Forty-eight distinct upgrades in Global Ordnance: The Iron Fist, spread across twenty-eight units — ninety-two 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 have their own section at the end. Their in-game cards now publish figures for most of them, and those figures are included. The few that still state no number are listed without one. Everything here is correct as of update v1.21; the Tsar and Wasp upgrades are from update v1.23. 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. Seventeen of the forty-eight 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, Trident, Tsar, Wasp
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 the Cannon from 22% to 25%, the Sniper Tank from 75% to 105% and the Hammer Tank from 100% to 110%. On the Sniper Tank it cannot be combined with Shellbangs. Since 1.23 the two shell types are exclusive: fit one and the other is removed.
Available on: Light Tank, Artillery, Cannon, Trident, Sniper Tank, Hammer Tank
Shellbangs
Packs each shell with a blinding magnesium charge that detonates on impact. Hits knock out the enemy crew instead of damaging the vehicle, and the Sniper Tank skips targets that are already knocked out. Deals no damage by design, and cannot be combined with Armor-Piercing Shells. Since 1.23 the two shell types are exclusive: fit one and the other is removed.
Available on: Sniper Tank
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, Tsar
High-Explosive Shells
Volatile explosive shells tuned for structures rather than armour. Raises Artillery damage against the enemy HQ from 30% to 35%, and the Hammer Tank from 70% to 80%.
Available on: Artillery, Hammer Tank
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 the Anti-Air Truck’s air damage from 20% to 25%. On the Anti-Air Gun it adds 10%, and 30% once the crew is promoted.
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, Hammer Tank
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
AA Mount
A flak gun bolted on top of the Tsar. It makes the Tsar the only tank in the game that can shoot back at aircraft, so enemy planes no longer get a free pass over your heaviest armour.
Available on: Tsar
A new way to shoot: the arc
Until update 1.23, every gun in Global Ordnance fired in a straight line at something it could see. The Mortar and the Molotov are the first two weapons in this game that throw. The shell or the bottle climbs, flies over your own line and your own units, and comes down on the target. That changes what a small unit can do: the Wasp hits what it cannot see, lobs over a wall of friendly armour, and with the Molotov it keeps throwing while it moves. Fit the Mortar and Knockout Shells ride the same arc.
Both weapons sit on one shared piece of engineering: the same arc, aimed ahead of a moving target, under the shell and the bottle. It was built to be reused, and it will give birth to more units and guns that fire the same way.
Mortar
Swaps the Wasp’s bazooka for a mortar, and the scooter stops being a skirmisher and becomes artillery on two wheels. It lobs shells over your own line from a safe distance and never has to see what it hits. The Wasp is the only unit in the game that can swap its main gun, and fitting the Mortar makes a fifth upgrade appear: Knockout Shells.
Available on: Wasp · $300
Knockout Shells
A blinding, stunning round for the Mortar. Whatever it lands on stands there dazed while your tanks finish the job, and aircraft flying through the flash are blinded as well. It only appears once the Mortar is fitted.
Available on: Wasp (needs the Mortar) · $250
Molotov
Throws fire at anything close, even on the move. The bottle flies in an arc like the mortar shell, so the Wasp keeps riding while it fights.
Available on: Wasp · $200
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. Adds a +50 armor layer to the Light Tank (0 to +50), 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. Adds a +50 armor layer on every unit that offers it. On the Light Tank it stacks with Top Armor.
Available on: Light Tank, Medium Tank, Heavy Tank, Anti-Air Truck, Anti-Air Gun
Armor Plating
Heavy-gauge tungsten-steel plates bolted to the bunker’s exterior frame. Raises Rocket Bunker armor from +50 to +100.
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, Sniper 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. On the Hammer Tank it goes from 50 to 65 u/h.
Available on: Artillery, Hammer Tank
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. The Trident’s card names it Land Mine — it is the same upgrade.
Available on: Supply Truck, Detonator, Trident
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, Wasp (its wreck becomes the mine)
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
Aircraft upgrades
Twelve upgrades across the seven aircraft that have them. Seven now carry figures taken from the in-game cards. Chaff, Flash Bomb, Radar Scrambler, Aircraft Nitro and 2x Missiles describe an effect rather than a number, so they are listed without one.
Armor-Piercing Ammo (Aircraft)
Harder rounds for the aircraft’s guns, tuned to punch through plating rather than skin it. Adds 15% damage. This is a separate upgrade from the ground-based Armor-Piercing Ammo carried by anti-air units, despite the shared name.
