Thirty-one distinct upgrades in Global Ordnance: The Iron Fist, spread across sixteen units — forty-eight upgrade slots in total, since several of them appear on more than one unit. Each entry below lists what the upgrade does and the exact numbers it moves.
Upgrades are bought per unit during a match. Open a unit from the build menu and its upgrade screen shows everything available to it; most units offer two to four. They are earned by playing — nothing on this page is for sale.
Aircraft upgrades are in the game but their in-game cards are not written yet, so they are not documented here — which is why the game itself counts more upgrades than this page does. Figures are correct as of update v1.15. Balance moves most weeks, so if a number here disagrees with the game, trust the game and tell us.
Firepower upgrades
Damage, rate of fire, range and payload. Fifteen of the thirty-one upgrades in Global Ordnance sit here, and they are usually the ones that decide a stalled push.
Pneumatic Auto Loader
Replaces the standard loading assembly with a high-speed pneumatic system, cutting dwell time between shots. On the Ferret it drops the reload from 1.2s to 0.8s; on the Mammoth Tank, from 2.5s to 2.2s.
Available on: Ferret, Mammoth Tank
Armor-Piercing Shells
Swaps standard ordnance for armour-piercing kinetic shells built to punch through composite plating. Lifts the Light Tank from 15% to 18.5% damage and the Cannon from 22% to 25%.
Available on: Light Tank, Artillery, Cannon
Depleted Uranium Shells
Kinetic shells with pyrophoric properties. Past the armour penetration, they leave a wake of low-level ionizing radiation. Switches the Heavy Tank over to nuclear shells.
Available on: Heavy Tank
High-Explosive Shells
Volatile explosive shells tuned for structures rather than armour. Raises Artillery damage against the enemy HQ from 30% to 35%.
Available on: Artillery
High-Explosive Ammo
Anti-air rounds with high-yield fragmentation charges and proximity fuses that spread the blast across a wider engagement volume. Increases area of damage by 25%.
Available on: Anti-Air Truck, Anti-Air Gun
Armor-Piercing Ammo
Armour-piercing shards designed to shred internal engine parts, so a single burst can cripple an aircraft outright. Raises air damage from 20% to 25%.
Available on: Anti-Air Truck, Anti-Air Gun
Refit Scope
Upgraded high-magnification lenses let the unit track and engage targets far beyond standard visual range. Sets effective range from 205 m to 220 m.
Available on: Artillery, Cremator, Cannon
Extra Ammunition
Advanced packing techniques increase the payload the unit carries into a fight. Doubles the Mammoth Tank’s ammo capacity.
Available on: Mammoth Tank
More Missiles
More tubes, more rockets, more glory. Raises the number of missiles launched per attack and doubles the Cremator MLRS ammo capacity.
Available on: Cremator
“Redhead” Missiles
Lithium-phosphorus missiles whose propellant burns a distinct crimson, delivering a payload that melts armour. Takes damage from 40% to 45% on both the Cremator and the Rocket Bunker.
Available on: Cremator, Rocket Bunker
Rapid Missile Reload Protocol
Bypasses standard cooling and safety protocols to force the next missile into the tube immediately. Halves the Cremator MLRS reload time.
Available on: Cremator
Mounted Machine Gun
A rapid-fire machine gun bolted to the roof, made for shredding unarmoured targets and much weaker against armour. Takes the Recon SUV from 0% to 2% damage.
Available on: Recon SUV
Small Rocket Launcher
A compact rapid-fire rocket launcher on the main chassis, adding a real offensive sting to a scout. Takes the Recon SUV from 2% to 12% damage.
Available on: Recon SUV
Saboteur
Puts a demolition expert in the vehicle. Raises the Recon SUV’s damage against the enemy HQ from 5% to 22%.
Available on: Recon SUV
Grinder
Interlocking serrated blades on the forward hull turn the vehicle into a mobile shredder for frontline breakthroughs.
Available on: Medium Tank
Armour and survivability upgrades
Plating, evasion and countermeasures. Cheaper than replacing a dead unit, and the evasion upgrades scale better than raw armour against massed fire.
Top Armor
High-tensile steel plating worked into the existing frame. Deflects some ballistic fire without costing the unit its speed. Takes Light Tank armour from 100% to 150%, and it stacks with Sack Barricades — take both and the bonuses add up.
Available on: Light Tank
Sack Barricades
Ballistic nylon sacks filled with aggregate, forming a defensive perimeter around the hull and cutting incoming damage. In-game text lists 100% to 150% armour on every unit that offers it. On the Light Tank it stacks with Top Armor.
Available on: Light Tank, Medium Tank, Heavy Tank
Armor Plating
Heavy-gauge tungsten-steel plates bolted to the bunker’s exterior frame. Raises Rocket Bunker armour from 150% to 200%.
