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4.7 / 5 - 64 votes
Description of Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Read Full ReviewThe Background Story
Unless you're relatively new to the PC gaming world, you will have heard of Command & Conquer from Westwood Studios. This truly marvelous game introduced us to fighting strategic battles with many varied troops and vehicles all in real-time. No more weakling 'take-your-turn' rubbish. No hit-points and moves-per-square nonsense. This is real-time, you have to think fast, build your defenses, form your assault parties, and you better do it quick because the enemy could be coming for you any second..
To top the brilliant gameplay, C&C also had a terrific storyline, set in the future, depicting a battle of two strong factions (through the use of good quality FMV), one fighting for world domination, the other determined to stop them. What made it all even more fun, is you have a choice to play the good guys or the bad guys, with each path offering different and reasonably varied missions.
And finally, launching the game into what can only be deemed 'classic beyond debate', it came equipped with a multiplayer option that has had players fighting for supremacy over modems, networks, and even the Internet (although the game's design doesn't cope too well with slow transfers and lost packets). As with the 3D Action genre, multiplayer really did bring C&C into a class of its own.
So there you have it, a stunning computer game all round. How in the world could anyone hope to equal, let alone better it?
The Competition
Considering the amount of time that the original has been released, you would have expected a whole range of copycat titles on the market, of varying quality. But no, C&C hasn't a huge amount of challenge from other real-time strategies.Blizzard Entertainment released a debatably better game, Warcraft 2, although I prefer to choose equally entertaining and different in its qualities and shortfalls as a more sophisticated comparison. Many of the Internet community will, however, probably say War2 is better due to its undeniably better system of working in multiplay over the Net - as a single player, though, it's certainly not as interesting or compelling.
The Bitmap Brothers also released a game recently that could be up amongst the top ranks, Z, but this has been considered more an arcadey title than a die-hard strategist's. And finally, Westwood's own game, released prior to C&C, Dune 2 which used a very similar interface, but didn't support multiplay, or have anywhere near as many units and weapons.
Now Westwood themselves release what is, in fact, a 'prequel' to C&C, as the story is set some time in the past, before the organizations of GDI and NOD have come into existence, during the very shameful era of the Second World War. A Russian scientist has managed to invent himself a time machine, which he is using to travel into the past and 'erase' the most prominent figures that wrecked Russia's chance of winning the war. The introduction depicts him travelling into the past and killing a young Hitler (hurrah!).
The Game - A Description
For those who have already played C&C (or any real-time strategy), you may wish to skip this section.
Red Alert, as with the original, puts you in the role of a battle commander; this honor requires you to take control of everything that's happening in the field. This includes building your base, setting up defenses, scouting the area, mounting assaults on the enemy and harvesting the local resources to keep the money flowing in for more expanding. How is this achieved?
Each mission will begin with an FMV clip to set up the story. It will usually end with the characters looking at you and saying something intimidating like, 'it's all up to you now, commander!' If you decide to play the bad guys (Soviets), you'll also regularly get death threats like, 'fail me and die'. But bad guys will often be gits like that.
Most missions usually follow similar objectives, although there is more variation in this than there was in the original. You will nearly always have to set up a base first, and then destroy all enemy activity. Your first vehicle will be an MCV (Mobile Construction Vehicle). You can move this around until you find a nice, safe place to deploy it (best away from coasts and enemy bases, and in an open area to allow for more buildings to be built close). Once deployed, it cannot be moved again, but turns into a Construction Yard, which allows you to build more structures. Not all will be available to you at first, for example, you will need a Barracks and Radar Dome before you can build a Tech Center. Each of these buildings has a specific task, which are listed in the documentation, but more fun can be had from finding out in practice.
The interface is smooth and easy. It's mostly controlled with the mouse, but there are a few keystrokes which speed up some processes, and issue commands to troops and units. When you first start a mission, you will usually only be able to see in parts where you have units, the rest of the map will be completely black - this is known as shroud, and will only be uncovered when you send things out to explore.
So there you have it, a simple game to play, but as with all the best, a difficult game to master.
Is it just C&C again?
Sequels, I find, come in three formats. First, an entirely different type of game to the first, can be better or worse; two, practically the same game, bar a few additions, extra levels or certain improvements (ie. should have been an add-on pack), as done with Doom to Doom 2 ; and finally, the same type or genre of game, but with enough enhancements, differences and new story, to let it link with the original, but be a game that holds together by itself. And yes, Red Alert is most similar to the latter.
This basically means that RA has enough differences in its features to make it a game worth buying by those who own the original, and at the same time improves upon it to the extent that those who don't own C&C should likely purchase this instead.
Let's get one thing clear: as with the original, this game is great. It not only completely satisfies the wants of any eager strategy player, it also covers those who like more action in their games, and then appeals to practically everyone in between. If you don't have Command & Conquer, buy this immediately (and then go pick up C&C cheaply, if you can).
New Features
![Red alert 2 download Red alert 2 download](/uploads/1/2/3/7/123738208/111683862.jpg)
The first most noticeable new feature in Red Alert will be the super, clean and crisp SVGA graphics. Many who played Warcraft 2 found it hard to return to the blocky, ugly graphics in C&C, and nowadays, all games are released with an SVGA option. Unfortunately, Westwood chose to 'cop out' on the SVGA in terms of drawing new graphics for this specific mode. Instead, the same sprites are used as in the VGA version, and the extra pixels on screen are used to give the player a larger viewing area. This serves as an advantage, sure, but now you have to get used to very weedy and small looking infantry and vehicles. Also, because so much will no doubt be happening on screen, things really start to slow down twenty minutes into both single and multiplayer games - and this was on a P133!
Some enhancements have been made to the interface, also. One of the most annoying things about C&C; was having to manually load 5 troops into the APS and Choppers. This detail has been rectified for loading of all vehicles now. Also, the unit AI seems to have been improved - you give them an order to go somewhere, and they make it.. eventually. Yes, you'll still order them to the other side of the bridge, and they'll walk all the way around the perimeter of the coast until they find the bridge is there for a reason. Unfortunately, Ore Trucks (harvesters) are still pretty stupid, and are happy to ride right into heavy enemy territory to gather ore that's actually right under their nose, a few pixels from the Refinery.
On the plus side, there's many more extras to take note of. Engineers now have three purposes - first, they can be sent to one of your own buildings to instantly restore it to full strength, or they can be sent to an enemy building to instantly cause heavy damage. Finally, the one we're all used to, they can overtake a building, but only when it's 'in the red'. Also, number assigned teams are now displayed on screen, and you can add units to a team by holding down shift and selecting who you want. The missions are also more varied, and often contain multiple tasks, for example, level 3 of the Allies required you get a spy into the Soviet War Factory. Once in, a truck parked outside zooms off (presumably with the spy at the helm) and you have to clear its path to an enemy base, where a hostage is being held. Once they're rescued, you have to set up base with the reinforcements sent, and destroy the enemy base.
There's a new command too! We already know about 'G' for guard, and 'S' for stop, but you can now order troops to stay in formation 'F'; this is useful for when you want the faster moving vehicles to stay back with the convoy, so they don't end up attacking before anything else arrives. Unfortunately, my experience with this formation command hasn't been impressive. When units confront rocks or other obstacles, the leaders forget they were meant to stay back, and go zooming off, forgetting how vulnerable they've left their chums.
And last, but far from least, you can now fight by sea! One of War2's leading attributes was the ability to use naval vessels as well as air and ground. RA counters with a wide range of sea units for both sides to cause their own healthy dose of destruction! Many C&C veterans will know how, unlike War2, the two sides of GDI and NOD were vastly different, each requiring radically different tactics to win a game. Westwood have been racking their brains again to create two new sets of teams, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, attempting to balance the two out so that neither is actually more powerful than the other. It's an interesting 'swap-around' with RA, as the good guys this time are the struggling organization with less firepower and armor, armed with the more 'sneaky' weapons, whilst the bad guys are the strong, and well-placed group, with all the financial backing and arsenal they need. Cheerily reminds me of Star Wars! In essence, that's all the 'Allies' are, a group of rebels, fighting against Soviet dictatorship.
There's been hot debate over the Internet, and indeed, the GDR team themselves, as to the actual 'equality' of the two sides, especially when it comes down to multiplayer. People are complaining of the dreaded 'tank rush', which many Soviet players use to overpower the Allies early in the match; the Soviets get the Heavy and Mammoth Tank, whereas the Allies' heaviest armor vehicle is only the Medium Tank. It does seem slightly outweighed to one side.
Extensive play shows, however, that there's a very deep strategy involved in the game, and that every attack has a possible defense; the only problem being you might not have the defense ready when you need it. But isn't that what being a battle commander is all about? A bit of luck, and the ability to anticipate your enemy?
How does Multiplay rate?
I heard quite an amusing comment from a regular Internet multiplayer the other day: 'RA in multiplay isn't as strategic as Westwood would hope.. it's got quite a cool plot though. Guess you could buy it to play single. But then.. who ever bought C&C to play a single player game???' Perhaps I was a latecomer to playing against anyone but the computer, but I certainly know that when C&C was first released, it wasn't even mentioned as a multiplayer game by some gaming magazines, because it was so rare that anybody would even own a modem.
Anyway, the most important thing is how does RA rate against its closest competition right now - namely, C&C and Warcraft 2. It's a mixed opinion out there. We've had a million of them: is Duke really better than Doom ; is Duke really better than Quake? Now, does Red Alert beat War2? What doI say? Dig deep in your pocket and get both! I'd rather not be without one or the other, they both offer such extensively different gameplay.
As a multiplayer, RA shines through like the rest of them, but has a few problems. As mentioned, some people find tanks overwhelming, and it is true, the only ground assault vehicle both sides sport are the tanks really - but people are forgetting, all C&C had were the tanks and bikes. Not a whole lot lost. Look at what's been gained: where people who like all out aggression can choose the Soviet side, those who want a little more thought go for the Allies. Their main advantage is the ability to protect their base from the eyes of the enemy with the 'Gap Generator', and at the same time, they can 'see all' with the GPS Satellite - building of this is begun automatically after the Tech Center (equivalent of the Advanced Communications Center) is constructed, and once launched the entire map is revealed.
More faults? A few. I'm not too impressed with some of the new units, for example, the spies. They are a cool unit, with a great Sean Connery accent, and in single player, they do exactly what they're meant to - move by the enemy unseen, and can only be detected by attack dogs. However, in multiplay, they're visible, and are visible to your opponent as one of their own minigunners. Sounds reasonable, except they're so easily spotted, it's a joke. Once the opponent clicks on them and finds he can't get them to follow his orders, he just open fires - they should be only vulnerable to dog attacks. Also, thieves are too expensive for what they can do; why pay $500 for them, when they can only steal $1000 at the absolute maximum (very rarely), and the risk of them getting killed is too great.
But these are only petty things. The quality additions outweigh the little creases (which can most likely be ironed out in patches from Westwood).
