Red Alert Add-levels & Utilities

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============================= Command & Conquer: Red Alert Unit Listing & Tactic Guide ============================= Written by Jouni Kotakorpi yhpjoko@info1.info.tampere.fi ============================= Table of contents 1.0 Unit & Stucture listing 1.1 Soviet units & structures 1.1.1 Soviet infantry 1.1.2 Soviet vehicles 1.1.3 Soviet air & sea units 1.1.4 Soviet structures 1.2 Allied units & structures 1.2.1 Allied infantry 1.2.2 Allied vehicles 1.2.3 Allied air & sea units 1.2.4 Allied structures 2.0 Special forces 2.1 Soviet special forces 2.3 Allied special forces 3.0 Tactics 3.1 Soviet tactics 3.1.1 Infantry tactics 3.1.2 Vehicle tactics 3.1.3 Air unit tactics 3.1.4 Naval unit tactics 3.1.5 Structure tactics 3.1.6 Iron curtain & Nuke tactics 3.1.7 Other tactics 3.2 Allied tactics 3.2.1 Infantry tactics 3.2.2 Vehicle tactics 3.2.3 Air unit tactics 3.2.4 Naval unit tactics 3.2.5 Structure tactics 3.2.6 Chronosphere & Nuke tactics 3.2.7 Other tactics 3.3 Few words about Allies & Soviets and tactics overall 4.0 Miscellanous info 4.1 Glossary 4.2 Copyrights and Trademarks 4.3 Allkinds of stuff 4.4 Release date & version number 4.5 Credits Ok. This is a multiplayer strategy guide for Red Alert. I listed all the units and structures in the game and tried to find their strenghts and weaknesses. I also wrote lots of tips on different tactics and strategies. Some of the tactics have been released in some other guides or/and web pages, but thats the way it is. I'm not trying to create a new standard in tactic guides. (Standard is Roger Wong's "The Red Alert Internet Strategy Guide" which can be warmly recommended. Get it from www.netcomuk.co.uk/cncfaq) It was fun to write this guide and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. If you have Word for Windows, I highly recommend using it instead of reading this text file with Dos Edit or some other program. This .TXT file doesn't have nearly all updates I have made to .DOC version. DOC version is pretty final version, but this file is early version and if possible, use DOC version instead. Anyone who owns Win95 should have Wordpad which is fully capable of reading DOC version. If you encounter any problems with my expressions check out chapter 4.1 BTW: I can't really guarantee that my english is perfect (I'm Finnish) but it shouldn't bother you unless you are english teacher... 1.1 Soviet units & structures Soviet units typically have lots of firepower and they are at least moderately armored. They are also pretty slow. Their motto seems to be "Firepower goes first - no exceptions!" Every soviet unit causes brutal damage and can usually take lots of beating. 1.1.1 Soviet infantry Soviet commander doesn't really give infantry much priority, but you can't change the fact that Soviets have powerful infantry units and it's a crime not to use them. Rifle infantry The basic unit in the game. Riflemen can take lots of beating from tanks and turrets. One rifleman doesn't really do any good, but when you build five of them we are talking about useful strike squad when used correctly. Their concentrated fire is very effective against vehicles and structures. Riflemen make also good rocketmen terminators. It's a good idea to scatter these guys into your base to defend against engineer raids. Grenade infantry Grenadiers are more powerful version of riflemen. They can waste any other infantry unit in the game pretty quickly. Their grenades do also massive damage to buildings. Heavily armored vehicles like tanks tend to squish these guys effectivily. Grenadiers can be used in effective way early in the game by assaulting enemy base with large force of them and destroying the vital buildings. Grenadiers explode when they die so don't march your troops in too close formation; it's not fun at all to see half of your attack force get killed when one Grenadier dies. Flamethrower infantry Flamers are pretty strange unit. You need to build tech center to train these guys and when your tech center is up and running you are capable of producing virtually every important unit in the game. However, lets not get too depressed. Flamers can be also a real pain in the ass if you handle them right way. Their power is in their capability to inflict massive damage to buildings and infantry units. They are excellent base defenders especially when enemy makes an engineer raid. However their high cost (300) limits their possibilities greatly. I advise building Tanya instead. She costs over three times more but is more effective in every respect than three flamers. Flamers must be kept loners because they explode when destroyed Rocket infantry Perhaps one of the best weapons available, but only if you control them right way. They are easy prey for any infantry unit in the game. Many vehicles waste them easily too, but the attacking vehicle is bound to take lots of damage unless it attacks out from rocketmens range. Soviet commander can't afford overlooking his rocketmen unless his/her enemys are really stupid. Soviet units are really vulnerable when they move anywhere else, but their base. This threat is caused by Apaches (Of course Migs, Yaks, and Hinds too) The fact that only the Mammoth tank is capable of dropping down those Apaches which spread death and fear among your troops. Also the fact that Mammoths missiles suck against Apaches makes Rocketmen the only way of protecting your units from death-from-above Apaches. Rocketmen squad is also deadly weapon against tanks, but this shouldn't be really a prolblem when playing with Soviets. Of course they can help crushing those allied tanks, but this is often little too fatal for weak and expensive unit like Rocketmen. Engineer Engineers can take over enemy building that are damaged down to 75%. If the pointer arrows are red Engineer can only damage the building, if they are green building is yours if you just get there... Engineer can also "golden repair" own structures. You lose your engineer, but you may save you more valuable structure. Because captured enemy buildings are down to 98-99% damaged, It's good idea to "golden repair" them. Engineer is very weak unit and will get killed in combat almost instantly. Tanya Well, here's a tough lady. She can kill 3 soldiers every second. This means that she could kill worlds whole population in about five years... ;) Tanyas most useful ability however is her C-4 explosives. They blow up any kind of structure and getting Tanya inside your opponents base is a powerful way of attack. However, she isn't able to do anything to vehicles she encounters. (Of course you can fire at them with her Colts, but don't hope much success...) Attack Dog Attack dogs are real killers against any infantry unit which is moving or attacking. When infantry unit moves or attacks it is unable to protect itself from sharp jaws of this unit. But if dog gets attacked it usually gets killed instantly. Excellent targets for dogs are rocketmen, engineers, thieves, medics and of course: spies. Because the fact that spy looks like one of your own units and enemy can distract you with a fake attack and sneak spies inside it's good to have couple of mans best friends guarding your gates. Dogs can't be fooled by spies and they tear them apart in seconds and they do all this without being ordered to. 1.1.2 Soviet vehicles Soviet vehicles are the most destructive ground units in the game. Their tanks are tough to destroy and it's no surpise that they are Soviet players best weapon. V2 Rocket Launcher V2 has great range and a direct hit from it's rocket isn't a thing you want to go through. It's armor is considered weak, but it isn't really that bad, but still far too weak for letting any enemy unit too close. The main problem however is reload time (30 secs!!!). You can go to fridge and have something to eat before V2 shoots again. V2 is very powerful unit in both attack and defense. It's pretty easy to drop couple of those turrets/Teslas/AA-guns/Sam-sites... which hinder your attacks just by giving them three rockets each. In defense enemy will be pretty frustated to find his/her tanks get blown in pieces by concentrated rocket strike from large number of V2s. Always make sure V2 units have backup protection or they're toast. It is recommended to attack only stationary targets because V2 lacks in hitting moving units. Heavy Tank Soviet controls the best attack tank in the game. Heavies are moderately fast, they can take pretty much beating and most important of all, their two 105mm cannons provide them excellent firepower. Heavies don't really have weaknesses, except that they, just like all basic tanks, can't really beat up infantry. Use Heavies everywhere: attack, defense, base/ore truck raids and use them in packs of about eight tanks. Large Heavy tank mass rolling inside enemy base is very hard to stop. Mammoth Tank Mammoths are big, ugly and powerful: What else could you possibly want? They are perfection of ground warfare. This is normal opinion amongst many newbie multiplayers. I must inform you that it was my opinion too until I woke up to realize power of Heavies. This doesn't mean Heavies are better than Mammoths, not at all. Mammoths just are more defense units than offense. Their lack of speed makes them sitting ducks when moving alone without other units. Defend your base with your mammoths and I can guarantee that enemy isn't all that anxious to attack your base anymore. It's a good move to defend your orefields with these monsters. Their dual missile packs wipe infantry off from the face of the earth, same missiles protect Mammoths from Apaches and other air units. And if your Mammoth comes back from battle almost destroyed just let it sit in some safe corner and after a while it's healed itself up to 50%. Mammoth is a great unit but rarely more effective in attack than Heavy tank. AP Mine layer Soviet mine layer serves only one purpose: to mine your own base so any Tanya/Engineer/Thief invasion will surely fail. Ore truck Ore truck is the most important unit in the game and one of the most vulnerable ones too. Protect them from aerial srikes by Apaches, Hinds and especially Migs. Ore truck has heavy armor plating and moderate speed. If you get attacked by infantry and there aren't any other units in the ore field: Squish them with ore truck. Watch out for light/heavy tank raids. MCV Important unit. Allows you to spread your bases everywhere on the map. It's slow and must be protected carefully. Mammoths are best guards for MCV because they are just as slow as itself is and therefore they won't roll to target area and leave the slow MCV behind. Mammoths are also good against both infantry and other tanks. 