Available on: Rocket Bunker
Camouflage
Disruptive patterning across the unit’s exterior breaks up its silhouette against both optical tracking and enemy targeting systems. The enemy misses at least 40% of the time.
Available on: Medium Tank
Smoke Bombs
High-pressure canisters release a localized chemical fog. Anything inside the perimeter is obscured from visual and radar tracking. The enemy misses at least 30% of the time.
Available on: Ferret, Recon SUV
Experimental Laser Missile Deflector
An experimental deflection system that automatically destroys a portion of incoming missiles before they land.
Available on: Mammoth Tank
Anti-Mine
HF ground-penetrating radar that identifies and safely neutralizes sub-surface explosives, letting the unit disarm enemy mines instead of driving into them.
Available on: Ferret, Heavy Tank
Mobility upgrades
Speed. In a game with no base building and a single screen, arriving first is frequently the whole engagement.
V30 Engine
Replaces the standard motor with a V30, sharply improving power-to-weight. Takes the Light Tank from 100 to 120 u/h.
Available on: Light Tank
Special Fuel
Swaps diesel for a volatile spirit-based compound that pushes the engine past its designed safety tolerances. Takes the Medium Tank from 63 to 90 u/h.
Available on: Medium Tank
Titanium Gears
Lightweight titanium transmission parts. Takes Artillery from 35 to 45 u/h, which is the difference between arriving and arriving late.
Available on: Artillery
Nuclear Propulsion Engine
Replaces combustion with a self-contained nuclear plant built to sustain higher speeds. Takes the Mammoth Tank from 35 to 45 u/h.
Available on: Mammoth Tank
Mines and traps
Area denial. These are laid before the fight reaches them, which makes them the most map-dependent upgrades in the game.
Anti-Tank Mine
A heavy-duty shaped charge aimed at the vulnerable underbelly of armoured and unarmoured vehicles alike. Lays an ordinary anti-tank mine dealing 50% damage.
Available on: Supply Truck, Detonator
Nuclear Anti-Tank Mine
A mine packed with unstable nuclear material; the detonation vaporizes the target and leaves the area irradiated. Deals 65% damage.
Available on: Supply Truck, Detonator
Booby Trap
Pressure-sensitive explosives laid for perimeter security, creating a localized blast zone that catches enemy vehicles moving through it.
Available on: Tank Barricade, Rocket Bunker
Economy upgrades
Income. Both live on the Radar Truck and both stack.
Spy
Recruits an operative with passive income capabilities, feeding a steady trickle back to your treasury. Adds 100 credits every 4 seconds.
Available on: Radar Truck
More Spies
A cadre of elite black-market hackers bolstering the siphoning operation already running. Adds another 100 credits every 4 seconds.
Available on: Radar Truck
Which unit gets which upgrade
Sixteen units currently have upgrade paths. Every unit in the game, with full stats and costs, is on the unit roster.
- Ferret — Anti-Mine, Pneumatic Auto Loader, Smoke Bombs
- Light Tank — V30 Engine, Top Armor, Armor-Piercing Shells, Sack Barricades
- Medium Tank — Special Fuel, Camouflage, Grinder, Sack Barricades
- Heavy Tank — Anti-Mine, Depleted Uranium Shells, Sack Barricades
- Artillery — Refit Scope, High-Explosive Shells, Armor-Piercing Shells, Titanium Gears
- Mammoth Tank — Nuclear Propulsion Engine, Pneumatic Auto Loader, Extra Ammunition, Experimental Laser Missile Deflector
- Recon SUV — Mounted Machine Gun, Small Rocket Launcher, Smoke Bombs, Saboteur
- Supply Truck — Anti-Tank Mine, Nuclear Anti-Tank Mine
- Detonator — Anti-Tank Mine, Nuclear Anti-Tank Mine
- Anti-Air Truck — High-Explosive Ammo, Armor-Piercing Ammo
- Cremator — Refit Scope, More Missiles, “Redhead” Missiles, Rapid Missile Reload Protocol
- Radar Truck — Spy, More Spies
- Tank Barricade — Booby Trap
- Cannon — Refit Scope, Armor-Piercing Shells
- Rocket Bunker — Booby Trap, “Redhead” Missiles, Armor Plating
- Anti-Air Gun — High-Explosive Ammo, Armor-Piercing Ammo
Upgrades not listed here yet
Six of the seven aircraft — the Interceptor, Light Bomber, Zero, Strike Jet, Heavy Bomber and Apocalypse — do have upgrade paths in the game, but their in-game cards have not been written yet, so they are not documented above. They go on this page as soon as they exist.
The Airship and the V2 Ballistic Missile have no upgrades at present. Both are planned.
Play Global Ordnance: The Iron Fist
Global Ordnance: The Iron Fist is a free fixed-camera mobile RTS with no base building — you research and deploy from a single screen while the fight is already happening. It updates weekly, or every other week at worst.
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