Internet Play
Can't finish up without mentioning the extra goodies on the CD. Westwood have really been becoming more involved with the Internet community, as their last release, Monopoly CD was fully compatible to play over the Internet using their free software. RA follows this trend, and will register you for their 'WCHAT' software all at the click of the mouse (well, and some screwing around - I had to manually issue the software to install after registering, for some reason).
WCHAT is a chat system that runs over the Net for Westwood game players to meet up on, and start their own multiplayer games. It's very easy to use, and worked perfectly the first time I attempted to hook up with someone. And unbelievably, the game ran smoothly, practically like a modem or local network game! It only slowed up later when so many units had been created, but then even the single-players do that in SVGA.
The unfortunate drawbacks to WCHAT (which isn't Westwood's fault, of course) is it does seem to attract the lowliest scum of the Net, not to mention the huge armies of 13 year old boys who have got it into their head that if there was a fun, intelligent and attractive girl of their own age on there, that she's going to come running to them when they open conversations with, 'hi, I'm 13/M, what are you?' It's also a shame that WCHAT is only set to allow 2 player RA games, when it should be capable of more - get yourself registered to an online gaming system, and you're fine for anything up to 8-player action (although anything over 4 willbe unplayable)!
The Summary
How can I be summing up when there's still more.. haven't even touched on the Map Editor yet (it's very good, by the way)! And the fact you only need to buy the game once to play 2 people (although War2 allowed 3 players per copy bought). And what about the 'Skirmish' feature which allows you to practice on all the multiplayer levels, and your own custom maps; this also means you can play any amount of 'random' battles against the computer, over and over.
You should have realized by now, RAis a classic game, worthy of our gold award, and, in fact, of being in just about anyone's game collection. In England, you can pick it up for just £30, which is a dream bargain, and in the States, shop around the mail order companies, you might find a copy for under $50.
Review By GamesDomain
Want to play online? Go to https://cncnet.org/red-alert.
Command & Conquer: Red Alert has the following addons available: Command & Conquer: Red Alert - The Aftermath and Command & Conquer: Red Alert - Counterstrike, don't miss them!
External links
Captures and Snapshots
Screenshots from MobyGames.com
Comments and reviews
Noddy2019-05-191 point
Since the game has been freeware since 2007/8 i think you should stop having the cashbag button for it
castor2018-07-211 point
Here is an instruction how to setup and install Red Alert on Dosbox 0.74:
- download ISO version of the game
- extract two cd iso files to folder named 'racd' in c:games
- rename iso files to according cd1.iso, and cd2.iso
- after Dosbox launch type following:
imgmount d 'c:gamesracdcd1.iso' -t iso -fs iso
imgmount e 'c:gamesracdcd2.iso' -t iso -fs iso
- now you have two additional drives with CDs (drive D: and drive E:)
- open file setup.exe on drive D:
- install game
- PLAY with ra.exe
Thats all! Remember to set up paths correctly.
- download ISO version of the game
- extract two cd iso files to folder named 'racd' in c:games
- rename iso files to according cd1.iso, and cd2.iso
- after Dosbox launch type following:
imgmount d 'c:gamesracdcd1.iso' -t iso -fs iso
imgmount e 'c:gamesracdcd2.iso' -t iso -fs iso
- now you have two additional drives with CDs (drive D: and drive E:)
- open file setup.exe on drive D:
- install game
- PLAY with ra.exe
Thats all! Remember to set up paths correctly.
KC2018-04-14-1 point
Boxer says this download does not contain any DOS programs, I can not load it.
Isaachar2017-11-22-3 points
How do i run the rip version of Command & Conquer Red Alert on Dosbox. Please help!!!!
critch2017-08-110 point
How to zoom out piano roll fl studio. is this just a trial version because after I play the first level and I says victory nothing happens
BlackDogs2017-06-15-1 point
Thank you for all the good games of the past. Reliving these are golden
LJ2016-06-29-8 points
How do i get this puppy running on Dosbox?
Alex2016-06-24-7 points
How do I use the patches with dosbox? Do I just copy the patch files into the game file folder?
twinPRICKS2016-03-070 point
this game did improve on the original in MANY ways and
I am sure most people would say it is better than the original.
as for myself I loved this game but think the original was better.
hey it's just my opinion but both are great games.
I am sure most people would say it is better than the original.
as for myself I loved this game but think the original was better.
hey it's just my opinion but both are great games.
Facelord2015-12-060 point
This is the best realtime strategy game of all time
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This page is a listing of units from the Command & Conquer: Red Alert Series.
Shared Units
All Games
Engineer
Type: Infantry
Role: Base Capture & Repair
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Although (usually) unarmed, the engineer is a important asset on the battlefield since they can capture enemy and tech structures or instantly repair your own.Role: Base Capture & Repair
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
- All Your Base Are Belong to Us: An engineer raid in any of the games can easily see half your enemy's base fall to you in one fell swoop.
- Asian and Nerdy: Imperial engineers in Red Alert 3. Just watch them do their little power strut.
- Bomb Disposal: In Red Alert 2, engineers can defuse bombs planted by Crazy Ivans.
- Deployable Cover: The Soviet engineer in Red Alert 3 can build bunkers with room for five soldiers.
- Enemy Exchange Program: Standard for Command & Conquer games, Engineers can capture enemy buildings and partially or fully make use of the enemy arsenal.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: One of the 'affirmative' lines spoken by Yuri's Engineers is 'Needs a paint job', noting how buildings change colour when captured.
- The Engineer: Engineers can defuse bombs, repair bridges and your buildings, capture enemy buildings, or repair vehicles when put inside an IFV.
- The Medic: In Red Alert 3, the Allied Engineer can deploy a first aid tent to heal infantry.
- Revolvers Are Just Better: The Soviet Combat Engineer in RA3 is armed with one. It's not very strong, but it can help against other engineers.
- Support Party Member: Though an Engineer has many uses, he is unarmed.
- Yes-Man: Imperial Engineers can't go five seconds without praising the Commander's genius.
Attack Dog
Type: K-9
Role: Anti-Infiltration
Weapons: Dog Bite
Trained at: Kennel/Barracks
Role: Anti-Infiltration
Weapons: Dog Bite
Trained at: Kennel/Barracks
Attack Dogs are the only unit that can detect Spies that are trying to infiltrate the base. Although unarmored and easy to kill, Dogs make the perfect in-base guard unit against sneak attacks. They are also immune to mind control.
- Angry Guard Dog: They are excellent scouts and able to maul most infantry to death.
- Attack Animal: Specially trained attack dogs.
- Crippling Overspecialization: They are able to instantly kill other dogs and unarmoured human infantry, but are utterly useless against everything else.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Can detect spies that other units and your base defenses wouldn't.
- Fragile Speedster: To make sure the dogs are able to remain agile, they are equipped with only the lightest armour.
- Hypnosis-Proof Dogs: Mind control do not affect dogs, making them a good counter to Psi-Corps Trooper or Yuri Clone.
- No-Sell: Being beasts, dogs are completely immune to mind control and chaos.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: In Red Alert 3, Attack dog have stun abilities based on their roar with the help of amplifier.
- Olympic Swimmer: In Red Alert 3, they can move on water as if it was open ground.
- One-Hit Kill: Any infantry attacked by a dog is killed instantly.
- Weaponized Animal: Attack Dogs in Red Alert 3 are equipped with sonar amplifiers that can paralyze attackers.
MCV
Type: Vehicle
Role: Base Deployment
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Base Deployment
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
The MCV allows creation or expansion of a base. Although expensive, the MCV is useful to have around if the original Construction Yard (a favorite target of the enemy) is destroyed or captured.
- Base on Wheels: Basically a vehicle that can build other buildings.
- Big Badass Rig: Both MCV's in Red Alert 1, the Allied MCV in Red Alert 2.
- Germanic Efficiency: In Red Alert 3, the Allied MCV was design by Strauss-Fuhrmann Autowerks of Germany.
- Mobile Factory: Their purpose is to build other structures, although the Imperial one builds Nano Core that unpack into structures instead.
- Starting Units: Everyone starts with an MCV except in baseless modes, they are necessary to facilitate base construction. In the first game, it could only be built in the last missions (or in multiplayer, with the tech level set to the highest value) and required the most advanced structures of the game to be built. Later Red Alert games lowered the requirement, such as only requiring a repair depot in Red Alert 2, and by Red Alert 3, a new MCV can be built from the start.
- Worker Unit: It is needed to build structures and losing the MCV without being able to replace it usually means losing the game.
Red Alert 1
Rifle Infantry
Type: Infantry
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: M-16/AK-47
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: M-16/AK-47
Trained at: Barracks
This unit is basic infantry of both sides. With its cheap cost they can be massively built without using much of your money. They are effective for combat against other infantry and dogs.
- Cannon Fodder: Their role usually comes down to escorting and taking hits for the sake of protecting the more valuable Grenadiers and Rocket Soldiers.
- Good Guns, Bad Guns: Red Alert 1 manual says Rifle infantry use M-16 (Allied) or AK-47 (Soviet).
- Zerg Rush: Rifle Infantry are pretty much designed for this tactic; Whilst weak individually, when used in groups they can pose a threat to other infantry (especially Rocket Soldiers) and some light vehicles.
Demolition Truck
Type: Vehicle
Role: Suicide Attack
Weapons: Nuclear Device
Trained at: War Factory
The demolition truck is a modified Supply Truck armed with a tactical nuclear warhead. It is quite fast, but incredibly poor armored so great care must be taken, otherwise it could just explode inside its own base without even having reached its target destination.Role: Suicide Attack
Weapons: Nuclear Device
Trained at: War Factory
- Action Bomb: The purpose of the Demolition Truck is to detonate its nuclear warhead, taking enemies along with it.
- Awesome, but Impractical: It's Exactly What It Says on the Tin, a truck with a suicide bombing capability on the in-game nuke proportions. Only problem was it was made out of dry wood; one or two bullets was enough to set it off prematurely.
- Glass Cannon: Its nuclear weapons can take out large numbers of enemy infantry and seriously damage well armored vehicles and structures but one or two bullets was enough to make the truck explode prematurely.
- Mecha-Mooks: They are stated by be driven by computers in the manuals but have normal human move sounds (arguable the manuals had that thrown in for censorship).
- Molotov Truck: They contain nukes, which tend to get blown up before getting near their targets.
- Playing with Fire: Get these suicide bombing trucks out of your base right when you can, because once it explodes, the explosion is of a massive size.
Ore Truck
Type: Vehicle
Role: Resource Gathering
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
Used in the collection of raw ore, the Ore Truck is an indispensable piece of equipment. Although slow, it is heavily armored, able to withstand a hammering.Role: Resource Gathering
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
- Regenerating Health: Can self heal to half health.
- Worker Unit: Gathers ore and gem to facilitate the player's economy.