1.1.3 Soviet air & sea units Soviet airpower is a deadly weapon. Soviets can strike fast and hard by their airplanes. In the sea soviets are concetrated into destroying Allied ships, not onshore bombardment. Mig Mig is another powerful weapon in Soviet arsenal. It's fast, really fast and it launches it's payload of three missiles in one second. Often when air defense starts firing it's too late to prevent Mig from firing it's missiles. Mig's armor is low and it's pretty easy to drop one so you should consider carefully if you want to exchange 1200 costing Mig or two into the building you are destroying. Six Migs is enough to destroy any unit or structure in the game. Just watch out for any rocketmen, it's very easy to miss couple of those guys which then drop your expensive Mig. Mig reloads in 8 seconds Yak Another aircraft owned by Soviets. However it isn't really effective in multiplayer games. But there are couple of reasons to get one or two of these planes: The main reason is Tanya/Engineer/Thief/Spy elimination. It's quite satisfying to wipe out any of those listed above and it gets better if opponent groups his/her engineers or some other valuable units in one place and Yak sends them straight to hell with its chaingun. Newbie players don't also always know that Yak is effective against buildings too, but it's slow speed makes it a practise target for enemy air defense. Yak reloads in 40 seconds. Hind I have heard lots of talk like "Only reason for Soviet player to build Helipad is to get Chinook" I don't really agree. Hind isn't that weak at all. It's main fault is it's speed, but that's about the only fault I can find. Hinds beat up weak units like artillery, V2, Ranger, APC, Mob. Gap Gen. and radar jammer easily and when you put more Hinds together, tanks and military structures (Turrets, Teslas...) shold fall easily in the concentrated fire from, lets say, six Hinds. However their low speed must be always remembered when planning an attack. Hind reloads in 30 seconds. Chinook Chinook is capable of being real pain in the ass for enemy if you put it in good use. Main use for Chinook is to carry Tanya to her destination. Engineer/Thief raids are also great fun against opponent who has forgotten importance of heavy air defense. It gets even better when you give Chinook invulnerability with Iron Curtain. Imagine the panic invulnerable Chinook loaded with Tanyas cause when it lands on opponents backyard. Badger bomber Badger is slow and gets easily destroyed when crossing areas with lots of air defense. Submarine Allied players control seas, there's no doubt about that, but you can hinder them as much as you can with your subs. Torpedoes subs fire are pretty powerful if you score solid hits to midsections of enemy ships. Always attack as far as you can. That way you have better chances of surviving and destroying as much ships before diving again. Don't let your subs get hit. When sub gets hit it surfaces. I recommend putting your subs into "guard" mode, so they will attack any ship coming into their range. It's very easy to make some mistake and lost lots of subs when attacking ships but practise makes perfect. Transport Transport is one of those units which some players overlook and classify it as "Neat, but no real purpose" Don't make this mistake and put Transports in good use. The speed of transport (Almost as fast as an Apache!) makes it a good scout. It's transport ability is great because it isn't limited to infantry units only. Imagine the destruction of Tanya or five Mammoths can create when they land inside enemy base... 1.1.4 Soviet structures Construction Yard Your most important building. Don't ever leave Construction yard undefended. Guard it with lots of air defense (SAM-sites, Rocketmen) Couple of Flame towers should stop even the bravest engineer or Tanya. Always build more Construction yards using MCV. It increases the speed of building structures. Build new construction yards away from your base so you can build new refineries and harvest ore from larger area. Ore Refinery Ore refinery is your another important structure. It's quite clear that you can't do anything if you don't have the money for it. You should build at least three refineries and two ore trucks for each. Leave some open space around refinery to avoid heavy traffic. Power plant Main rule when building power plants is to build "extra ones". They are cheap and you won't have to think if the Tesla coil you are placing will stop energy production. Second and more important reason is if couple of your power plants get nuked or destroyed in attack it doesn't cripple you for minute or two. Don't ever build more than two power plants in the same area. This minimalizes destruction nuke causes. Advanced power plant This building produces more energy, is smaller and cheaper than two normal power plants. However it's easier to knock out single structure than two. Still, I advise to build strictly advanced ones. Ore silo Some newbie players may build all their silos in one place. Sure, rows of same buildings look nice, but your opponent likes to see them all get wasted in combination of a-bomb and normal attack. Losing your silo means that you lose all the ore stored in it. Make sure you don't run short in ore storing capacity; Any ore harvested is wasted if you can't store it! Barracks Barracks should be built right after power plant. This gives you at least some protection if you meet enemy right away. Build more barracks to increase unit training speed. Every new base should be equipped with barracks. Kennel Every new base should be equipped with kennel. It may sound funny, but if you are in the middle of rocketmen invasion you would give anything from couple of dogs to vaporize those pesky allies. Kennels also increase infantry building speed. War factory Every new base should be equipped with war factory. Building many war factories is a wise thing to do because every new war factory halves unit production time. Quick calculation tells that if you build a Heavy tank, it takes 48 seconds to complete, but if you have four war factories it will be ready in 6 seconds!!! Having lots of war factories also gives ability to bring new units where they are needed most by changing "primary building." Radar dome One of the most important buildings. You don't give it too much priority when it's up and running, but when something fails and radar screen disappears, you go nuts. Trying to control your units and base without radar is real nightmare. And you never really know if that gunfire comes from Cruisers which now massacre your units. This leaves you to a situation where you bounce from place to place trying keep things under control. And while you should notice those closing armies you are trying to find one of your ore trucks which accidently took a wrong turn somewhere. This is something you can't afford to let happen. Sometimes it can be a wise move to build two radar domes. Soviet Tech center Again, one important building. It allows you to build Mammoths, Tanyas, Nukes, Iron Curtain and Flamers. Build it as early as possible. Airfield When building airfields remember that in fact Mig costs 1800 because you need an airfield for it. Airfield has quite a heavy armor, but it doesn't protect planes from enemy fire. Because Mig and Yak both have very low armor don't let enemy too close to your airfields. Remember also that, airfields build planes by themself and building more war factories doesn't increase plane production at all. Paratrooper and Spy plane special abilities start charging when you build an airfield. Don't build Airfields in the same area or one Nuke can remove your all Migs with single strike!!! Helipad Helipad allows you to build Chinooks and Hinds. It's well protected. Place your helipads so that Hinds can access any part of map as fast as possible. Service depot Place service depot close to your front so units can be repaired quickly. If you have lots of damaged units, select large bunch of them and give them order to go to repair bay. Remember to repair even only slightly damaged Migs and Yaks because of their weak armor. Remember that you can sell units too by placing them into service depot and clicking them with "sell" icon. Service depot allows you to build MCV and is therefore very important in case you lose your Construction yard. Sub pen Repair your subs, they are weak units. Build more than one sub pen to increase sub/transport production speed. It's also a good idea to build Sub pens to different parts of seas. That way otherwise too slow subs can respond to threats quicker. Missile silo Guard this structure carefully. It's quite annoying to lose your almost ready nuke, just because missile silo got destroyed. Don't build more than one missile silo, You can't speed up production of nuke by building more silos, instead you can speed it up by making lots of power plants and therefore having much "useless" energy. Nuke is normally ready after 13 minutes. Missile silo has weak armor. Iron curtain Makes unit or structure invulnerable for damage. Effect lasts 45 seconds. Takes 11 minutes to recharge. Strucure itself is weakly armored. Tesla coil Tesla coils deliver death in form of sparkling electricity. They are the best protection against ground forces. They waste a light tank and every light unit with one shot. However their light arnouring and slow firing speed makes them vulnerable for enemy attacks. Especially from the air. Teslas must be protected with concrete walls. The more concrete wall in front of Tesla, the better. Flame tower They fire exploding fireballs which barbeque men effectivily and do adequate damage to vehicles too. Flame towers are moderately cheap and you should use them to defend your "backyard" against Tanyas/Engineers. Teslas may also require Flame tower protection. If you manage to capture one of enemy buildings, Flame tower is number one building to build inside enemy base. (after barracks) Sam-site These are sometimes your only defense against enemy airpower and you should build enough of these and place them so that they will drop planes when they are approaching your base, not when they are returning after destroying your Construction yard. However, don't leave any side undefended: It's very easy to attack from different direction. Two sam-missiles should be enough to drop plane. Choppers require five. Sam-sites are most effective when working in groups of two or three. Barbed wire fence It stops infantry and nontracked vehicles if they don't have any explosives (grenades and rockets). Tracked vehicles run over it easily. Concrete wall One of the most important things in the game. Tesla coils must be protected with it, it'll save credits. Even the Mammoth isn't able to bulldoze through this wall. Protect anything with importance by using concrete walls. 