to destroy the Master Control Terminal, and re-mine where the proximity c4 went missing.
Basic and advanced engineer classes are more vulnerable to combat classes. Responding to an enemy infiltration of a structure, may require anti-personnel infantry to kill the invaders. Repair infantry may not be enough to respond to invaders on a larger scale.
GDI-Specific: When base defenses don't exist, are light, or have been destroyed, keep on the look out for Stealth Black Hand, as they can infiltrate or plant Superweapon Beacons in your base easily since they are cloaked. Automatic fire weapons can be used to sweep the base, hitmarkers and flickering light reveal that you have hit an SBH or Stealth Tank, so you can alert your team before they cause any harm.
If an enemy holds a strong presence in the field or attacking your base, then it can be assumed that they have a lighter presence inside their own base. Mass infantry group attack tend to shine when used in counter attacks like these. It can flip the game to take down a building while the enemy has left their base to focus on field offense. A Smoke Grenade can assist the group of infantry by preventing any existing base defenses from firing on them while they get to an enemy structure.
Trivia
- It is possible to stand on vehicles as infantry, as well as be intentionally pushed in front of them for a ride. This is not frowned upon by servers, as long as it isn't used to climb terrain that is not intended to be climbed.
- When holding a repair gun, the console command "StartFire 0" can be used to toggle to continuously fire it, so you don't have to hold the mouse button as long to repair structures under fire.