Chinook
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: N/A
Able to transport 5 infantry-type units through the air, the Transport Helicopter is ideal for landing engineers and other assault squads in an enemy baseRole: Aerial Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: N/A
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The Chinook can carry up to 5 infantry to travel directly over any terrain and undetectable by enemy radar until landing.
- Defenseless Transports: The Chinook serves as a dedicated transport and has no weapon.
Transport
Type: Naval
Role: Sea Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: Shipyard/Sub Pen
The Landing Ship Transport allows transportation of up to 5 ground-based units across the water, which can be a mix of either infantry or vehicles. This transport unit moves fast, but is unarmed and vulnerable to submarines.Role: Sea Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: Shipyard/Sub Pen
- Defenseless Transports: The transport serves as a dedicated transport and has no weapon.
- Units Not to Scale: It's only half the size of a Soviet Mammoth Tanks, but being able to carry 5 of them.
Red Alert 2
Amphibious Transport
Type: Naval
Role: Amphibious Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: Shipyard/Submarine Pen
Role: Amphibious Transport
Weapons: None
Trained at: Shipyard/Submarine Pen
— Allied Transport
— Soviet Transport
— Yuri Transport
Amphibious transports, or Hover transports in Yuri's case, can carry ground units across the water. They can't attack, however, so make sure you clear a landing for them first.
- Amphibious Automobile: Its entire purpose is to serve as an amphibious transport for land units.
- Defenseless Transports: Played straight as these massive amphibious transports have no defence against anything.
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Allied Units
All Games
Spy
Type: Infantry
Role: Infiltration & Sabotage
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Infiltration & Sabotage
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
The Spy is an infantry unit that is disguised as a light infantry unit, which can move past most enemy units undetected. Be careful as enemy vehicles can run over the spy and Attack Dogs can are the only units with the ability to detect spies.
- Bandit Mook: In Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 3, when a spy infiltrates an enemy Refinery, you'll steal money from its owner.
- Bears Are Bad News: In Red Alert 3, one of the Spy's responses is 'I don't like bears..', which is justified by the Soviet War Bear's ability to sniff out and maul spies.
- Bond One-Liner: Ironically, the Spy, who is a Shout-Out to James Bondhimself, doesn't use them except in Red Alert 3 when bribing enemy units.'Come on, fight for the winning team!'.
- Cast from Money: In Red Alert 3, Spies have a skill that converts a nearby enemy unit to his side, for a price. It's the only money-draining skill in the game.
- Composite Character: In Red Alert 2, they gain the Thief's ability to steal money if they infiltrate into an Ore Refinery.
- Dressing as the Enemy: In Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 3, they can disguise into any infantry, even dog and bear. In Red Alert 1, Spy appear as rifle infantry wearing enemy house colours.
- Dummied Out: In Red Alert 1, despite being unarmed in the actual game, the spy still has a few animation frames which show him shooting a gun. The funny thing is, those frames are actually tied into the game, which gives you an opportunity to modify rules.ini so your spies can shoot and experience no graphical goofs with that.
- Every Man Has His Price: In Red Alert 3, they can buy the loyalty of enemy units, who switch sides permanently. He even quote the trope word for word.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: Their voice is pretty clearly modeled after Sean Connery.
- Non-Combat EXP: In Red Alert 2, sneaking an Spy to the enemy Barracks or War Factory allows any units produced from your equivalent production structure to start off with one level of veterancy. However, taking one spy to said point is quite difficult though, and it only works once per building.
- Olympic Swimmer: In Red Alert 3, they can move on water as if it was open ground.
- Tuxedo and Martini: Spy appears at least to the Allies, as a man in a dapper (if combat-inappropriate) tuxedo-and-bowtie; selecting him or giving him an order causes him to reply in a Connery-ish voice. Of course, to opponents (i.e., the Soviets) he looks like one of their own units, unless discovered by a guard dog.
- Sniper Rifle: Their weapons when garrisoned in a multigunner turret or an IFV in Red Alert 3.
- Weaksauce Weakness: In all games, attack dogs and their equivalents, as they are the only units that will attack a disguised Spy on their own. In Yuri's Revenge they are completely useless against a Yuri player because all their psychic units and buildings can mind control a disguised Spy as soon as he gets into their range.
Red Alert 1
Rocket Soldier
Type: Infantry
Role: Ant-Armor/Anti-Air
Weapons: Dragon TOW Rockets & FIM-43 Redeye Missiles
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Ant-Armor/Anti-Air
Weapons: Dragon TOW Rockets & FIM-43 Redeye Missiles
Trained at: Barracks
Capable of rapidly damaging armored units, these infantry make up for their lack of speed with a powerful punch. In addition to dealing with ground targets, their missiles are also effective against airborne attackers. However, these men must be guarded from other infantry and anti-infantry vehicles.
- Anti-Air/Anti-Vehicle: Their role is to pull double duty as anti-air and anti-vehicle units with their rocket launchers.
- Boring, but Practical: Very few units in the game can beat Rocket Soldiers in bang-for-buck value and when spammed, they can often beat out most vehicle spams in terms of damage output, but require protection from other units. They're also very useful in base defense as they can attack against ground, sea and air targets and don't require any power.
- Cool Guns: The sidebar icon in-game depicts Rocket soldier armed with M72 LAW, while according to manuals side materials, they use M47 Dragons and FIM-43 Redeyes.
- Glass Cannon: They have a high damage output against vehicles and buildings, but they are still just squishy infantry and need protection from other units to avoid getting run over or gunned down by rifle and machine gun fire.
Thief
Type: Infantry
Role: Resource Acquisition
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Resource Acquisition
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Any Thief that enters an enemy Ore Silo or Refinery will steal half the credits in that structure. These units have no defenses against enemy units and should be used when enemy refineries are unguarded.
- Awesome, but Impractical: While the Thief can steal a large amount of money, not being able to cloak meant getting one to building was more trouble than it was worth. Hence in later games the Thief was removed and the Spy instead could steal money depending on what building he infiltrated.
- Bandit Mook: Any Thief that enters an enemy Ore Silo or Refinery will steal half the credits in that structure.
- Black Cloak: Thieves' in-game renders with somehow bear resemblances to Zorro or Tuxedo Mask.
- Support Party Member: Being unarmed, thieves are very vulnerable on the battlefield and easily killed. Unlike spies, they can't cloak either, so the player has to rely on his skills in distraction to allow a thief to enter the target building. If he manages it, then half of the credits are routed into the player's credit pool.
Medic
Type: Infantry
Role: Medical Support
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Medical Support
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
The medic heals nearby Allied infantry and can be placed in guard mode to heal any injured infantry. However, the medic has no defense against enemy units.
- The Medic: Their main purpose is to heal other infantry.
- Mook Medic: It's job is to heal allied infantry.
- No Experience Points for Medic: As they cannot kill enemies, Medics never gain veterancy.
- Support Party Member: Has no means of attacking but can heal friendly infantry.
Field Mechanic
Type: Infantry
Role: Field Repair
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Field Repair
Weapons: None
Trained at: Barracks
The mechanic heals friendly vehicles that are near by. Just like the medic he has no defense against enemy units. These units are useful in groups.
- Deep South: Talks like a stereotypical redneck.
- Mook Medic: The Mechanic functions like a Medic, but it works on vehicles and not on infantry. If a mechanic was to enter a transport such as an APC, he had to repair it before entering, probably due to engine limitations.
- The Engineer: The Mechanic type.
- Support Party Member: Has no means of attacking, but can repair friendly vehicles.
Ranger
Type: Vehicle
Role: Light Combat
Weapons: Light Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Light Combat
Weapons: Light Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
The ranger is a recon unit that is armed with a M60 machine gun. Although unable to crush units, it is fast and ideal against infantry able to mow them down in 2-4 bursts. However its light armor make it weak against tanks and aircraft.
- Cool Car: The Ranger is cheap and easy to produce. It can be used as a scout to explore the battlefield and to harass enemy bases especially when in conjunction with Light Tanks.
- Fragile Speedster: The Ranger is quick enough to out-maneuver most vehicles, but its armour is less than stellar, so it should avoid direct hits from anti-tank weaponry.
Light Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Escort
Weapons: 75mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
The standard Allied tank. Fast, with decent armor, the Light Tank works well in mixed groups, and also in large divisions. What it lacks in firepower, it makes up for in speed and rapid fire.Role: Armored Escort
Weapons: 75mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
- Tank Goodness: The Light Tank is the smallest and quickest tank in the game; its footprint and speed allows it to dodge enemy tank shells if directed properly. It is among the fastest armored tracked vehicles in the game, only beaten by the APC and the Minelayers. Like other armored tracked vehicles, it can run over infantry and it is well suited to this due to its speed.
- Zerg Rush: The only way they can do in direct confrontation against Soviet tanks.
Medium Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 150mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 150mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
The higher-grade Allied tank, this unit is just as well armored, faster, and less costly than the Soviet Heavy Tank, though armed with only a single barrel. Used in groups with Light Tanks, the Medium Tank can draw fire while the Lighter Tanks destroy the threat.
- Anachronism Stew: The Medium Tank is identical to its Tiberian Dawn equivalent, which means the Allied Nations can build M1 Abrams tanks during the 1940s.
- Tank Goodness: Despite the Heavy tank's advantage of two main guns, allowing it to produce almost twice as much raw firepower during initial contact as its Allied counterpart, the Medium tank however is faster, less expensive and quicker to build.
Anti-tank Minelayer
Type: Vehicle
Role: Minelayer
Weapons: Anti-Tank Mines
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Minelayer
Weapons: Anti-Tank Mines
Trained at: War Factory
A fast vehicle Allies use it to lay anti-vehicle mines. It is fast which makes it ideal for crushing infantry, but has no weapons to directly combat enemy units.
- Land Mine Goes 'Click!': Its mines are very dangerous and powerful. One can badly damage a heavy tank, destroy a V2 rocket launcher and do moderate damage to a Mammoth tank.
- Support Party Member: Has no weapons to directly combat enemy units but capable of laying mines to deter or destroy approaching enemies vehicles.
Artillery
Type: Vehicle
Role: Bombardment
Weapons: 155mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Bombardment
Weapons: 155mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
Very effective, if somewhat inaccurate, Artillery can devastate infantry and structures from afar. Its slow speed and light armor require that it be protected.
- Area of Effect: Against infantry, is able to mortally wound, if not kill, large groups of them with one shot.
- BFG: An 155mm gun.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: It's essentially a big cannon on wheels.
- Siege Engines: The Artillery is Allied's primary long range building buster. Tesla coils howerer had even greater range than artillery pieces, and enough power to melt them to scrap in one blast.
APC
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Transport
Weapons: Light Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Armored Transport
Weapons: Light Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
The Armoured personnel carrier is a unit armed with an M60 machine gun and is able to carry up to five men. It is heavily armored making it an ideal unit to supply infantry transport quickly across the battlefield.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The APC is small, heavily armoured and fast. Mounting a small machine gun, it is effective against all infantry. Its speed and ability to crush infantry make it highly effective against soldiers of all types, with the exception of the shock troopers, whose armoured suits prevented crushing.