1.2 Allied units & structures Allied units trust into high mobility and some high tech units & structures. They have wide range of special infantry units. Naval warfare is one of the strong elements in Allied army. 1.2.1 Allied infantry Rifle infantry The basic unit in the game. Riflemen can take lots of beating from tanks and turrets. One rifleman doesn't really do any good, but when you build five of them we are talking about useful strike squad when used correctly. Their concentrated fire is very effective against vehicles and structures. Riflemen make also good rocketmen terminators. It's a good idea to scatter these guys into your base to defend against engineer raids. Rifle infantry is only effective infantry type against Soviet Grenade - and Flamethrower infantry. Don't bother throwing riflemen against Mammoths; Tusk missiles terminate them instantly. Rocket infantry Perhaps one of the best weapons available, but only if you control them right way. They are easy prey for any other infantry unit in the game. Many vehicles waste them easily too, but the attacking vehicle is bound to take lots of damage unless it attacks out from rocketmens range. Rocketmen must be used when hunting those deadly Heavies. They also provide excellent moving air defense, which can be used effectively to stop Mig raids. However all Soviet commander needs is to get a V2 ten squares away from your brave team of rocket infantry and shoot. Boom! You just lost 1500 credits... Also you must be alert of flamer/grenadier patrols. Give high priority to dogs, it'll save lots of rocketmen. Rocketmen must always have another units backing them up. Don't ever attack Mammoth with Rocketmen!!! Personally I hate these guys and I also hate the fact that thay are so annoyingly important... Engineer Engineers can take over enemy building that are damaged down to 75%. If the pointer arrows are red, Engineer can only damage the building, if they are green building is yours if you just get there... Engineer can also "golden repair" own structures. You lose your engineer, but you may save you more valuable structure. Because captured enemy buildings are down to 98-99% damaged, It's good idea to "golden repair" them. Engineer is very weak unit and will get killed in combat almost instantly. Medic Medic is great unit in theory, but in practise... Well the main use for it is in situation where your defense line has lots of, lets say, Rocketmen. Just keep the Medic behind those guys pretty close to them and he heals them automaticly. I just don't have enough time to use the Medic. Sometimes it's a good idea to give Tanya a buddy who follows her everywhere and heals her if some lucky shot gets through. Tanya Well, here's a tough lady. She can kill 3 soldiers every second. This means that she could kill worlds whole population in about five years... ;) Tanyas most useful ability however is her C-4 explosives. They blow up any kind of structure and getting Tanya inside your opponents base is a powerful way of attack. However, she isn't able to do anything to vehicles she encounters. (Of course you can fire at them with her Colts, but don't hope much success...) Thief Often overlooked thief is one of the nastiest units you have. If you can smuggle a thief inside enemy silo or refinery you will steal half of enemys all credits. Lets have a hypothetical situation: Your powerful enemy has saved 10 000 credits and your funds are running low, you have couple of thousand credits to spend. There's no more ore to harvest so you build three thiefs and pack them into Transport. Then you move your transport your thiefs to enemys undefended backyard and Thiefs will head towards closest silo. First thief steals 5 000 credits. Second 2 500. Third 1 250. After this you have awesome 9 000 credits and your enemy has pathetic 1 250 credits. Spy Spies are great units too, but it's little too easy to keep them off from base by putting dogs in guard. Spy looks like an own infantryman to enemy and therefore your opponent may get little suspicious when an uncontrollable unit runs into his/her base. But if you manage to get a spy to enemy base you have four alternatives to choose. 1. Infiltrate Radar dome. After that you will see everything enemy units see and you will hear all their conversations. 2. Infiltrate Sub pen and Gain Sonar pulse. However, it's very easy to build Sub pen away from shore. 3. Infitrate Construction yard, War factory or barracks and you will see what the enemy is producing there. 4. Infiltrate refinery or silo to see how much money enemy still has. 1.2.2 Allied vehicles Allied vehicles are usually fast, they have lighter armor when compared to Soviet units and they do less damage. As a counterweight they have some really nice high tech abilities and they have usually some other strength but heavy firepower. Artillery Artillery is the weakest vehicle in the game. It gets blown up really quickly if caught in combat. It's speed has been increased since C&C times and now it even can be used effectively in attack. Artillery is at it's best when killing infantry, light vehicles and structures. It tends only to scratch the red paint of Soviet tanks. They are excellent in base defense but remember to protect them with concrete walls. Light tank Light tank is good tank, but sometimes forgotten. It has great speed, which makes it an excellent raider. It is in fact more destructive than medium tank if you can just draw enemys attention from Light tanks to some other unit like Medium tanks. They are fearsome when they hunt in packs of eight to ten tanks. It's easy to crush infantry with Light tank and leave slower Soviet tanks behind. Tank attack groups shouldn't consist only of other tank model; Light tanks need Mediums and Light tanks make group of Mediums more flexible. When you attack with your Light tanks, stay in motion! Medium tank It's heavier than Light tank, but slower too. It's 90mm is more destructive than Light tank's 75mm, but in the long run 75mm wins because of higher rate of fire, Medium tank however lasts more longer in the battle and is therefore better combat tank. Medium tanks should be used when assaulting the enemy, because you are bound to take damage when attacking. They are also more powerful in defense, if opponent targets units first. Ranger Hmmm... Ranger is a good unit at least in theory, but when you compare it to APC it loses pretty clearly. It would have been better if it would be little cheaper, faster and more powerful... Or if APC would have some other weapon but machinegun. Of course it's very easy to make these changes by editing rules.ini... APC It's a good unit with great speed and moderate armor. Most important of it's abilities is, of course, carrying men to their destination. It's easy to rush through base defenses with this unit (Unless there are Teslas) and give opponent a nasty surprise in form of Tanya/Engineers/Thiefs. Rocket infantry inside APC is good move. It allows you to keep your air defense units away from enemy fire and transport it quickly to where it's needed. This is very useful when protecting an Ore truck. APC is also excellent infantry crusher. AT Mine layer If Soviet armor gives you trouble, here's solution. Observe and try to mine the routes enemy is probably going to use. Do this before first tank attack comes: Some more experienced players like to use different routes when they are attacking. One of the most annoying (or enjoyable) features in Red Alert is that you can't attack ground with ore in it. This means that if you drop a mine into enemys ore field, he/she can't remove it!!! And it is bound to happen that one of his/her Ore trucks run over it. Whenever you see a Mine layer, wipe it off from this planet! And do it quick, but check first that it is AT Mine layer, not AP... Mobile Gap Generator This is nasty unit, but sadly its cloaking range is pretty small. However your enemy will be very annoyed if he/she doesn't know what's under that black cloud that's rolling towards his/her base. Mobile Radar jammer This unit has an enormous range. (15 squares!) Move it at least that close to enemy Radar dome and you will shutdown his/her communications and radar screen. Try to hide it away from places your opponent will most likely check. (Power plants, Construction yard, War factories...) Ore truck Ore truck is the most important unit in the game and one of the most vulnerable ones too. Protect them from aerial srikes by Apaches, Hinds and especially Migs. Ore truck has heavy armor plating and moderate speed. If you get attacked by infantry and there aren't any other units in the ore field: Squish them with ore truck. Watch out for heavy/light tank raids. MCV Important unit. Allows you to spread your bases everywhere on the map. It's slow and must be protected carefully. Medium tanks and Artilleries are best guards for MCV because they create good mix of tank and infantry destroying capability. 