Unit | Old version(s) | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
“ | I am but a student. | ” |
—A humble Initiate |
The Initiate is the basic infantry of the Epsilon Army, capable of starting fires with their mind.
Official description[]
Whether actually convinced Yuri will bring about a better world or mind-controlled and forced to do his bidding, Initiates are fiercely loyal to the Epsilon cause. They consist mostly of ordinary soldiers augmented with psychic apparatuses that allow them to create and manipulate fire with thought alone. This allows Initiates to ignite enemy infantry with ease and even put the heat on lightly armored vehicles. Initiates can garrison civilian buildings for protection against bigger threats.[1]
Overview[]
For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.
The Initiate is the basic Epsilon Army infantry unit. Only capable of dealing light damage to anything besides infantry, Initiates are nonetheless necessary because of their low cost and decent damage output.
Despite being a basic infantry, Initiates are quite strong on their own. They are capable of handling infantries and light vehicles in groups. They can beat the Soviet Conscript and Allied GI in a one-on-one matchup but will lose to the Foehn Knightframe.
To improve their combat potential, they can garrison in civilian buildings like their anti-armor counterpart the Archer. However, unlike in the original game, their rate of fire is slower and their firepower is far less effective against vehicles.
Unfortunately, they can't last too long. Despite being stronger than their Allied and Soviet equivalents, they can't handle vehicles with anti-personnel weapon and specialized anti-infantry units.
AI behavior[]
Initiates controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
All difficulties[]
- 1x loaded inside an Opus Tank, then proceed to enter a Tank Bunker
- This task force may be accompanied by 1 additional Opus Tank with the same passenger
- 3x guarding Inferno Towers, Tank Bunkers and Gatling Cannons, accompanied by 1 Spook and 3 Archers
- This task force will only be constructed if a Pandora Hub is not present
- 3x guarding Radar Spire, accompanied by 3 Epsilon Adepts/Elites, 3 Archers and 2 Brutes
- 3x guarding friendly base, accompanied by 2 Spooks and 3 Archers
- This task force will only be constructed if a Pandora Hub is not present
- 5x guarding Epsilon Barracks, accompanied by 2 Epsilon Adepts/Elites and 3 Archers
- 5x garrisoning structures, accompanied by 5 Archers
- 6x targeting infantry, accompanied by 2 Spooks
- This task force will only be constructed if a Radar Spire is not present
- 8x targeting infantry
- This task force will only be constructed if a Synthesis Vault is not present
Appearances[]
“ | You will have one of the first Initiate squads at your disposal. | ” |
—Epsilon intel during Operation: Killing Fields |
Act One[]
- Initiates first appear in Killing Fields, where a squad of them is tasked with freeing Scorpion Cell leader Rashidi from a prison of the Latin Confederation. Before this mission, Initiates don't exist, and the Initiate survivors that emerge from a destroyed or sold building are replaced with Conscripts or GIs depending on the mission.
- From Killing Fields onwards, Initiates gradually replace Conscripts as the basic infantry of PsiCorps, and later the Epsilon Army. In Moonlight, Initiates are trainable from the Soviet Barracks (replacing Conscripts), before the Epsilon Construction Yard and Epsilon Barracks existed.
Assessment[]
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Behind the scenes[]
- Prior to Version 3.3.6, the Initiate's elite weapon flame animation was blue-colored, before being replaced by an orange one which only has lower contrast than the default flame animation.
See also[]
External links[]
- Initiate on the Command & Conquer Wiki