- Stone Wall: The APC has heavy armor, but only a light machine gun. Though it is meant to carry troops around the field, it is almost always used as a stone wall unit.
Radar Jammer
Type: Vehicle
Role: Electronic Countermeasures (ECM)
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
It disrupts enemy radar functions, shutting down enemy radar transmissions and display. Its long range allows it to hide from enemy units while other units attack during the blackout.Role: Electronic Countermeasures (ECM)
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
- Dummied Out: It was identified as a Soviet unit in the manual, while in the final game it's an Allied one.
- Fog of War: It would temporarily stop the opponent's Radar Dome from working if it got within range. Unsurprisingly its range is pathetically short.
- Support Party Member: Has no means of attacking but can disable enemy radar and anti-air defense.
Chrono Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Chronoshift Attack
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Chronoshift Attack
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: War Factory
This lightly-armored unit has the same ability as the Chronosphere but is also armed with rockets. The tank can be shifted from one location to another every few minutes, and then teleport again after some time.
- Glass Cannon: Its mobility is unmatched among vehicles thanks to its ability to chronoshift to any location in a map, and while it does not attack very quickly, but it packs the most firepower among Allied tanks in Red Alert 1 (and it's second only to the Mammoth Tank overall). The same cannot be said about their armor, though, being the most fragile tank in the game, especially considering it's the most expensive tank, costing a hefty $2400 to build.
- Teleportation: Their only form of movement, they can't actually run to a location.
Mobile Gap Generator
Type: Vehicle
Role: ECM
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
Role: ECM
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
The mobile version of the Gap Generator functions in much the same way the stationary one does. Although it projects a smaller gap field, you can hide several units under its cover, blocking the enemy from seeing what you're sending against them.
- Awesome, but Impractical: The stationary building version is useful enough, but the mobile ones' range is so contracted that they're practically worthless. There's also the fact that the Mobile Gap Generator leaves a trail of freshly revealed terrain behind it, meaning you're generally not too effective at sneaking.
- Fog of War: The unit is literally a gap generator on wheels, deploying gap effect continuously while on the move. When the unit mobilizes, the gap field follows its path accordingly.
Phase Transport
Type: Vehicle
Role: Stealth Transport
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: N/A
Role: Stealth Transport
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: N/A
This is a non-buildable unit that can cloak itself while on the move. The Phase Transport it can be detected by defenses and infantry if they come too close to it. However, they have dual missiles that can destroy them safely out of range. It is quite lightly armored and is moderately fast.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: It shows up in a single mission in the Aftermath expansion, and it can only carry one infantry unit.. but on the other hand, the machine gun is replaced with high-powered missile launchers, and it cloaks.
- Grand Theft Prototype: By Soviet cyborg Volkov, who stole destroying its production facility and later use to disable communications in Allied control area, cleared the way for reinforcements to complete the elimination of Allied forces in the area.
- Invisibility Cloak: It can bend light in the visible part of the spectrum around it, rendering it effectively invisible to the naked eye.
Longbow
Type: Aircraft
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Hellfire Missiles
Trained at: Helipad
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Hellfire Missiles
Trained at: Helipad
The Allies attack helicopter is loaded with hellfire missiles, allowing it to destroy armored targets with ease. Used in conjunction with naval or ground attacks, the Longbow is an ideal support aircraft, able to rapidly inflict additional damage to a target usually with little or no return fire
- Cool Plane: It is equipped with heavy armour, sophisticated targeting equipment and several missile launchers. Its powerful missiles and great speed enable it to hunt enemy vehicles, particularly fragile V-2 missile launchers. Other units, such as Heavy tanks, are equally vulnerable because of their lack of anti-aircraft armament. The Longbow's heavy armour means that they could withstand at least a few volleys of missiles, and could even engage Mammoth Tanks for limited durations with a decent chance of survival.
- Macross Missile Massacre: It's capable of firing a barrage of 10 missiles against ground target before reload at an Helipad.
Gunboat
Type: Naval
Role: Naval Escort & Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
Weapons: 2in Gun & Depth Charges
Trained at: Shipyard
Role: Naval Escort & Anti-Submarine Warfare (ASW)
Weapons: 2in Gun & Depth Charges
Trained at: Shipyard
The fastest and lightest of the Allied naval vessels, the Gunboat have a short range anti-tank cannon, which is effective against land vehicles and enemy ships. It also can shoot out single shots of depth charges at enemy subs.
- Cool Boat: The fastest and lightest of the Allied naval vessels, the Gunboat is good at scouting naval routes, and detecting Submarines before they can cause any mischief.
- Zerg Rush: Only costs 500 credit, it easy to spam them with large number.
Destroyer
Type: Naval
Role: ASW & Anti-Air/Anti-Armor
Weapons: Missiles & Depth Charges
Trained at: Shipyard
Role: ASW & Anti-Air/Anti-Armor
Weapons: Missiles & Depth Charges
Trained at: Shipyard
The mid-level naval vessel, the Destroyer is effective against land, air, and sea-based threats. Its fast-firing stinger missiles can hit air targets easily, and can also decimate nearby ground targets. I It also has a depth charge launcher that shoots out two depth charges at submarines.
- Anti-Air: The only naval unit in Red Alert 1 that can attack aircraft.
- Cool Ship: The mid-level naval vessel, the Destroyer is effective against land, air, and sea-based threats. Its fast-firing stinger missiles can hit air targets easily, and can also decimate nearby ground targets. If it detects a Submarine, its dual depth-charge launcher ensures that the Sub will be rapidly taken out of commission.
- Jack-of-All-Stats: The missiles are effective against tanks, air units, and structures, but ineffective against infantry. It also has longer range than tesla coils and most other soviet units. Its dual depth-charge launcher can do significant damage to opposing submarines (and dollar for dollar will beat them), and can sink them more quickly than Gunboats.
- Units Not to Scale: It's a warship, which in this game doesn't appear all that bigger than a tank.
Cruiser
Type: Naval
Role: Long-Range Shore Bombardment
Weapons: 8in Guns
Trained at: Shipyard
Role: Long-Range Shore Bombardment
Weapons: 8in Guns
Trained at: Shipyard
What the Cruiser lacks in speed, it makes up for in firepower and range. Able to lob destruction onto targets incredible distances away, this ship can decimate an enemy base in minutes, and has a good radius of splash damage.
- BFG: The Cruiser is armed with two 8-inch guns in two twin turrets which fires long-range explosive shells that can devastate enemy bases.
- Long-Range Fighter: The firing range of the Cruiser is the longest in the game, being able to reach targets several screens away which gives it considerable coverage on maps.
- Mighty Glacier: Cruiser hit hard and are durable, but are very sluggish due to their mass, making them vulnerable to other ships or enemy aircraft.
- Siege Engines: Armed with two 8-inch guns in two twin turrets capable of delivering their shell over huge distances with devastate power, the Cruiser is capable of leveling any enemy base to the ground with ease.
Red Alert 2
GI
Type: Infantry
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: Spectre M4/M60
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: Spectre M4/M60
Trained at: Barracks
The GI is the basic Allied infantry unit. Slow and capable of only light damage, GIs are nonetheless necessary because of their low cost and ability to set up sandbags around them like a bunker and are capable of garrisoning buildings.
- Cannon Fodder: Really expensive cannon fodder, but fulfills the same role.
- Deployable Cover: Can deploy sandbags which gives them increased resistance and also allows them to use their machine guns, but makes them immobile.
- Cool Guns: Each of the GIs is equipped with what appears to be a Spectre submachine gun which they used on foot.
- Fake Balance: Sandbagged GI. They may be immobile, but they easily overcome this when they settle down near an enemy base, pulling out their absurdly powerful machine guns, that can destroy tanks in good numbers. A bunch of them trained well can stop any enemy player's assault because once a unit is constructed, it is already destroyed.
- Hot-Blooded: Their Enemy Chatter always has them craving combat.
- It's Raining Men: The USA subfaction had a different paratrooper ability, which meant that they could conceivably drop fourteen GIs (pretty formidable), anywhere on the map, for free, every few minutes.
- Cool Guns: Each of the GIs is equipped with an M60 general-purpose machine gun which they used in entrenched positions.
- No Indoor Voice: GIs never drop below an enthused shout, contrasting with the utterly bored sounding Soviet Conscripts.
- Rare Guns: Hard to tell given the isometric view from far away, but GIs are noted in some supplementary material to use the Spectre as their primary unmounted weapon.
- Starting Units: For the Allies, although unlike the Soviet Conscript they serve a dedicated anti-infantry role.
Sniper
Type: Infantry
Role: Anti-Infantry
Weapons: Sniper Rifle
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Anti-Infantry
Weapons: Sniper Rifle
Trained at: Barracks
This British infantry unit is equipped with a special long-range rifle useful in taking out enemy infantry units. Much better than regular GIs, the sniper gains tremendous range and power, killing off enemy infantry units with a single shot from well out of their range. However, the Sniper has a slow rate of fire and is ineffective against vehicles and structures.
- Boring, but Practical: Sniper insta-kills all enemy infantry, can hide in buildings and parachute assault. A few of these guys, a couple of Grizzlies and an anti-air unit, and you're laughing.
- Crippling Overspecialization: They can one-shot most infantry, but they'll be dead if you send in vehicles or air units.
- Foil: To the Tank Destroyer - both are country-specific units for the Allies that deal very high damage to only one kind of unit (infantry for Snipers, vehicles for the Tank Destroyer) but are completely useless against everything else.
- Long-Range Fighter: They can fire from very far but once you get close to them there isn't much that they can do.
- National Weapon: Sniper are unique infantry for the British.
- One-Hit Kill: They can one-shot almost every infantry unit.
- Sniper Rifle: Their weapon is a sniper rifle.
Guardian GI
Type: Infantry
Role: Heavy Ground Combat
Weapons: M-16/Javelin Missile
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Heavy Ground Combat
Weapons: M-16/Javelin Missile
Trained at: Barracks
Like a normal GI, the Guardian GI fires a powerful machine gun from a standing position. When deployed, the Guardian GI can not be crushed and switches to a powerful anti-tank weapon that is effective against vehicles and aircraft.
- Anti-Vehicle: Their role is to pull double duty as Anti-Air and Anti-Tank units with their rocket launchers.
- Boring, but Practical: Is simply an GI on steroids but a small group of these soldiers could neutralize a tank rush in no time flat. However, they are even more versatile when placed in a Battle Fortress, inside this heavy vehicle they are completely immune to anti-personnel weaponry and can fire on the move. Coupled with this method, they are excellent counters not only against tanks but also slow-moving aircraft such as Kirov Airships and Yuri's Floating Discs.