1.2.3 Allied air & sea units Allies have only one air unit, but strong navy. Allied ships are one of the best weapons at your disposal. Apache longbow Because Apache is your only air unit you must learn to use it. It's faster than Hind and carries six hellfire missiles, which make short work on enemy tanks and structures. Always attack with all Apaches; It gives you more firepower and you will get out from enemy air defense area quicker because you destroy your target quicker. Rocketmen can be really annoying, because Apaches are off no use when killing infantry. Large masses of Mammoths should be also avoided. Four or five Apaches can destroy Sam-site without any casualties. (Unless Sam has some buddies near...) Gunboat Gunboat is fast and it's gun is pretty useless, however, it may be of some use when attacking naval targets. Main use of Gunboat is when Soviet subs hinder your naval operations. When you attack subs, keep moving! Torpedoes are slow and by staying in motion you make them miss more. Destroyer Destroyer is much more powerful ship than Gunboat but slower too. Stinger missiles it fires are pretty good when attacking tanks and other vehicles. Stingers fire twice as quick against aerial targets than ground targets. Tesla coils can be removed by Destoyers and without casualties. Destroyer is also a powerful unit when attacking subs, but it's slow speed makes it pretty easy target for subs if they attack from their maximum range. Always protect your Cruisers with Destroyers, or Migs will kill them without hesitation. Cruiser The most powerful unit in the game, but it's just as fast as Mammoth. Direct hit from Cruisers cannons is equivalent to 6 artillery shells!!! And the fact that Cruiser can fire from 22 squares away from target makes it an awesome weapon. But Cruiser has some faults too. First: Speed, it takes ages for Cruiser to move to target area and enemy is bound to see it coming and you can be sure that he/she will react. Second: They have no defenses against air units and Subs. Cruisers have only one purpose: bombarding structures and ground units to dust. 1.2.4 Allied structures Construction Yard Your most important building. Don't ever leave Construction yard undefended. Guard it with lots of air defense (AA-guns, Rocketmen) Couple of Camo pillboxes should stop even the bravest engineer or Tanya. Always build more Construction yards using MCV. It increases the speed of building structures. Build new construction yards away from your base so you can build new refineries and harvest ore from larger area. Ore Refinery Ore refinery is your another important structure. It's quite clear that you can't do anything if you don't have the money for it. You should build at least three refineries and two ore trucks for each. Leave some open space around refinery to avoid heavy traffic. Power plant Main rule when building power plants is to build "extra ones". They are cheap and you won't have to think if the AA-gun you are placing will stop energy production. Second and more important reason is if couple of your power plants get nuked or destroyed in attack it doesn't cripple you for minute or two. Don't ever build more than two power plants in the same area. This minimalizes destruction nuke causes. Advanced power plant This building produces more energy, is smaller and cheaper than two normal power plants. However it's easier to knock out single structure than two. Still, I advise to build strictly advanced ones. Ore silo Some newbie players may build all their silos in one place. Sure, rows of same buildings look nice, but your opponent likes to see them all get wasted in combination of a-bomb and normal attack. Losing your silo means that you lose all the ore stored in it. Make sure you don't run short in ore storing capacity; Any ore harvested is wasted if you can't store it! Barracks Barracks should be built right after power plant. This gives you at least some protection if you meet enemy right away. Build more barracks to increase unit training speed. Every new base should be equipped with barracks. War factory Every new base should be equipped with war factory. Building many war factories is a wise thing to do because every new war factory halves unit production time. Quick calculation tells that if you build a Medium tank, it takes 40 seconds to complete, but if you have four war factories it will be ready in 5 seconds!!! Having lots of war factories also gives ability to bring new units where they are needed most by changing the primary building. Radar dome One of the most important buildings. You don't give it too much priority when it's up and running, but when something fails and radar screen disappears, you go nuts. Trying to control your units and base without radar is real nightmare. And you never really know if that gunfire comes from Heavies which now massacre your units. This leaves you to a situation where you bounce from place to place trying keep things under control. And while you should notice those closing armies you are trying to find one of your ore trucks which accidently took a wrong turn somewhere. This is something you can't afford to let happen. Sometimes it can be a wise move to build two radar domes. Allied Tech center Very important building. GPS satellite is one of the best special abilities in the game. Tech center also allows you to build Nukes, Chronosphere, Cruiser and Tanya. Protect Tech Center well, unless you wan't to lose GPS and therefore entire map. Helipad Helipad allows you to build Apaches. It's well protected. Place your helipads so that Apaches can access any part of map as fast as possible. Service depot Place service depot close to your front so units can be repaired quickly. If you have lots of damaged units, select large bunch of them and give them order to go to repair bay. It's wise to repair Apaches to minimize casualties. Remember that you can sell units too by placing them into service depot and clicking them with "sell" icon. Service depot allows you to build MCV and is therefore very important in case you lose your Construction yard. Naval yard Repair your ships here. Build more than one naval yard to increase ship production speed. It's also a good idea to build Naval yards to different parts of seas. That way you can respond to threats quicker and Cruisers don't have to travel so long to reach their targets. Missile silo Guard this structure carefully. It's quite annoying to lose your almost ready nuke, just because missile silo got destroyed. Don't build more than one missile silo, You can't speed up production of nuke by building more silos, instead you can speed it up by making lots of power plants and therefore having much "useless" energy. Nuke is normally ready after 13 minutes. Missile silo has weak armor. Chronosphere It allows you to transfer vehicles/Apaches/ships to any part on map. They can stay three minutes there before returning back. Chronoshift can trigger a Chronal vortex which destroys five buildings or units and then dissipates. You can get rid of Vortex by giving it five riflemen units. Chronosphere charges every 7 minutes. You have 20% chance getting a vortex when you use Chronoshift. Structure itself is weakly armored. Gap generator Just great structure which you learn to hate when playing Soviet, but as long as you are Allied you can only love them. They are cheap and therefore you should always cover all your buildings with them. Remember that they require energy to function. Fake structures These look like your own structures, but they can't take damage at all. You can confuse your enemy with these. Gun Turret Turrets are excellent defenders against Soviet tanks. It's gun is as powerful as Mammoths 120mm cannon. And it has a lot higher rate of fire. Repair Turres during the fight and you have pretty powerful defense, if Soviets stop to destroy Turrets... Turrets must be protected from aerial strikes. Pillbox Infantry shredder. Couple of these stop almost any kind of infantry attack. It's a wise move to build these around your base to stop any Tanya/Engineer/Thief attacks. You should also defend Turrets from infatry attacks with these structures. They are off no use when attacking vehicles. Camouflaged pillbox This is advanced version of normal pillbox. It's hard to spot when in the midst of battle and it can take more beating than the ordinary pillbox. AA-gun It kicks any flying unit out from the sky (Not Spy planes) effectively. It has shorter range than Sam-site, but is more accurate and powerful. Place AA-guns so that they are inside your base. Their range is so short that if you place them around your base, it takes lots of money and is seldom more powerful than if the AA-guns would be inside your base. AA-guns work best in packs of two. Sandbags Sandbags stop infantry and nontracked vehicles if they don't have any explosives (grenades and rockets). Tracked vehicles run over them easily. Concrete wall One of the most important things in the game. Even the Mammoth isn't able to bulldoze through this wall. Protect anything with importance by using concrete walls. 2.1 Soviet special forces Nuke Nuke is very effective way of punishing opponents, but don't think it wipes everything off from target area. Best targets for Nuke are both power plants, allied tech centers, damaged refineries, large masses of infantry and light vehicles, ore silos and Airfields with Migs. Don't try to destroy enemys ore fields with Nuke, it doesn't work. Choppers don't get destroyed in Nuke strike. Nuke recharges every 13 minutes. Iron curtain At first it seems to be much weaker than Chronosphere, but when you learn to use it, you should find it quite useful. Forget making normal attack units like Heavies invulnerable and concentrate into better targets which are listed in the chapter 3.0. Iron curtain takes 11 minutes to recharge and it's effect lasts 45 seconds. Spy plane Charges every 3 minutes. If you manage to knock a Spy plane out from the sky, give me some e-mail... Paratroopers This strikeforce can be effective if used correctly. Drop them to enemys undefended backyard and start attacking buildings. Tech Centers are nice targets. This may not be themost useful way of attack, but it irritates enemy a lot. If you manage to get them inside enemy base it's twice more fun. Your enemy will lose his/her temper when he/she tries to hunt down those little guys which run around inside the base. If opponent has gap generators you can locate good targets for nuke by using paratroopers. Paratroopers are ready every 7 minutes. Parabombs These things suck! They take ages to recharge and when they finally are ready to drop they don't hit the target at all. They recharge every 14 minutes. If you really want to use them somewhere, drop them on buildings or masses of infantry. 