Superweapon Beacon

Superweapon Beacons in Renegade X are portable satellite uplink devices that will call in the faction's respective Superweapon attack (Ion Cannon for Global Defense Initiative and Nuclear Strike for Brotherhood of Nod) to the designated location when deployed. They can be purchased at any Purchase Terminal from the equipment menu.

Appearance

GDI

The Global Defense Initiative beacon is a large cylindrical object with four handles to carry it around with a number pad to activate the beacon.

NOD

The Brotherhood of Nod beacon is a slim cylindrical object able to be carried around in one hand with a number pad to activate the beacon.

Usage

Superweapon strikes will instantly kill any Infantry, destroy any Vehicle and Buildings in their area of effect.

Superweapon Beacons are usually employed to instantly destroy a building, bypassing any armor or health value the building retained. While beneficial, this also makes most beacon placements predictable. The beacon also emits loud beep, giving away its' general position. The Nuclear Strike beacon arguably has the loudest beep.

They can also be placed as decoy in order to distract the opponents, gaining some time, and hopefully persuade them to pull back their assault for a short period, since the opponent faction's player will most likely run around their base trying to spot the beacon. However, excessive setting of decoy beacons, also denominated "fake planting", is a strategy frowned upon due to the annoyance that it creates for all the players, mostly on the faction with the player setting the decoy beacons, since they could spend their Credits elsewhere, such as infantry, vehicles, or Airstrikes, or donate them to teammates in need of credits.

Inexperienced players, mostly being Stealth Black Hands will often try to plant a beacon in the enemy base and try to cover it by themselves, usually resulting in them being shot and the beacon being disarmed. This will also give the opponent team lots of points, which can be problematic in a All-Out-War match.

It is advised to have teammates as cover and Vehicles to move in when deploying beacons, in order to provide more protection to it. Another way is to plant the beacon and while the opponent's Engineers are disarming it, tanks will fire on building that are not being repaired and possibly bringing them down.

Setting up the beacon

Bought beacons take 4 seconds to deploy, with players needing to stand still while deploying. When deployed, it enters a locking-on phase lasting 50 seconds, and it will broadcast a warning about the beacon to every player. Enemy team has to disarm the beacon with Engineers, Advanced Engineers or Repair Tool to safely avert the danger within the first 40 seconds after deployment; should they succeed, an announcement will be broadcasted once more.

The last ten seconds is the point of no return, in which beacons are no longer disarmable.

Ion Cannon Beacon

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  Ion Cannon Beacon

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  Ion in undisarmable phase

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  Ion Cannon charging up

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  Ion Cannon strike

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  Post static effect caused by the Ion Cannon

GDI's Superweapon beacon, when successfully uploaded, will transmit the coordinates to the Ion Cannon satellite in orbit around the planet, which will charge its ordinance and fire it upon the beacon's location. After the ten second mark, small blue and white beams will start to appear near the beacon, before a larger one descends from the sky, gradually charging up. On the zero, the beam will widen up and generate an huge white explosion with static lightning afterwards.

Nuclear Strike Beacon

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  Nuclear Strike Beacon

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  Nuke in undisarmable phase

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  Nuclear warhead falling down

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  Nuclear explosion

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  Post mushroom cloud effect after the explosion

Nod's Superweapon beacon, when successfully uploaded, will transmit the coordinates to the nearest Temple of Nod, which will commence the launch of its nuclear warhead towards the beacon's location. After the ten second mark, the warhead can be seen dropping from the sky, closing in as the counter goes on. On the zero, the warhead will explode and release the classical fallout of a big mushroom cloud in the air.

Trivia

• Sometimes, when players participating in organized matches are in the "waiting room" map, waiting for the actual match to be set up, their commanders, in good humor, will tell everyone to buy a Superweapon beacon and to meet everyone in a defined spot. On their signal, every player will plant the beacon in the designated area and wait for all the Ion Cannons/Nuclear Strikes to strike in order to enjoy the fireworks.
  • This can also be used for determining how many players are willing to listen to their commanders in organized matches.