- Deployable Cover: Same with GI, but using metal plates instead which makes them impervious from getting roadkilled by vehicles, except the Allied Battle Fortress.
- Fake Balance: Guardian GIs might not be much for killing infantry but when deployed, there's simply no way to force them out of their holes because while the massive firepower of massed GIs could be offset by suicide-rushing tanks at them in order to crush the immobile soldiers, deployed Guardian GIs are uncrushable and have anti-tank weapons.
- Machine Guns: Each of the Guardian G Is is equipped with an M60 general-purpose machine gun which they used on foot.
- Obvious Rule Patch: Guardian GI is purpose-built to counter armor, seems to have been introduced solely to undercut the power of the Soviet Rhino tank rush strategy.
- Rockets, Missiles and Grenade Launchers: The sidebar icon in-game depicts Rocket soldier armed with Javelin RPG, which they used in entrenched positions.
Rocketeer
Type: Infantry
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: 20mm Assault Rifle
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: 20mm Assault Rifle
Trained at: Barracks
The Rocketeer is the aerial assault version of the simple Allied GI. Armed with a powerful weapon and strapped into an equally powerful jetpack, the Rocketeer hovers over the battlefield. Rocketeers are excellent in providing anti-air defence and air-to-ground attacks on weaker targets.
- Anti-Air: One of the few air units in the series that can attack other air units. This makes them especially effective against V3 rockets or slow aircraft.
- Assault Rifles: Though in game their weapon fire more resembles missiles.
- Expy: Of a superhero of the same name. Some similarities exist between the two. They are both used in a world war (WWII and Third World War), they both have the same name (the only difference being capitalisation), they are both sided with the Allies and are using hit and run tactics, and the design of the jetpack used in Red Alert 2 resembles the one used by The Rocketeer.
- Fragile Speedster: Though their high speed and maneuverability makes them excellent scouts, they are very vulnerable to anti-air emplacements.
- Jetpack: Naturally, they fly with one.
- Midair Bobbing: Their idle animation features them bobbing mid-air. When they are moving or attacking they stay perfectly still.
Navy SEAL
Type: Infantry
Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Rifle, C4 Charges
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Rifle, C4 Charges
Trained at: Barracks
Equipped with a high-powered machine gun, Seals are excellent against enemy infantry and can defend themselves against vehicles as well. Like Tanya, Seals use C4 charges to detonate enemy structures.
- Badass Boast'A lil' C4 knockin' at your door'
- Bond One-Liner'This is too easy''Special Delivery!'
- Fake Balance: In Yuri's Revenge. You basically get the ability to use mass-produced Tanya as soon as you build the Airforce HQ. The only perks Tanya has over them is being Immune to Mind Control and being able to blow up vehicles with her C4.
- Fun with Acronyms: Navy Special Warfare Development Group (The real force is named after 'Sea, Air, Land Teams'.)
- Olympic Swimmer: Can swim the entire length of the English Channel.
- One-Man Army: A single SEAL can decimate an entire army of basic infantry.
- Stuff Blowing Up: They can use their C4 charges to quickly demolish enemy structures.
- Submachine Guns: Their weapon is a high-powered machine gun.
Chrono Legionnaire
Type: Infantry
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Chronoblaster
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Chronoblaster
Trained at: Barracks
The Chrono Legionnaire is a high tech allied unit who uses chrono technology both as a weapon and as a means of transportation. The weapon which he is armed with is unique as it does no actual damage, and that it simply erases the target from history.
- Flash Step: The recommended way of moving, as longer jumps require longer recharges.
- Glass Cannon: They can erase practically any ground unit one-on-one thanks to their weapons disabling the target. In the end, however, Chrono Legionnaires are infantry, and fragile infantry at that given their cost and high tech requirements, and unless multiple Legionnaires are used on the same target, it can take a very long time to erase them.
- One-Way Visor: Artwork depicts them as having one.
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:'They're history.'
- Ret Gone: The fate of Chrono Legionnaire target. This can happen instantly, or over the course of about a minute, pending what is being phased out, how many legionnaires are engaging the target and the rank of the legionnaires. While being phased out, they're left utterly helpless and untouchable. Oddly enough, it has absolutely no noticeable side effects on the rest of the world.
- Teleporters and Transporters: Their only form of movement, they can't actually walk to a location.
Chrono Commando
Type: Infantry
Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Rifle, Instant C4 Charges
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Rifle, Instant C4 Charges
Trained at: Barracks
If a Spy manages to infiltrate an Allied Battle Lab, Chrono Commandos can be trained in the barracks (Allied Barracks only in the base games). These improved NAVY SEALs are equipped with the same chrono shift technology that allows Chrono Legionnaires to teleport across the battlefield, as well as improved C4 charges that instantly destroy a building after being planted.
- Badass Boast'A lil' C4 knockin' at your door'
- Bond One-Liner'This is too easy''Special Delivery!'
- Composite Character: A combination between the NAVY SEALs's ability to decimate infantry and blow up buildings with the Chrono Legionnaire's method of transportation (replacing the SEAL's ability to swim).
- Fake Balance: While retaining the NAVY SEAL's vulnerability to vehicles and mind control, being difficult to acquire (requiring a Spy to infiltrate an Allied Battle Lab, a building that is zealously protected) and being the most expensive infantry unit in the game (at $2000), Chrono Commandos are one of the most dangerous infantry units in the entire game. Their chrono shifting movement gives them unparalelled mobility to decimate infantry and deploy C4 charges on buildings, and not even anti-infantry defensive structures are safe as they are instantly destroyed, unlike regular NAVY SEALs or Tanya. Also, they can be mass-produced: a group of Chrono Commandos can disable an entire base before you can even notice.
- Hoist by Their Own Petard: Instant-detonation C4 charges sound great until you try to use them on Nuclear Reactors or Oil Derricks. The Chrono Commando is instantly killed by the blast, whereas other demolition units can find time to escape.
- One-Man Army: A single Chrono Commando can decimate an entire army of basic infantry or instantly destroy any building of their choice.
- Stuff Blowing Up: They can use their C4 charges to instantly demolish enemy structures.
- Submachine Guns: Their weapon is a high-powered machine gun.
Red Alert 2 Gap Generator For Sale
IFV
Type: Vehicle
Role: Variable Combat Support
Weapons: Missiles/Variable
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Variable Combat Support
Weapons: Missiles/Variable
Trained at: War Factory
An incredibly versatile vehicle, this transport alters its weapon depending on what type of infantry unit is placed inside it
- Adaptive Armor: IFV is an adaptive vehicle that would power up any infantry put inside (including the other factions).
- Action Bomb: When carrying a Crazy Ivan, Chrono Ivan, or Terrorist, IFV become a variant of the Demolition Truck which blows up and spread radiation.
- Anti-Air: It comes equipped with standard light anti-armour missiles capable of accurately taking down enemy aircraft.
- Anti-Vehicle: When carrying a Guardian GI, IFV missile is more effect again tank but weak agains infantry and buildings.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: It can only carry one infantry unit.. but on the other hand its weapon changes to match that unit's specialty and it can even gain weapons from troops of other factions.
- Boring, but Practical: Putting an Attack Dog in an IFV doesn't change its weapon, but it DOES give the IFV the spy detection range of the dog.
- Dual Mode Unit: The IFV could carry a single infantryman, and swapped out i's missiles for a different weapon depending on which trooper was in it.
- Fragile Speedster: When not Elite and unmanned, the IFV is very fast and has weapons that deal with all units fairly well, but it's frail and does not deal much damage.
- Glass Cannon: An unmanned Elite IFV is one of the best vehicles in the game in terms of damage output and still has the speed to back it up, but it can be taken down in a few tank shells.
- I Love Nuclear Power: When carrying a Desolator, IFV turret turn into anti-infantry rad-cannon with improved range and rate of fire.
- Jack-of-All-Stats: The adaptation system allows the IFV to quickly be equipped to handle almost any problem efficiently.
- Kill It with Fire: When carrying an Initiate, IFV turret fire a enhanced version of Initiate pyrokinesis.
- Lightning Gun: When carrying Tesla Trooper, IFV turret changes to one similair to the Tesla Tank only fire faster and has a longer range.
- Machine Guns:
- When carrying a GI, Conscript or Spy, IFV turret changes to a high caliber machine gun wich is effective against infantry and ligh vehicles.
- When carrying Tanya, Navy SEAL, Chrono Commando or Boris, IFV turret changes to a high rate of fire machine gun that one shot kills infantry and barely does any damage to vehicle and building.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Is quite capable of triple-M'ing when it's fully promoted. Rack up as many elite Rocket IF Vs and you can guarantee that you'll have a real triple-M show.
- Mind over Matter: When carrying any Yuri unit variant, IFV turret uses the anti-infantry psi-blast ability of these infantry, killing a group of enemy troops.
- Mook Medic: When carrying Engineers it can repair other vehicles, allowing Allied vehicles to live longer on the battlefield.
- Powerup Letdown: When Elite, the IFV tends to fare worse when it's carrying infantry as they are only barely faster-attacking than a Veteran IFV, and get none of the dramatic attacking boosts from the Elite rank. Only very specific units, such as Attack Dogs, Navy SEALs or Snipers can be sent into an Elite IFV without making it look useless.
- Ret Gone: When carrying a Chrono Legionnaire, the IFV turret has the same weapon but with more speed and range.
- Sniper Rifle: When carrying a Spy, Sniper, or Virus, the IFV turret has the same weapon but with more speed and range
- Splash Damage: When carrying a Flak Trooper, the IFV turret fires flak shells that can damage multiple units at once provided they're close together.
- Violation of Common Sense:
- An IFV manned by a Crazy Ivan or a Terrorist becomes a suicide attacker that leaves a little area filled with radiation upon blowing up, pretty much becoming a mini-Demolition Truck. Neither Crazy Ivans nor Terrorists leave radiation with their bombs when outside of an IFV.
- Flak Troppers cannot attack air units when inside an IFV.
Grizzly Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 105mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 105mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
The Grizzly is a standard Allied tank. Useful for base assaults, Grizzly Battle Tanks are also capable of grinding enemy infantry units under their powerful treads. This all-purpose vehicle is useful both in defense and attack. Grizzly tanks are faster than their Soviet counterparts, but have less armor and less firepower than Rhino tanks.
- Hit-and-Run Tactics: Because the Grizzly is cheaper and faster than the Rhino Heavy Tank, it can be used for this strategy.
- Tank Goodness: The Grizzly is one of the fastest tanks in RA 2, easily outpacing its Soviet counterpart, the Rhino. It is also an inexpensive unit to build, making it easy to mass produce quickly. These attributes combine to make a unit that is tailor built for swarming hit-and-run tactics, with an above decent damage rating that makes the Grizzly a potent threat to enemy structures and vehicles.
- Starting Units: For the Allies, they are basic, unremarkable and available to build right away.