2.2 Allied special forces Nuke Nuke is very effective way of punishing opponents, but don't think it wipes everything off from target area. Best targets for Nuke are both power plants, allied tech centers, damaged refineries, large masses of infantry and light vehicles, ore silos and Airfields with Migs. Don't try to destroy enemys ore fields with Nuke, it doesn't work. Choppers don't get destroyed in Nuke strike. Nuke recharges every 13 minutes. Chronoshift You can use some really powerful strategies by correct use of Chronoshift. They are listed in the chapter 3.0. It recharges in 7 minutes. Don't put infantry into APC you are chronoshifting! Sonar pulse You gain sonar pulse when you get a spy inside enemy sub pen. Sonar pulse charges every ten minutes and is capable of showing enemy sub locations for couple of seconds. GPS satellite Charges in eight minutes. if you lose tech center, you lose GPS too. 3.1 Soviet tactics When playing Soviets, you should base your strategy mostly on tanks and lots of them. Your Mig aircraft is also a powerful weapon. Subs can stop enemy Cruisers effecticely if you know how to do it. 3.1.1 Infantry tactics * Smuggle Tanya inside enemy base and start the fireworks. If you encounter any expensive infantry, kill it. This part is pretty simple, but how you get Tanya inside enemy base is a whole different thing. * If Apaches are harrassing your Construction yard, keep Engineer handy to repair it if it seems that Construction yard can't stand against Apaches. * If your enemy makes a new base with his/her MCV and doesn't start defending it right away it's not too hard thing to raze it down with squad of flamers. This can also work as a distraction while you act fast and launch another attack with Tanya/attack force/ Subs. However, all enemy really need is pillbox or defending units and your flamers get slaughtered. * In the early stages of game you can build lots of Grenadiers and rush to enemy base. Once you get there, attack the most vital buildings (Construction yard, Power plant, Refinery). However, keep your Grenadiers in quite thin formation, you don't want all of them get killed in chain reaction of explosions when one of them die. * Group of five rocketmen is an excellent air defender. * Engineer raids. Engineers are really expensive and you should use them only if you are sure that the operation you are about to make has some possibilites to work. Here is one workable tactic: First build five engineers, then build Chinook. Build Barracks, but don't place them. Build Tanya, but put her "on hold" right before she is completed. Now load your brave engineers into Chinook and fly it near enemy base. You have already chosen the building you wanna capture. It must have some open space around it!!! Now give Chinook invulnerability and send it quickly to the spot you chosed. Land right next to the building and unload engineers. Capture the building, if it didn't take all your engineers "golden repair" it. Now quickly place Barracks next to your new building and make it "primary building" Now complete Tanya and start wreaking havoc. Build flame towers, flamers, riflemen, rocketmen... anything which is capable of inflicting lots of damage. This tactic can be more effective by sending Nuke to area you are about to take over. That way buildings are already damaged and it's easier to take them over. If you have lots of War factories, you may want to consider building war factory and Mammoths instead of Barracks and Tanya. Then just build Heavies and wipe off enemy base. You want to protect your newly built War factory or Barracks so build some Sam- sites or Rocketmen. More simpler, easier and often just as effective tactic is to just send couple of Tanyas in that invulnerable chopper. * Spread some Tanyas around your own base to kill any Tanyas/Engineers/Thiefs * Kill attacking Rocketmen with dogs. * Try to surpise Apaches with your Rocketmen. * Are you having a mine problem in your ore field? Try this: If you know where mines are, put rifleman standing in top of one. Now force one of your Heavy tanks to attack this man. If you are lucky: Mine explodes and Rifleman stays healthy. If Rifleman dies: Too bad, but it's better than losing one of your Ore trucks. Don't try this with AP mines... Instead, destroy them by running over them with your tanks. * Attack Destroyers which move close to shore with Rocketmen or Grenadiers. When Destroyers start attacking infantry, bring your heavy tanks and V2s to slaughter them. * Keep some riflemen ready to kill spies if your dogs have been forgotten somewhere else. * Always protect Rocketmen with Riflemen or Grenadiers. Flamers kill own units too easily. * When you are fighting with infantry against infantry it's better to forget "focused fire" technique and stop your men and let them handle firing. This gives an advantage to defender: His/her units can fire whenever enemy unit comes to their range while attacker has to move his/her units into position before firing. 3.1.2 Vehicle tactics Heavy tank tactics * Build lots of them and raid enemy base. Don't care about stationary base defenses (Turrets, pilboxes...), unless you are attacking against Soviet player, if so nuke their power plants so that Teslas will go offline. When inside, destroy Construction yard and Refineries. Then clear turrets and other base defenses with V2s and Heavy tanks. Bring your Mammoths to enjoy the party. Destroy all units and mop up. * Raid enemy Ore trucks with them. If you get company in the form of Apaches try to get them to range of your air defense. If you manage to destroy Apaches, get back and kill all Ore trucks. If there are defenders in the ore field, reconsider situation. If defenders are Rocketmen. Bring few V2s to massacre them. Keep harrassing enemys Ore trucks, but watch out for your own ones too. * When you build your first War factory, build another one too. Find enemy base. Start making Heavy tanks. When you have about eight of them, assault enemy ore trucks. Keep building Heavies all the time. After destroying Ore trucks attack enemy base. If they manage to defend your attack, bring the other group of tanks to massacre them. * Don't spread your Heavy tank fire. Keep it focused into one target at time. * Raze down opponents newly founded bases. Opponent has to get lots of defense there if he/she hopes to stop coordinated attack of, lets say, eight Heavies. * Destroy V2s and Artilleries with Heavy tanks. * Attack in mixed group of Heavies and Mammoths. Mammoths make short work of any infantry unit you encounter. You move slower, but that kind of attack force is very hard to destroy. Mammoth tank tactics * Defend your ore fields with combination of Mammoths, Rocketmen and some Heavies. Mammoths and Heavies take care of enemy tanks, Mammoths erase infantry. Rocketmen handle air defense and Heavies will stop any V2s and Artilleries. * Load them into Transport and unload them behind enemy base. That way Mammoths don't suffer so much from their low speed. * Control your Mammoths carefully. They travel easily in line and are therefore easier targets because enemy Medium/Heavy tanks can kill them one at the time. If you get attacked from air, stop your Mammoths and hope the best. * Block narrow routes with Mammoths and put some Rocketmen nearby to punish those Apaches. Few Heavy tanks are also recommended to quickly destroy approaching long range units (V2 and Artillery). V2 rocket launcher tactics * Destroy quickly base defenses, by creating a strike force of these units and launching one rocket from each launcher from maximum distance (10 squares). Then withdraw and do it fast! Have another strike force of Heavies nearby to kill any units which attack V2s and to finish off base defenses. Then bring your real attack force and raze down enemy base. * Cripple enemys energy production by knocking out some power plants. One rocket should be ebough to destroy basic power plant and two will silence advanced. If enemy tries to block some routes, harrass them with combination V2s and Heavy tanks. Again it's important to bring some Rocketmen with you. * Put some V2s near water areas around your base: If cruiser chronoshifts there it'll be "warmly" welcomed. Cruiser is so slow that V2 should't encounter problems hitting it. * Kill any attacking ships and Subs. * Don't ever leave V2 alone!!! With a reload time of 30 seconds and really lousy accuracy when firing at moving targets, it's really vulnerable for tank raids. AP mine layer tactics * Mine your whole base, but leave enough space for vehicles to navigate. * In big network game your opponent may not know which side you play. (Ok, it's rare, but it happens...), or if he/she doesn't know about Soviet minelayer weaknesses, you can rush to his/her ore fields with couple of minelayers which start dropping mines. Your opponent panics and acts fast. Suddenly your minelayers have lots of company. Withdraw your Mine layers and launch a Heavy tank raid to same opponents base. There should be little lesser units to take care of. 3.1.3 Air unit tactics Mig tactics * Destroy enemy Construction yard with at least six Migs. (Eight recommended.) After this take out Refineries and that's about it: Enemy is paralyzed unless he/she has another large base. Of course he/she can build MCV, but in practise you have already won the game. * Divide your Migs into smaller groups and give all of them different target from base defense. If everything goes right enemys front gate is open for Heavy tank invasion. * Destroy enemys newly founded Construction yard. * Destroy Cruisers which move alone without Destroyers. * Destroy stationary units. * Don't attack moving targets!!! (Cruisers and Mammoths make an exception, however Mammoth has missiles...) * Get out from Airfield if you see Apaches gathering around your Migs!!! Hind tactics * Erase any light vehicle which attacks your base. Six Hinds are effective against tanks too. * Kill unprotected Tanyas if you don't have Yaks. * Harrass enemy Ore trucks, but watch out for Rocketmen. * Give Hind (or Chinook) invulnerability and hover over enemy base. In the meanwhile you send Migs to destroy some target from that area. All AA-guns and Sam-sites are firing at Hind so Migs get a free shot. Timing is important!!! * Destroy some lightly armored buildings if there isn't much air defense. * Destroy Migs when they are rearming on Airfield. * Attack approaching Transports. * Get out from Helipad if you see Apaches gathering over your Hinds!!! Chinook tactics * Give Chinook invulnerability and transport Tanya to enemy base. * During your attack against enemy base, transport Tanya or some Flamers inside enemy base. If Air defense has something else to think about or if you have knocked it out, you should be able to get those Tanyas/flamers there and get Chinooks home too. If enemy doesn't have Pillboxes/Flame towers inside his/her base, you should be able to remove lots of buildings while enemy is trying to stop your Heavies. 