Available on: Interceptor, Corsair, Heavy Bomber
Rockets
Small rockets mounted on the airframe, turning a gun pass into a strike pass. Adds 40% damage on the Interceptor. The Corsair carries them as Twin Rockets: two per pass, one from under each wing, where the Interceptor fires one.
Available on: Interceptor, Corsair
High-Explosive Bomb
Swaps the standard bomb for a high-explosive one with a wider blast radius, aimed at clustered targets rather than a single vehicle. Adds 30% damage.
Available on: Light Bomber, Strike Jet, Heavy Bomber
Incendiary Bombs
Replaces the payload with incendiaries, trading concentrated blast for fire that keeps working after the impact. Burns for 2% damage per second.
Available on: Heavy Bomber
Extra Payload
A heavier charge on the Zero’s terminal dive. The aircraft only ever makes one delivery, so the upgrade goes into making that delivery count. Wider blast radius and 50% more damage.
Available on: Zero
Long Range Missile
A stand-off missile that softens the target before the bomb arrives, so a single sortie can finish something that would survive one hit. Adds 30% damage, and the missile usually reaches the target before the bomb does.
Available on: Strike Jet
2x Missiles
A second long-range missile under the other wing. The Twin Bomber opens every run with one long-range missile as standard. With this upgrade it fires two per pass, both from beyond the target’s sight, so what the first one cracks the second one finishes.
Available on: Twin Bomber
Upgraded Armor
Plating worked in over the crew and engine so the aircraft finishes its run instead of turning back halfway. The Light Bomber’s card puts it at 20% more defense.
Available on: Light Bomber, Zero, Heavy Bomber
Chaff
Scatters metallic debris that blinds enemy anti-air guns and knocks them offline for a window.
Available on: Interceptor, Corsair, Zero, Twin Bomber
Flash Bomb
A blinding charge that leaves everything inside the blast radius unable to engage. The card does not commit to a duration.
Available on: Interceptor, Corsair, Strike Jet
Radar Scrambler
Jams the enemy radar picture, denying them the tracking that interception depends on. Expensive and situational, and decisive when the enemy is flying.
Available on: Strike Jet, Twin Bomber
Aircraft Nitro
A burst of airspeed on demand. As much a survivability upgrade as a mobility one — less time inside the engagement envelope is fewer chances to be hit.
Available on: Light Bomber, Zero
Which unit gets which upgrade
Twenty-eight 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
- Trident — Anti-Tank Mine, Pneumatic Auto Loader, Armor-Piercing Shells
- Sniper Tank — Camouflage, Armor-Piercing Shells, Shellbangs
- Hammer Tank — Refit Scope, High-Explosive Shells, Armor-Piercing Shells, Titanium Gears
- Tsar — Pneumatic Auto Loader, Depleted Uranium Shells, AA Mount
- Recon SUV — Mounted Machine Gun, Small Rocket Launcher, Smoke Bombs, Saboteur
- Wasp — Mortar, Knockout Shells, Molotov, Booby Trap, Pneumatic Auto Loader
- 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, Sack Barricades
- Cremator — Refit Scope, More Missiles, “Redhead” Missiles, Rapid Missile Reload Protocol
- Radar Truck — Spy, More Spies
- Interceptor — Armor-Piercing Ammo, Chaff, Flash Bomb, Rockets
- Corsair — Armor-Piercing Ammo, Chaff, Flash Bomb, Twin Rockets
- Light Bomber — Aircraft Nitro, High-Explosive Bomb, Upgraded Armor
- Twin Bomber — 2x Missiles, Chaff, Radar Scrambler
- Zero — Aircraft Nitro, Chaff, Extra Payload, Upgraded Armor
- Strike Jet — Long Range Missile, High-Explosive Bomb, Flash Bomb, Radar Scrambler
- Heavy Bomber — Armor-Piercing Ammo, High-Explosive Bomb, Incendiary Bombs, Upgraded Armor
- 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, Sack Barricades
Upgrades not listed here yet
The Apocalypse has no upgrade path. It carries one nuclear payload, cannot be intercepted, and is spent on delivery — there is nothing on it to improve.
The Airship and the V2 Ballistic Missile have no upgrades at present. Both are planned.
Five of the twelve aircraft upgrades still have no figure: Chaff, Flash Bomb, Radar Scrambler, Aircraft Nitro and 2x Missiles. Their cards state what each one does but not how much it moves, so those entries describe the effect only.
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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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