- Zerg Rush: Being light on armor and low on hit points, a lone Grizzly is easy prey for most offensive units, even infantry. Grizzlies should always travel in groups of five or more for maximum efficiency, and if those numbers can be bolstered with more exotic tanks like Mirage Tanks or Robot Tanks, such additions should be made immediately. In fact, late game Grizzlies are perfect escorts for more vulnerable Allied armor like Prism Tanks; few things in Red Alert 2 are as potent as a Prism Tank bombardment with Grizzly protection.
Chrono Miner
Type: Vehicle
Role: Resource Gathering
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Resource Gathering
Weapons: None
Trained at: War Factory
The Chrono Miner can mine gems and ores on the ground and convert it into money for construction and training. Chrono Miners have the ability to teleport back to their Ore Refineries.
- Stone Wall: Though unarmed, it's very durable as is the standard for miners.
- Teleporters and Transporters: It's teleport ability is useful when an enemy starts attacking it. When a Terror Drone attacks a Chrono Miner, it will be left behind when the Miner teleports back to base.
- Regenerating Health: Chrono Miners self-repair slowly, up to 50% health.
- Worker Unit: Gathers ore and gem to facilitate the player's economy.
Mirage Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Stealth
Weapons: HEAT Incendiary Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Stealth
Weapons: HEAT Incendiary Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
In most ways, the Mirage Tank is similar to the Grizzly Battle Tank, a bit with a much stronger gun. However, when not moving, this unit changes in appearance to look like a tree. It can fire on enemy units from this camouflaged state, making it difficult for the enemy to discover where the fire is coming from. They do, however, appear for a brief moment when firing. Used carefully (for instance, stopping Mirage Tanks in or near a forested area), these units can provide a devastating surprise attack.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Is turret is in a fixed position, so the whole vehicle must turn in order to engage a target.
- Foil: To the Prism Tank. They are experimental Glass Cannon tanks designed by Albert Einstein, both are very good against infantry, but while the Mirage Tank is much stronger against vehicles than against buildings, the Prism Tank is much stronger against buildings than against vehicles.
- Glass Cannon: A group consisting of 3 to 4 Mirage Tanks can quickly destroy an Apocalypse tank, but its armor is paper-thin.
- Mobile Shrubbery: The Mirage Tank has the unique ability to camouflage itself as a tree or rock as long as the tank is stationary.
- Nobody Here But Us Trees: Mirage Tank has the ability to disguise itself as a tree when not moving. One of his quotes? 'Nobody here but us trees!'
- Playing with Fire: Armed with an infrared laser cannon, it can ignite infantry with a maximum of two shots and is highly effective against vehicle armor.
- Pungeon Master: The radio operator has a habit of making tree-related puns.
Robot Tank
Type: Drone
Role: Automated Support
Weapons: 105mm APDS Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
The main strength of the Robot Tank is that it cannot be mind controlled, because there is no human driver onboard this assault vehicle. Robot Tanks hover, allowing them to cross water. The ability to create Robot Tanks is granted with the construction of a Robot Control Center. These cease to function if they have low/no power.Role: Automated Support
Weapons: 105mm APDS Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
- Fragile Speedster: The Robot Tank is very fast, but not particularly powerful and can't take too many hits.
- Hover Tank: Robot Tank can traverse any body of water with ease, allowing it to attack unsuspecting enemies from almost any direction.
- Mecha-Mooks: They are AI controlled and the bane of the Yuri faction's existence. They are faster than the land-bound Grizzly Tank and can cross water with their hover-jets. The worst part, however, is that it is completely immune to the Mind Control units and structures that Yuri loves to use.
- This Looks Like a Job for Aquaman: It's difficult to consider the Robot Tank over the very statistically-similar Grizzly Tank as it's further on the tech tree, cannot gain promotions, and is disabled if the owner runs out of power or loses the Robot Control Center. There are two circumnstances, however, in which the Robot Tank excels on - against Yuri enemies, thanks to its immunity to mind-control, and maps with large bodies of water, which Robot Tanks can use to attack from often-unprotected spots (something the AI tends to do when playing as an Allied nation).
Battle Fortress
Type: Vehicle
Role: Heavy Assault
Weapons: Heavy Machine Gun & Infantry Gunports
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Heavy Assault
Weapons: Heavy Machine Gun & Infantry Gunports
Trained at: War Factory
This massive construction grinds over the battlefield, crushing infantry, vehicles (even tanks) and walls with equal ease. Up to five infantry units can be placed inside the Battle Fortress. These infantry units can shoot out of the many ports, adding to the carnage.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: It can effectively crush any unit and any vehicle, even enemy Apocalypse Tanks, walls and Commandos, who ordinarily can't be crushed. Up to five infantry units can be housed inside it and fire their weapons from inside.
- Badass Boast'We will trample our enemies!''Let's make a warpath!'
- Car Fu: Its size makes it one of the few vehicles that can crush other vehicles.
- Master of All: With five infantry slots in which garrisoned units can shoot from, Battle Fortresses can be tweaked to deal with practically every threat. The most common composition is a majority of Guardian GIs and a Sniper or a Navy SEAL to deal with most infantry, vehicles or airships, but the possibilities are almost endless - you can use multiple Chrono Legionnaiers to quickly disable and erase every unit, or send multiple Yuri Clones to have a poor man's Mastermind. Base defenses are the only opposition Battle Fortresses cannot garrison units to deal with; everything else can be countered in some way.
- Mighty Glacier: Heavily armored, and garrisoning means it can easily out gun actual tanks, but it's extremely slow.
- Stone Wall: The Battle Fortress is the most heavily-armored unit in the game, but it's also one of the most lightly armed vehicles, only carrying a weak machine gun and the ability to crush other vehicles. It only moves into Mighty Glacier territory upon having units garrisoned into it.
- Violent Glaswegian: It's certainly qualifies, though the accent is pretty bad.
Prism Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Prism Weapon
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Prism Weapon
Trained at: War Factory
This powerful Allied tank uses a weapon similar to the Allied Prism Tower. The powerful and deadly beam of light launched from the Prism Tanks cannon radiates from the target to hit other nearby enemies, allowing this vehicle to single-handedly destroy entire groups of enemy units. The range of dispersal depends on how close the Prism Tank is to its initial target.
- A.I. Breaker: Prism Tanks outrange every static defense except one and their attacks leap to nearer enemies so the tanks easily and quickly level up when properly micromanaged. The AI doesn't realize the deadly threat and sieges against CPU bases often turn into a massacre while the armored units of the defender sit idle by on the other corner of the base.
- Foil: To the Mirage Tank. They are experimental Glass Cannon tanks designed by Albert Einstein, both are very good against infantry, but while the Prism Tank is much stronger against buildings than against vehicles, the Mirage Tank is much stronger against vehicles than against buildings.
- Frickin' Laser Beams: A mobile version of the Prism Tower.
- Glass Cannon: While it fires long-range Frickin' Laser Beams that can hit multiple units (Three or four could destroy an Apocalypse Tank, six will destroy any structure in the game. A group of nine or more prism tanks can overcome just about any land opposition), but two-three shots from the basic Soviet Rhino Tank will take it out.
- Long-Range Fighter: Prism Tanks can outrange most base defenses, but are weak in a direct fight with their slow rate of fire and weak armour.
- Recursive Ammo: Since they're not equipped to combine their beams into one super-powered beam like the larger Prism Towers, they instead have their lasers scatter on impact. With sufficient experience, a single one of them can attack a lone tank or sentry gun in an enemy base and end up destroying or severely crippling half of that base.
- Reflecting Laser: Its Prism beams can diffracts off of targets, causing secondary beams that fly out in all directions, but with an extremely short range.
- Siege Engines: For the Allied, their Prism beams can hit targets at long range.
- Tanks, but No Tanks: The Prism Tank actually bears more resemblance to artillery than tanks, being too lightly armoured to survive on the front line and more suited to attacking bases from afar.
- Splash Damage: Prism Tanks shoot a long-range explosive beam of light every 1 1/2 seconds which deals devastating splash damage to every unit within a small radius of the impact point.
- Wave Motion Gun: Prism Cannon has a flap on the rear which animates when the Cannon is shooting.
Tank Destroyer
Type: Vehicle
Role: Anti-Armor
Weapons: Armor Piercing Cannon
Trained at: War Factory.
Role: Anti-Armor
Weapons: Armor Piercing Cannon
Trained at: War Factory.
German scientists have developed the Tank Destroyer, a unit designed specifically to give German forces an edge against enemy armor. While very weak against structures or infantry, Tank Destroyers are extremely powerful against enemy vehicles, packing as much firepower against them as an Apocalypse Tank, and can be used either to clear the way for your own attacks or to blunt incoming columns of enemy armor.
- Anti-Vehicle: It has a large anti-tank cannon mounted on a flexible, tracked platform, which is capable of easily destroying enemy tanks, even punching through the heavy armor of the Apocalypse tanks and ore miners like War miners and Slave miners.
- Badass Boast:'No armor's too tough''Not a tank I can't break!''Let's see who's tougher'
- Crippling Overspecialization: Tank Destroyer does Exactly What It Says on the Tin, with a unique attack type that does very heavy damage to tanks, but hardly does a scratch on buildings and infantry (although it can still run over them). Even against tanks, it's vulnerable to flanking thanks to its fixed turret. There are also some vehicles it actually loses against, such as Apocalypse Tanks, Battle Fortresses (depends on the composition) and, surprisingly enough, Slave Miners.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Is turret is in a fixed position, so the whole vehicle must turn in order to engage a target.
- Foil: To the Sniper - both are country-specific units for the Allies that deal very high damage to only one kind of unit (infantry for Snipers, vehicles for the Tank Destroyer) but are completely useless against everything else.
- National Weapon: Tank Destroyers are unique vehicles for the German.
- Germanic Efficiency:
NightHawk Transport
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Transport
Weapons: Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Aerial Transport
Weapons: Machine Gun
Trained at: War Factory
This massive transport helicopter is used to move infantry units across the map quickly and efficiently, without regard to terrain. The Night Hawk Transport is also completely invisible to enemy radar, making it even more effective at shuttling units back and forth. It is vulnerable to anti-aircraft fire, however.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: The only airbone transport unit, the Nighthawk Transport helicopter was used by as a method of quickly deploying special forces units wherever they were needed on the battlefield. As it is stealthed against radar, the Nighthawk can be used to transport units undetected through a gap in the anti-air defenses of an enemy base, then deliver them into the heart of the base.
- Expy: The Nighthawk resembles a fusion of the CH-46 Sea Knight and the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters. Both are used by the United States Marine Helicopter Squadron One (HMX-1), a squadron responsible of transportation of the United States President. The Nighthawk in-game has the same role, at the end of Operation: Hail to the Chief, when secret servicemen escorted Dugan to a Nighthawk. HMX-1 is also nicknamed 'The Nighthawks'.