3.1.4 Naval unit tactics Sub tactics * Move your Sub right next to enemy ships. If there are two or more Cruisers nearby, trick will be more effective. Iron curtain Sub and start pounding enemy ships starting from Cruisers or Destroyers. Cruisers if you wanna get rid of them instantly and Destroyers if you wanna remove their air defense and erase Cruisers with Migs. Slow cruisers aren't able to escape your Sub and will get destroyed quickly. After invulnerability wears off, dive! * Build lots of Subs. Well built Allied fleet can be destroyed only with Subs. * Always attack from maximum distance. * Watch out for ground units when you surface, they beat the hell out of subs. * If enemy has no naval units around his/her Naval yard, put about three subs there and destroy any newly built ships. Transport tactics * If your enemy has some beach inside his/her base, pack Transport with five Mammoths and send it there. If the beach is heavily defended and there are lots of ships nearby, you may want to give Transport invulnerability; You don't want to lose this transport! It's worth about 9000 credits!!! Unload Transport and your Mammoths can roam inside enemy base. Target Construction yard first and then Refineries. Launch normal Heavy tank rush at the same time and enemy is going to have pretty hard time surviving. * When carrying units, watch out for Apaches. Migs don't usually hit moving Transport and Hinds are too slow to catch it. 3.1.5 Structure tactics * Protect your most valuable structures (Construction yard, Iron curtain, Nuke silo, Teslas) with concrete wall, if they are often under attack by ground forces. * Build lots of Sam-sites, they aren't very effective and you don't want to invite those Apaches for a visit. Six Apaches can take out Construction yard. * Build four War factiories and you churn out Heavies at an incredible rate. * Build four Refineries and eight Ore trucks and money spills out of your ears. * Place Flame towers inside your base. * Place your Airfields around your base. You lose lots of money if Nuke hits your Migs when they are resting on Airfield. * Build your Radar dome near shore and you should see opponents subs in Radar Domes sight. (This one is untested...) * Don't build any building that is vulnerable to Nuke in the same area with other buildings of same type! * Try to avoid building base where all structures are in one big clump. Always organize your base well so that Ore trucks have enough open space to navigate and your newly built units don't cause any traffic inside your base. One good base layout is "courtyard" where you leave some open space inside your base. Your War factory and Barracks are located there and you can keep most valuable units safe there. However this kind of base is big and therefore needs more space and is harder to defend. * If you choose to use Teslas in defense always protect them with concrete wall and Flame towers. You also need tanks. Four Mammoths and four Heavies should be quite effective mix. Also give Teslas pretty much air defense (Rocketmen and Sam-sites). * Remember that Flame towers can't fire over concrete wall. 3.1.6 Iron curtain & Nuke tactics * In the middle of enemy attack give invulnerablity to Tesla coil. * When Migs have almost reached your Construction yard, make it invulnerable. Enemy loses at least few Migs to your air defense while your Construction yard shrugs off those Mavericks. * If you manage to capture enemy structure, it's in really bad condition. Iron curtain it and start making thing in this order: Barracks, Tanya, Flame towers and anything that is useful in this situation. Repair your new structure all the time and it may not get destroyed at all!!! * Iron curtain sub and wipe off enemys fleet. * Iron curtain Chinook and transport Tanya inside enemy base. * Nuke large masses of power plants. * Nuke Allied tech center, it causes them to lose their entire map. Then launch Heavy tank assault. * Nuke large masses of ore silos, and finish them off with other units. * Nuke damaged Refineries. * Nuke Migs when they are on Airfield. * Nuke Chronosphere or Iron curtain. * If you see lots of expensive infantry in same place, nuke them. 3.1.7 Other tactics * Scout your enemys base early in the game. It gives you huge advantage if you can prevent him/her from exploring yours. * If you make lots of money, spend it quickly too. Try to keep some 5000 credits at your bank account, so if surpising situation appears, you can respond immediately. Also, if enemy blocks off your Ore trucks, you still have some resources. * Kill quickly any APCs that attacks your base. They may carry Tanyas, Engineers or Thiefs. * If you hear "nuclear warhead" warning, Put your Migs to attack some target, no matter what, all you need is to have your Migs out from Airfields when Nuke comes. Get Hinds out from Helipads too. * Always use teams!!! It gives you lots more control over your troops. I also recommend dividing Migs and Hinds into smaller teams, so you can hit multiple targets at once. * If you face mixed group of Mediums and Light tanks, attack Light ones first because they are weaker but carry more powerful cannon. * If enemy has some Cruisers arond his/her base, make Heavy tank raid and gather your raiders around vital targets. Then just attack them with tanks and laugh while Cruiser pounds enemy structures to dust. * Keep your Tanya's and Engineers inside Transports so they won't get nuked. * Pack five Ore trucks inside Transport and move them to enemys undefended ore field. Then just get as much ore as possible and escape with Transport. You can "steal" 3 500 credits every time you do this. It may be a good idea to bring another Transport full of Rocketmen to take care of Apaches that may harrass your Ore trucks. If enemy tanks attack, run! * If Tanya is about to blow up your building, sell it. You get money from that building and men that come out from the building may kill Tanya. * Force Tesla coil to destroy approaching APCs. * Fake Construction yards annoy you? Try this: Find the Construction yard which has a normal power plant right next to it. That is most probably the real Construction yard, because normal power plant is the first building you must construct. * If you decide to build lots of Migs, remember air defense too!!! * In network game make an alliance with some other player. Then wait until you both have Nukes ready. When Nukes are ready, shoot them simultaneously to vital targets (Power plants, Allied tech center...) in another players base. Then send Migs to kill everything important. If your buddy plays Allied he/she will send some Apaches to still remaining targets. Mop up with Heavies and V2s. This tactic works well, but I consider it to be really unfair and almost cheating. * Always keep group of Heavies handy so that you can kill raiding Light and Medium tanks. Mammoths are far too slow for this. * If there is no more ore to harvest, sell your Ore trucks. * Lay siege around enemy base. Use Mammoths, Heavies, V2s, Rocketmen and Flamers. Tanya can be effective too, but she gets easily killed. Destroy enemys Ore trucks or force them to stay in their base. If you can maintain your siege for a long time, you can't really lose anymore. * If you are under siege. Try to break it with decisive strike from Heavies and V2s. Migs and Hinds are also very useful if enemy has no air defense. However, if things are at the point that you are trapped inside your own base, you usually need an act of God to win the game. 3.2 Allied tactics Allies need something to counter those deadly Heavies and Mammoths, so don't forget tanks. Naval units are very powerful and you should use them whenever possible. Apaches are excellent units too. Take advantage of wide variety of special infantry units. 3.2.1 Infantry tactics * Smuggle Tanya inside enemy base and start the fireworks. If you encounter any infantry, kill it. This part is pretty simple, but how you get Tanya inside enemy base is a whole different thing. * Pack five engineers or Tanya inside APC and rush to enemy base. Take couple of tanks with you. When you reach base, attack defending units with tanks and let APC continue to its target (Usually Construction yard or War factory). Park APC right next to target. That way Engineers/Tanya have to move minimum amount of time in enemys range of fire. Capture/Blow up structure and if you have units left, pack them inside APC and escape quickly. You can of course try to blow up another building when using Tanya, but rememer that enemy is already bringing his/her units to area and risk of getting Tanya killed is more greater. Personally, I don't like this tactic too much. Early in the game it's game spoiler, but later on it's a nice tactic. * If Migs are harrassing your Construction yard, keep Engineer handy to repair it if it seems that Construction yard can't stand against Migs. Timing is very important * Spread some Tanyas around your own base to kill any Tanyas/Engineers/Thiefs * Try to surpise Migs and Hinds with your Rocketmen. * Are you having a mine problem in your ore field? Try this: If you know where mines are, put rifleman standing in top of one. Now force one of your tanks to attack this man. If you are lucky: Mine explodes and Rifleman stays healthy. Keep Medic near and heal rifleman if needed. If he dies anyway: Too bad, but it's better than losing one of your Ore trucks. Don't try this with AP mines... Instead, destroy them by running over them with your tanks * Use Rocketmens as defenders against Heavies. * Group of five rocketmen is an excellent air defender. * Protect your Rocketmen with Rifle infantry. Otherwise dogs tear your precious Rocket infantry apart. * When you are fighting with infantry against infantry it's better to forget "focused fire" technique and stop your men and let them handle firing. This gives an advantage to defender: His/her units can fire whenever enemy unit comes to their range while attacker has to move his/her units into position before firing. * Try to distract opponent when infiltrating his/her base with spies. Small Light tank raid should be quite useful in this purpose. * Wach out for dogs!!! * If your enemy has lots of cash, smuggle couple of Thiefs to his/her base. 3.2.2 Vehicle tactics Medium tank tactics * Build lots of them to counter Soviet Heavies and Mammoths. * Knock out enemy base's most vital targets (Construction yard, Refineries, War factory) with them. * Block narrow routes, but be ready to withdraw if Soviets decide to clear that passage, unless you have superiour force. Your tanks are too important to be