Command & Conquer (HTML5)

Overview

Dragging a rectangle around a cluster of tanks, then pointing them at an enemy structure, is the gesture that drives every minute of this browser-based recreation of Command & Conquer: Tiberian Dawn. Aditya Ravi Shankar rebuilt the entire real-time-strategy loop of the 1995 Westwood original in HTML5 and JavaScript as a technical proof of concept — base construction, a tiberium economy, fog of war, an AI opponent, and a sidebar that queues new units and structures as your tech expands. You deploy a Mobile Construction Vehicle, raise a power plant and a refinery, send harvesters out to gather tiberium for credits, then translate that income into infantry and light tanks capable of leveling the opposing base. Assets and audio are drawn from Tiberian Dawn itself, so the look lands close to the source, and the whole thing renders on a single canvas with no plugin. It appeals to anyone who wants the classic Westwood build-and-attack rhythm in a browser tab, and to developers curious about how the moving parts of an RTS are actually assembled.

How to Play

The goal is to destroy the enemy base before its units and the map pressure overrun yours. Left-click a unit to select it, or hold and drag to draw a selection box across several units at once; Shift-click adds more units to the current selection. With a selection active, left-click a destination tile to move and left-click an enemy unit or building to attack it — the classic Westwood single-button scheme, with no right-click action to learn. Push the cursor to a screen edge to pan the map. Press Ctrl plus a digit (0–9) to bind a control group, then tap the digit alone to reselect it instantly. On the right sidebar, click a structure or unit icon to start building; once the Construction Yard finishes one item, further options unlock. To open a match, deploy your MCV where you want the base, then raise a power plant and a refinery before anything military.

Tips & Strategy

Build economy before army. Your first three structures after the Construction Yard should be a power plant, a refinery, and a second harvester, because one harvester cycling tiberium at 700 credits a trip cannot fund a sustained push, and queuing units you cannot afford only stalls the timer once the money runs out. Bind your tank column to one control group and a scout pair to another so you can reselect them mid-fight without hunting the map. Escort the harvesters once the AI starts raiding the tiberium fields, because a lost harvester opens a long income gap. Repair damaged structures rather than letting them fall, and sell anything you cannot hold — the refund beats a building the enemy will claim for free. Group tanks so they concentrate fire, never feed units into a defended base one at a time, and pan the edges often: under fog of war, the fight you did not see coming is the one that ends the run.