Harrier
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: Maverick Missiles
Trained at: Airforce Command
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: Maverick Missiles
Trained at: Airforce Command
This fast jet-aircraft is used for ground attacks against enemy positions. Useful for strafing enemy structures or incoming columns of enemy units, the Harrier is vulnerable to Soviet anti-aircraft fire.
- Danger Deadpan: It apparently have pilots that sound like your typical Chuck Yeager-type pilots when clicked on. The only time they sound panicky is when they get shot down.
- Death from Above: Harrier sometimes says this when ordering it to attack something.
- Eject.. Eject.. Eject..: One of the Harrier quotes when shot down.
- Glass Cannon: Harriers are fast and deal noticeable damage to practically any ground target - for example, three Harrier missiles destroy a single Rhino Tank. The problem Harriers have is actually reaching the target, for they tend to drop like flies to anti-aircraft fire.
Black Eagle
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: Maverick II Missiles
Trained at: Airforce Command
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: Maverick II Missiles
Trained at: Airforce Command
The special unit of Korea, Effectively, this aircraft is a stronger Harrier, offering increased ability to both take and dish out damage.
- Eject.. Eject.. Eject..: One of the Black Eagle quotes when shot down.
- Lightning Bruiser: Even stronger and sturdier than a Harrier, just five Black Eagles can destroy any building, possibly with some of them returning.
- National Weapon: Black Eagle are unique aircraft for the Korea.
Dolphin
Type: Naval
Role: Naval Support
Weapons: Sonar Pulse
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
Dolphins are an important naval unit for the Allied forces. Cloaked and invisible to enemy radar, Dolphins attack with a sonar amplification device. They are effective against any Soviet naval units, particularly Giant Squids and Subs.Role: Naval Support
Weapons: Sonar Pulse
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
- Attack Animal: Dolphins which are specially trained to assist the military.
- Crippling Overspecialization: The Dolphin is a dedicated anti-naval unit and cannot attack land unit and aircraft.
- Fragile Speedster: Very fast swimmers and excellent naval harassers but also very weak and not likely to survive a prolonged fight.
- Heroic Dolphin: That can bring down submarines and large warships.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: The Dolphin has an amplified sonic weapon as an actual damaging attack that can take out boats if they attack in groups.
- Weaponized Animal: Dolphins are equipped with sonar weaponry.
Destroyer
Type: Naval
Role: Naval Escort & ASW
Weapons: 155mm Cannon & ASW Osprey VTOL
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
Role: Naval Escort & ASW
Weapons: 155mm Cannon & ASW Osprey VTOL
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
The main battleship of the Allied Navy. It is armed with a cannon to hit all above water ships and land targets. On its back is the Osprey aircraft, which disengages to fire at any underwater enemy units that are detected.
- BFG: It's 155 mm.
- Cool Plane: The Osprey.
- Cool Ship: It was not too expensive and could be deployed in large groups. Their cannon was effective against other ships, like Dreadnoughts, and the Ospreys were effective against submarines. They were excellent in defending Aircraft carriers against Soviet and Yuri submarines, and they were also effective in attacking coast-based enemies, clearing the way for Amphibious transports.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Its cannon is in a fixed position, so the whole ship must turn in order to engage a target.
- Glass Cannon: The Osprey can take out submarines in two volleys, but it's extremely frail.
- Jack-of-All-Stats: Outside of air enemies, which Destroyers cannot target, they are good units in all fronts, with respectable damage, speed and armor. They are not powerful enough to take down a main battle tank or a submarine one-on-one, but Destroyers make it up in versatility and range.
- Military Mashup Machine: Beside main cannon with which Destroyer can attack most of targets, they also have landing pad for Ospreys, specialized anti-submarine aircraft.
- True Sight: They can detect stealthed and submerged units in big radius around them.
Aegis Cruiser
Type: Naval
Role: Anti-Air
Weapons: Medusa Missiles
Trained at: Allie Shipyard
Role: Anti-Air
Weapons: Medusa Missiles
Trained at: Allie Shipyard
Another important Allied ship, the Aegis Cruiser is used to defend against aerial attacks. In addition to standard anti-aircraft defenses, Aegis Cruisers are also equipped with anti-missile defenses that can protect vital installations against missile attacks.
- Anti-Air: The Aegis is the main Allied anti-air naval unit.
- Badass Boast:'Protector of the Allied fleet'
- Crippling Overspecialization: The Aegis is a very powerful anti-air unit, but is useless against everything else.
- Homing Projectile: Like most Anti-Air units in the game that fire missiles, the Aegis Cruiser's home towards their target, so that not even fast units like Black Eagles or Boris's MiGs survive a salvo.
- Macross Missile Massacre: It's starts off as a powerful anti-air unit that fires damaging missiles at targets. However, as it begins to rack up kills and gain promotions (which isn't too hard as it's pretty good at its job) it gets becomes even more powerful and fires missiles nonstop. To elaborate: An elite (fully promoted) Aegis Cruiser can capable of completely destroying a group of 3 Kirov (and maybe more) in 2 seconds, make it become the most powerfull AA unit in game.
Aircraft carrier
Type: Naval
Role: Long-Range Attack
Weapons: Hornet Fighters
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
Role: Long-Range Attack
Weapons: Hornet Fighters
Trained at: Allied Shipyard
Exactly as you might guess, the Aircraft Carrier is a large ship that attacks by sending its aircraft to launch an assault on the target. Planes from an Aircraft Carrier land, reload and continue attacking until the selected target is destroyed. Even better, any aircraft lost by the Aircraft Carrier are automatically replaced without any cost.
- Cool Plane: Its Hornet fighters.
- Drone Deployer: The Aircraft Carrier doesn't attack by itself and serves as a platform for Hornet to bombard enemy units from afar.
- Glass Cannon: Hornets are extremely frail, but they deal enough damage for Aircraft Carriers to essentially work as naval Siege Engines. Against strong defenses, however, Aircraft Carriers will spend more time replacing Hornets than dealing damage with them.
- Mook Maker: The ship carries a contingent of three Hornet VTOL attack jets armed with homing missiles and capable of repairing, rearming and rebuilding the jets.
- Siege Engines: Packing several UAV capable of delivering their payload over huge distances with deadly accuracy, the Aircraft Carrier is capable of leveling any enemy base to the ground with ease.
- Units Not to Scale: Not only the carrier itself, but its Hornets are also much smaller than they should be.
Red Alert 3
Peacekeeper
Type: Infantry
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: Grummond-6 Shotgun
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: Grummond-6 Shotgun
Trained at: Barracks
Though they nominally police war-torn regions in times of peace, Peacekeepers are at the front lines of any conflict. They are well-trained and heavily-armoured, armed with Grummond-8 Shotguns that can send a man flying backwards at close range. Peacekeepers excel in urban combat, and their training allows even a single Peacekeeper to storm a civilian building and eliminate its hostile occupants. Peacekeepers are by far the most powerful basic infantry in the game, as they are both heavily armed and armored, and through clever use of their Riot Shields, are capable of reaching an enemy unit with very little health loss, allowing them to then draw their shotguns and deal the maximum damage possible to their opponent.
- Cannon Fodder: Really expensive cannon fodder, but fulfills the same role.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: Peacekeepers look more like riot police then front-line soldiers. Their primary weapon is a Short-Range Shotgun, but they also have a metal shield that they can deploy to protect against bullets, while they slowly walk towards the target in order to unleash their weapon. It evene prevent them from getting 1-hit killed by ninjas and Tesla troopers. They are still vulnerable to sniper attacks such as Spies and Natasha, however it will take several shots to bring down a shield-protected Peacekeeper.
- Shaped Like Itself:'Peacekeeper, keeping the peace.'
- Shotguns Are Just Better: They are the most expensive of the three sides' basic infantry units but can kill regular enemy infantry in two shots. They can knockdown even ninjas and commandos who gets too close, and with proper micromanagement can lock them in a Cycle of Hurting.
- Short-Range Shotgun: While their shotguns have similar effective range to Conscripts' and Imperial Warriors' assault rifles, they deal more damage in close range. In addition, any enemy who gets too close will be Blown Across the Room.
- Splash Damage: Their shotguns can hit multiple infantry and do severe damage to groups of enemy troops.
Javelin Soldier
Type: Infantry
Role: Anti-Armor/Anti-Air
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Anti-Armor/Anti-Air
Weapons: Missiles
Trained at: Barracks
Armed with the rapid-firing Javelin Missile Launcher, they are capable of bringing down even the most heavily armoured enemy vehicles under repeated fire. If additional firepower is required, they can activate their laser-lock capability. Though the system requires a few seconds before it can acquire its target, it will then subsequently fire a stream of missiles which can bring down even the most heavily armoured targets. Javelin Soldiers work best in cooperation with Peacekeepers, who can shield them from fire. The Javelin is an extremely powerful anti-vehicle unit, and has proven to be one of the best counters in the game to a Kirov Airship, with their laser lock dealing extreme amounts of damage to the Kirov in seconds.
- Macross Missile Massacre: Their special ability allows them to do this. They require a few seconds of start-up time, but once they get started, they fire a crapton of missiles at a target.
- Laser Sight: The Javelin soldiers' launchers can also paint targets with a laser, increasing the troopers' lethality, assuming that they have the time to charge their laser, the target doesn't leave their range or forcing them on the move while 'painting' the target. If the lock-on process is complete, the Javelin soldier can activate the missile auto fire that launch near infinite rapid missile fire.
- Rockets, Missiles and Grenade Launchers Their weapon is a rocket launcher, which looks similar to a Stinger missile launcher.
- Sleeves Are for Wimps: Being a soldier, Javelin soldiers almost completely covers their body, but still leaves their sculpted arms on display.
Cryo Legionnaire
Type: Infantry
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Frostbite Cryo-Cannon
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Frostbite Cryo-Cannon
Trained at: Barracks
The Cryo Legionnaire is the infantry version of the Cryocopter deployed by the Allies during the Red Alert 3: Uprising. They were armed with a cryo-ray freeze weapon which freezes and immobilizes enemies with cold.
- The Ahnold: The Cryo Legionnaire's voice is a parody of Arnold Schwarzenegger as Mr. Freeze.
- An Ice Person: Cryo Legionnaire can not only freeze whole groups of ground units for capture (or for shatter), but they can walk on (solid) water by flash-freezing the water beneath them, and create ice aircrafts from inside a turret. Being Red Alert, this is combined with a repertoire of hammy, cryohydrous-related dialogue.
- Expy: Of Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin, and to a lesser extent, Arnold Schwarzenegger.
- Freeze Ray: Cryo Legionnaires can stop entire enemy squads dead in their tracks using their cryo cannons, which quickly freeze surface targets, including unprotected infantry all the way up to entire facilities or armor divisions.
- Hurricane of Puns: Everything he says are cold-related puns of commonly used terms and Bond One Liners such as 'It's snow time!' and 'Let's kick some ice!', this said imitating Schwarzenegger's voice, who acted as Mr. Freeze in Batman & Robin. The name of the unit itself is a pun of an Allied unit from RA2.