wasted. * Always focus your firepower to one target at time. If you start attacking multiple targets, Soviets will crush you easily. This is twice important when attacking large force of Mammoths. However attacking large force of Mammoths is a dumb thing to do. * If you face Mammoths, you must outmanouver them. Direct attack is one form of a suicide. * Escort other units with them. * Draw enemy fire to Mediums, they are strongest units you have. * Raze down enemys newly founded Construction yards, unless there is a strong force of Mammoths defending it. * Use Mediums virtually everywhere. Light tank tactics * Build large force of them and raid enemy Construction yard. More tanks and more better you succeed. If you still have adequate force left when Construcion yard falls. Get home or take out Refineries. However at this point Heavies are usually pounding your Light tanks, so it's usually wiser to leave enemy base. * Raid enemy Ore trucks with them. * If opponent makes big infantry assault, rush over them with about eight Light tanks. * Destroy V2s and Artilleries with Light tanks. * Try to outmanouver anything you enocunter. * Stay in motion!!! If enemy tank stays at one place firing at you, drive around it and fire all the time. Enemy has hard time hitting your Light tanks if they just keep moving. Artillery tactics * Keep couple of these behind your base wall and you can be sure that no infantry or light vehicle comes through. * Make a Medium tank attack to enemy base. Then take about six Artilleries and get inside enemy base from different direction from your Mediums. Start pounding structures starting from Refineries, Construction yards and Power plants. If you are lucky enemy notices your Artilleries when it's too late to recover his/her most vital buildings. * Keep Artilleries away from battle!!! Opponent often targets them first and before you even notice, Heavies have erased them. * Repair damaged Artillery instantly. APC tactics * Rush enemy base with APC full of Tanyas/Engineers/Thiefs. * Fill your APC with Rocketmen and make it guard your Ore truck. If enemy attacks with Apaches or Hinds, unload Rocketmen. Then just sit back and watch how enemy choppers drop like flies. * Keep your Tanya's and other expensive infantry inside APC away from Nuke. * Crush infantry with APC. * Rush toward enemy base with APC. He/she may think that you are making Tanya/Engineer/Thief raid and moves units to stop your APC. Meanwhile you start your real attack from different direction. * When you are moving infantry, try to do it with APCs. You get your men to their destination more faster and your enemy never knows what you are carrying. * About five APCs can really beat up enemy infantry. Do so. Ranger tactics * Kill any infantry units you encounter. * Best tactic with Rangers is: Don't build them. AT Mine layer tactics * Rush to enemy ore fields with couple of Mine layers and drop mines everywhere. * Mine the normal routes used by enemy. * Mine bridges. * Use Mine layers all the time. * Observe enemy unit movements. If you find certain pattern, mine the route. * Lay mines around your base. If you have some open space inside your base, lay mines there too, but always leave enough space for your own units to navigate. * Try to lay mines without been detected by enemy. Mobile Gap Generator tactics * Drive your enemy mad by driving around with these units. He/she doesn't know if there are units under their cloaking range. * If you have the patience for it, try to cover your units whenever you move out from your base. If you don't have the patience for it, just put couple of these somewhere in the map and gather your units under cover they provide. Most people don't have the patience for the first option, at least I don't. * Give Ore trucks Gap generators as guards. Enemy knows that there is Ore truck under the shroud, but he/she doesn't know if there is anything else. Mobile radar jammer tactics * Chronoshift this unit inside enemy base. * Try to hide it behind buildings, trees or something like that, so enemy doesn't find it immediately. 3.2.3 Air unit tactics Apache Longbow tactics * Build about eight of them and you control powerful attack force. * Destroy enemy Ore trucks. * Build about ten Apaches and assault enemy Construction yard. Six Apaches is enough to take it out, so you can lose four Apaches and still destroy it. * Apaches are effective against Sam-sites, but I don't recommend using that ability too much. Sam's are seldom alone and therefore you usually lose at least one chopper. 750 credits Sam-site for 1200 costing Apache isn't something I would call profitable. * Apaches aren't really effective against moving targets. They can't really keep up with fastly moving ground units. * Order your Apaches to attack enemy chopper which is resting on ground and they will chase it around firing missiles if it gets airborne. * Knock out Tesla coils. * Hunt subs by using Transport as a decoy and killing Subs with Apaches. * Kill Migs that are on Airfield. * Obviously you should destroy any structure which doesn't have air defense. * Don't care about lone Sam-sites. They are pretty weak. 3.2.4 Naval unit tactics Gunboat tactics * If Subs are attacking from maximum range, hunt them down with your Gunboats. * If you are facing one or two Subs, try this: Circle them and keep distance at five squares. Your Gunboat is pounding Subs to death while torpedoes Subs fire miss it. * Don't cruise too close to shore or you will lost your Gunboats instantly to almost any ground unit. Destroyer tactics * Always keep some Destroyers with your Cruisers. Because they are only sea units capable of dropping enemy air power, you can't underestimate their power. The more you have Destroyers, more better. * If Cruisers are unavailable at the moment you can knock out Teslas without casualties. Larger force of Destroyers can be moderately effective against structures. * Distract Subs with Transport or Gunboat and get your Destroyers at close range. * If you have "spare" Destroyers, put them on your coast so that they can attack air units passing by. Watch out for ground units with heavy firepower. * Remember that Stingers are twice powerful against air targets. Cruiser tactics * Obviously, raze down enemy base with combination of about two or three Cruisers and suitable force of Destroyers. Keep also Gunboats nearby to remove any attacking Subs. * Cruiser can be effective in defense too, but if enemy makes raid you have small problem in your hands: Cruiser fires merrily at those enemy raiders and wrecks havoc inside your base. * If you get attacked by Subs and you have no support units nearby, attack squares near Subs and you may score some hits. * Chronoshift Cruiser near enemy base and destroy vital targets. * If Cruiser overshoots it's intended target, target the square in front of target if you don't still score hits, adjust your aim more. * Main rule is to bombard everything you see to dust. * Here is a really filthy cheat, which makes Allied a lot too powerful side to play. Take some Cruisers and one Transport. Select them and make them team (no matter what number). Now press "f" to make them move in nice formation. Now when this team moves, it moves at Transports top speed. I can't understand how this kind of fault has remained in the final game. Cruiser is too powerful weapon this way and I hope Westwood will release a patch which fixes this fault. Transport tactics * If your enemy has some beach inside his/her base, pack two Transports with five Mediums each and send them to that beach. Then just wreck as much destruction as you can. Complete operation by nuking power plants and sending Medium tanks to delight your opponent. Beware Subs!!! You can use Artilleries instead of Mediums, but remember their low armor. * If attacked by Hinds (or Apaches), try to get them close to your Destroyers. Migs don't hit Transport unless, it doesn't move. * Cruise around and if Subs attack, kill them with Apaches. 3.2.5 Structure tactics * Protect your most valuable structures (Construction yard, Chronosphere, Nuke silo, Gap generators) with concrete wall, if they are often under attack by ground forces. * If you have lots of Rocketmen, you don't always need AA-guns. * Build four War factiories and you churn out Mediums at an incredible rate. * Build four Refineries and eight Ore trucks and money spills out of your ears. * Build lots of Turrets to stop direct attacks from Soviet tanks. * Place Pillboxes/Camo. pillboxes inside your base. * Cover your whole base with Gap generators. * If you want to build something outside your base, build a line of silos there. * Annoy your enemy by building Gap generators outside your base too. * Build Turrets and Pillboxes outside your base. * Build your Radar dome near shore and you should see opponents subs in Radar Domes sight. (This one is untested...) * Don't build any building that is vulnerable to Nuke in the same area with other buildings of same type! * Try to avoid building base where all structures are in one big clump. Always organize your base well so that Ore trucks have enough open space to navigate and your newly built units don't cause any traffic inside your base. One good base layout is "courtyard" where you leave some open space inside your base. Your War factory and Barracks are located there and you can keep most valuable units safe there. However this kind of base is big and therefore needs more space and is harder to defend. * Building some Turrets inside your base can be wise move. It removes efficiency of enemy raids. * Remember that Turrets can't fire over concrete wall. 3.2.6 Chronoshift & Nuke tactics * Chronoshift Cruiser behind enemy base. * If you see enemy moving one of his/her MCVs to deploy new base, make temporary alliance with him/her and Chronoshift that MCV to your or some other players defense area and make war again. Now kill this MCV. Remember that enemy will see all your buildings and units when you ally with him/her. * Build barracks, but don't place them. Build also Tanya, but put her "on hold" just before she is ready. Then chronoshift MCV inside enemy base and place barracks, make these barracks primary building. Now complete production of Tanya and build everything you can as fast as possible. Turrets and Pillboxes inside enemy base are nice. * Chronoshift Mine layer to enemy ore fields and lay mines there. * If you wan't to chronoshift ground units, use Artillery, Radar jammer and Mine layer and of course MCV. Other units aren't really useful at all. * If enemy has lots of expensive infantry in one place, chronoshift APC or Light tank over them and run over any nearby infantry units. * Nuke large masses of power plants. * Nuke Allied tech center, it causes them to lose their entire map. Then launch Medium tank assault. * Nuke large masses of ore silos, and finish them off with other units. * Nuke damaged Refineries. * Nuke Migs when they are on Airfield. * Nuke Chronosphere or Iron curtain. * If you see lots of expensive infantry in same place, nuke them. 3.2.7 Other tactics * Scout your enemys base early in the game. It gives you huge advantage if you can prevent him/her from exploring yours. * If you make lots of money, spend it quickly too. Try to keep some 5000 credits at your bank account, so if surpising situation appears, you can respond immediately. Also, if enemy blocks off your Ore trucks, you still have some resources. * Kill quickly any APCs that attacks your base. They may carry Tanyas, Engineers or Thiefs. * If you hear "nuclear warhead" warning, Get Apaches out from Helipads. * Always use teams!!! It gives you lots more control over your troops. I also recommend dividing Apaches into smaller teams, so you can hit multiple targets at once. * If you face mixed group of Heavies and a Mammoth, attack Heavies first because they are weaker but make about same amount of damage to your units as Mammoths does. * If enemy has some Cruisers arond his/her base, make Light tank raid and gather your raiders around vital targets. Then just attack them with tanks and laugh while Cruiser pounds enemy structures to dust. * Keep your Tanya's and Engineers inside Transports or APCs so they won't get nuked. * Keep Spies inside APC always, because enemy sees them in units of his/her own. * Pack five Ore trucks inside Transport and move them to enemys undefended ore field. Then just get as much ore as possible and escape with Transport. You can "steal" 3 500 credits every time you do this. It may be a good idea to bring another Transport full of Rocketmen to take care of Hinds and Migs that may harrass your Ore trucks. If enemy tanks attack, run! * If Tanya is about to blow up your building, sell it. You get money from that building and men that come out from the building may kill Tanya. * Fake Construction yards annoy you? Try this: Find the Construction yard which has a normal power plant right next to it. That is most probably the real Construction yard, because normal power plant is the first building you must construct. * If you decide to build lots of Apaches, remember air defense too!!! * In network game make an alliance with some other player. Then wait until you both have Nukes ready. When Nukes are ready, shoot them simultaneously to vital targets (Power plants, Allied tech center...) in another players base. Then send Apaches to wipe off anything important. If your buddy plays Soviet he/she sends his/her Migs and Hinds to wreck havoc. Mop up with Mediums and Artilleries. This tactic works well, but I consider it to be really unfair and almost cheating. * Always keep group of Light tanks to deal with raiding enemy tanks. * If there is no more ore to harvest, sell your Ore trucks. * Lay siege around enemy base. Use Mediums, Artilleries and Mob. gap generators. Rocketmen and Riflemen. Tanya can be effective too, but she gets easily killed. Destroy enemys Ore trucks or force them to stay in their base. If you can maintain your siege for a long time, you can't really lose anymore. * If you are under siege. Try to break it with decisive strike from Medium- and Light tanks. Apaches are also very useful if enemy has no air defense. However, if things are at the point that you are trapped inside your own base, you usually need an act of God to win the game. 3.3 Few words about Allies & Soviets and tactics overall Soviet power When playing Soviets, your are at your strongest in the first part of the game. You have access to Heavies by only building War factory. Don't let Allies gain major technologigal edge over you. Build a balanced army. Don't think that you can win with just your Mammoths. Don't ever underestimate Subs. When five Cruisers are "knocking" on your door, you are crying for them. Remember air defense, inside and outside your base. Harrass enemy production as much as you can. Attack often, but do it wisely. Always coordinate your attack well and don't just gather your units in one big clump and rush toward enemy base. If you have advantage in power, don't hesitate using it too. If you like more "normal" fighting including powerful ground and air units and units which are concentrated in beating the hell out of the enemy, Soviet is your choice. Allied forces Afterall, Medium tank is your most important unit. Build lots of them to keep Soviets somewhat under control. Raid your enemy with Light tanks. Building a strong force of Apaches is recommended. Cruiser is your most important unit in attack, so guard it carefully. Put your toys in good use. Make Soviet players life a living hell, by covering as much ground as possible using Gap generators. Don't ever forget ground warfare!!! When you are under Heavy tank rush and you have forgotten to invest into ground forces, you can only watch terrified while Soviets raze down your beautiful base. Invest into air defense, or one of the most fearsome units in the game, Mig will punish you hard from your mistake. Allied player has mighty fleets of ships and lots of neat high tech toys. Allies don't believe in strong direct attacks by ground units, instead they use mines, quick raids and choppers. Direct assault is usually the final phase of attack. If you find all this tempting, Allied forces are made for you. Few words about tactics Don't fall into those boring tactics like building 15 migs or ten Cruisers. Instead try to use different tactics and try to find new ways to attack enemy. Use every resource you can get and fight hard and the game is much more fun, than playing those games filled with game spoilers. Know your enemys weaknesses and his/her strong points. Try to create tactics of your own and your own playing style. It's boring to read "how-to-play" guides, which tell you: 1. Deploy MVC 2. Build Power plant. 3. Build barracks... You can figure all this by yourself!!! You don't need people to tell which strategy is the most effective one. If you don't like tactics presented in this guide don't care about them! It's always better to play with less effective tactic you like, than more effective tactic you don't like at all. 4.1 Glossary I wasn't going to implent anykind of glossary until I realized that because English isn't my mothertongue some people may not understand all my expressions. Raid When I talk about tank raid or ore truck raid, I mean a quick decisive strike where you concentrate on the target and try to ignore any obstacles like enemy units and turrets. Speed is very important in raids. Attack and Assault These mean a large attack which takes place in enemy base or a place enemy has fortified. Difference between them is that assault's target is always to take over area of attack. Attack's target can be that too, but it may have some other goals too (Removing defense, destroying single targets...) "Undefended backyard" This means quite literally what it says. Base where most defenses are concentrated to main gates and the base itself is vulnerable for attacks. Tactic I consider tactic to be a single maneouver like smuggling Tanya inside enemy base. They are the backbone of your warmachine, your big army has no use if you don't know how to use it. Strategy In my opinion, strategy means everything you do in the game you are currently playing. It is a combination of many tactics. You can't really categorize strategies because if situation changes, you must change your strategy too. Game spoiler Certain tactic which ends game before it has really started. These tricks can be really effective, but I don't really get much satisfaction performing these tactics. It's much more fun playing so that you fight really hard and use many different tactics to beat up your enemy. You can win, but is it fun? Vital target Target which is important to opponent. Construction yard, Refinery, Power plant, War factory and sometimes Silos and Radar domes are vital targets. Only vital unit is Ore truck. 4.2 Copyrights and Trademarks Jouni Kotakorpi claims NO responsibility regarding any illegal activity concerning this article, or indirectly related to this article. Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a trademark of Westwood Studios, Inc., and is so acknowledged. Command & Conquer: Red Alert logo is a trademark of Westwood Studios, Inc., and is so acknowledged. Any trademarks not directly mentioned are also acknowledged. This article is Copyright 1997 by Jouni Kotakorpi. All rights reserved. You can of course make copies of this file and spread them everywhere you can. Keep copies undistributed, exact and complete. Keep copies in electronic form. Don't take credit from another person's work, it's quite annoying habit. If you want to use this tactic guide in some electronic magazine or web page, please give me some e-mail, I'm more than happy to give permission for it, but contact me first. 4.3 Allkinds of stuff I wrote this tactic guide mainly because it was great fun. I'm of course pleased if you upload it to as many places you can... If you are interested, this document consist of about 14 500 words and over 50 pages. It also has about hundred "that" words. I may release updates to this guide, if it's required. If you have any comments or anything to say about my guide, give me some e-mail. Address is yhpjoko@info1.info.tampere.fi It's annoyingly long address isn't it? 4.4 Release date & version number This guide was released in 28.1.1997. Current version number is 1.0 4.5 Credits I must give some credit to Roger Wong whose The Red Alert Internet Strategy Guide gave me idea of writing this file. I have also obtained some tactics and info from that guide and you can find them from this file too. That Copyright stuff is straight from his guide, because I wanted it to go literally right. All those web sites which provided me some tactics deserve credit too. However, I'm not going to list them here. Thanks anyway. I would give credit to anyone who puts this guide on his/her web page, but it's quite hard to do it right now... ;) That's about all I can think of.