- Jetpack: Boost Kick ability enables Cryo Legionnaires to jump into the air and then crashes down to the ground, which can be useful for shattering frozen targets or leap into or out of battle.
- Lightning Bruiser: Surprisingly faster than regular infantrymen while on foot.
- Powered Armor: Their suits are noted as making Tesla Troopers' look downright primitive, and give them vastly increased speed and the ability to walk on water in addition to the usual protection.
- Pungeon Master:'I'm cool with that!'
- Shout-Out: Cryo Legionnaire is a pun of Chrono Legionnaires in Red Alert 2 and also a shout out to Mr. Freeze. Many of the voiceovers are Mr. Freeze's lines ('Let's kick some ice!', 'Cool Party', and 'The Iceman Cometh').
- Spiritual Successor: To the Chrono Legionnaires in Red Alert 2. Both are elite Allied infantry armed with experimental weapons and suits with advanced mobility capabilities.
- Walk on Water: The unit's profile in the official website say this:They may look like they'd sink like a rock, yet Cryo Legionnaires are quite literally capable of skating across watery surfaces. By flash-freezing the water under their feet (thanks to Future Tech's innovative Tundralest leggings), Cryo Legionnaires are always on solid footing even at sea.
Prospector
Type: Vehicle
Role: Resource Gathering & Forward Base Expansion
Weapons: None
Trained at: Armor Facility/Seaport
Role: Resource Gathering & Forward Base Expansion
Weapons: None
Trained at: Armor Facility/Seaport
The Allies' primary ore collection vehicle. Capable of traveling on land as well as water, as with all ore collectors, they are absolutely vital for any Allied base. Without it, Allied resource pools would quickly dry up, leaving them unable to produce more units or structures. The Prospector also functions as the Allied expansion unit, allowing them to set up bases in remote locations. Due to its relative frailty and sheer importance, it must be guarded at all times.
- Amphibious Automobile: Prospectors can traverse land and water with equal ease, because of their automated aqua-sensitive air cushions.
- Base on Wheels: The Prospector can deploy into a Command Hub, allowing for base expansion beyond the original base radius. This process however, is permanent, and cannot be reverted once performed.
- Prospector: Well, duh.
- Worker Unit: Gathers ore to facilitate the player's economy. It's also doubles as a constructor, since it can transform into a Command Hub and allow new buildings to be built nearby.
Multigunner IFV
Type: Vehicle
Role: Variable Combat Support
Weapons: Missiles/Various
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Variable Combat Support
Weapons: Missiles/Various
Trained at: Barracks
The Multigunner Infantry Fighting Vehicle is a fast and versatile combat vehicle that can house one infantry unit. Although normally armed with guided missiles that are modestly effective against enemy vehicles and aircraft, the Multigunner can change or upgrade its weapons depending on whatever infantry unit is inside of it at the time. For this reason, it is a highly adaptable unit that can change depending on circumstances into combat unit effective against different targets or a support unit. Despite whatever configuration it is in however, it remains a lightly armoured vehicle, and lacks effectiveness against heavier targets.
- Adaptive Armor: Multigunner IFV is an adaptive jeep that would power up any infantry put inside (including the other factions).
- Anti-Air: It comes equipped with standard light anti-armour missiles capable of accurately taking down enemy aircraft.
- Anti-Vehicle: When carrying a Javelin soldier, it has improved Multigunner IFV effectiveness against enemy vehicles, but less effective against infantry and aircraft.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: Is billed as an IFV despite only carrying one soldier — but its weapon changes to match that unit's specialty (i.e., loading a rocket trooper gives it (more) rocket pods, loading a Cryo Legionnaire gives it an ice beam) — it can even gain weapons from troops of other factions.
- Awesome Aussie: Its driver has an Australian accent. In fact the vehicle was design by an unknown Australian company.
- Beam Spam: When carrying Imperial Warrior, Multigunner IFV gains an beam gun that reasonably powerful against not only infantry, but to light vehicles too.
- Dual Mode Unit: The Multigunner IFV could carry a single infantryman, and swapped out its missiles for a different weapon depending on which trooper was in it.
- Energy Bow: When carrying an Archer Maiden, Multigunner IFV turret has the same weapon are these infantry, only stronger and has longer range.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Unlike their Red Alert 2 predecessors, Multigunner IFV do not have a turret, which means the entire vehicle has to turn to fire at its target.
- Freeze Ray: When carrying Cryo Legionnaires, Multigunner IFV gains a cryo cannon that can even freeze enemy aircraft, instantly killing it.
- Gatling Good: When carrying Conscript, Multigunner IFV gains anti-infantry gatling guns.
- Jack-of-All-Stats: The adaptation system allows Multigunner IFV to quickly be equipped to handle almost any problem efficiently.
- Lightning Gun: When carrying a Tesla Trooper, the Multigunner IFV acquires a very powerful upgrade in the form of a one-shot kill against infantry and it does respectable damage to buildings, light vehicles and even some of the heavier units in the game. It fires a lot faster than a normal Tesla Trooper and, of course, its speed can open up more tactical opportunities.
- Macross Missile Massacre: When Javelins enter Multigunner IFV, it doubles the amount of missiles launched, but takes longer to fire.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: When carrying an Attack Dog or War Bear, its default missile launcher converts to loudspeakers that amplify the dog's/bear's barks/roars and stun the targeted infantry when the vehicle is ordered to attack.
- Mind over Matter: Multigunner IFV carrying Yuriko gain her standard attack but with longer attack range.
- Mook Medic: When carrying an Engineer, it can repair other vehicle, allow Allied vehice live longer on the battlefield.
- One-Hit Polykill: Multigunner IFV carry Natasha's gains ability to shoot through multiple infantry.
- Plasma Cannon: When carrying a Tankbuster, Multigunner IFV turret has the same weapon are these infantry only fire much faster and longer range.
- Poisoned Weapons: When carrying a Desolator, the vehicle gains an enhanced toxin spray.
- Shotguns Are Just Better: When carrying a Peacekeeper, the vehicle gains anti-personnel shotguns, with knocked back any infantry caught at close to point-blank range.
- Sniper Rifle: When carrying a Spy or Natasha, the Multigunner IFV is armed with anti-personnel sniper gun that's good for destroying Terror Drones and killing infantry.
Riptide ACV
Type: Amphibious
Role: Amphibious Transport/Assault
Weapons: Machine Guns & Torpedoes
Trained at: Armor Facility/Seaport
Role: Amphibious Transport/Assault
Weapons: Machine Guns & Torpedoes
Trained at: Armor Facility/Seaport
Mainly a personnel transport, the Riptide ACV is also a versatile combat unit that can fight effectively on either land or sea. Its primary weapon is a .50 calibre machine gun, which is highly effective against enemy infantry, and can be used on either land or sea with some effectiveness against lightly armoured vehicles as well. At sea, it can also make use of a pair of torpedo tubes to engage naval targets. Although lightly armoured and somewhat lacking in firepower against stronger enemy units, the Riptide is highly mobile on all forms of terrain, and very cheap to produce.
- Amphibious Automobile: Its entire purpose is to serve as an amphibious transport for infantry.
- Awesome Personnel Carrier: Capable of carrying five infantry units, this hovercraft is also amphibious, allowing it to rapidly manoeuvre around the battlefield. The Riptide has two torpedo tubes to fend off assault during seaborne action, as well as a machine gun to hold enemy infantry at bay. In generally, due to its decent speed, variable weapons, and moderate cost, the Riptide is probably the most well-balanced APC in Red Alert 3.
MBT-X8 Guardian Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 90mm Gun, Laser Sight
Trained at: Armor Facility
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 90mm Gun, Laser Sight
Trained at: Armor Facility
The Guardian Tank is the Allies main battle tank. Though lacking the sheer strength and firepower of the Soviet Hammer Tank or the mobility of the Imperial Tsunami Tank, it is a highly effective unit in its own right. It is fast, heavily armoured, and well-armed, outperforming its enemy counterparts in several respects. Its 90 mm smoothbore cannon is a highly effective weapon against vehicles, and is more powerful than either Soviet or Imperial equivalents. In addition, the Guardian Tank can activate a special targeting laser which increases the accuracy and firepower of friendly units against designated targets.
- Glass Cannon: As far as MBT is concerned, they have the most powerful gun out of the 3 factions' tanks. However they are less armored than the Hammer tank and cannot deploy a Deflector Shield like the Tsunami.
- Football Hooligans: Guardian Tank was crewed by them. Given that Allied base soldiers are upgunned riot police..
- Laser Sight: Guardian Tank are equipped with Spyglass target designator (colloquially called the 'target painter' in-game) as secondary fire, which gives all friendly units a 50% firepower bonus against a designated target.
- Only Sane Man: Of the three tanks in the Tutorial, while the Hammer tank is stupid and the Tsunami tank spends most of it's time abusing said Hammer tank, the Guardian mostly tries to focus on teaching the player.
- Tank Goodness: It features an improved target designating system, allowing it to 'paint' an enemy unit and relay targeting information to other Allied units, allowing them to rapidly fire upon the enemy unit. The Guardian has high speeds and quite powerful firepower because of its 90mm guns are more powerful than the Hammer Tank's own 85mm gun - but the Guardian has weaker armor.
![Generator Generator](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/cnc/images/5/59/RA2-cover.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20160408161357)
Athena Cannon
Type: Vehicle
Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: Athena Orbital Laser Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: Athena Orbital Laser Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
The Athena Cannon is the Allies' long range bombardment unit, utilizing laser painters to designate targets for destruction by orbital satellites. It is extremely effective against stationary targets though less so against mobile targets. In critical situations the Athena Cannon can also project around itself an Aegis Shield.
- Amazon Brigade: All Athena Cannon pilots are female, who quotes are based on phrases said by telephone operators.
- Converging-Stream Weapon: Unusually, they emerge from the same point on the Athena and 'sweep' towards to the target from the left, right, and top. Also, they're the targeting lasers - once they converge, the real weapon shoots down from orbit.
- Death from Above: The Athena Cannon is technically unarmed, with the destruction being done by the orbital satellites.
- Deflector Shield: By changing its weapon configuration, the Athena Cannon can engage an Aegis shield which will protect all friendly units within. When the shield integrity falls, so does the size of the shield. A low integrity shield means it is too small to protect units around it.
- Kill Sat: In the form of a truck-mounted Laser Sight and comms boom paired with a Kill Sat up in orbit — also less verbatim. Oddly, though, each truck purchased gives you control of a different satellite, leading some players to wonder why, if they have all these satellites up there, they can't just use themall at once. However, given that the Allies are clearly obsessed with data security ('clearance' must be purchased in order to deploy more advanced weapons), it does make a kind of sense for them not to give you too many at once.
- Meaningful Name: The Athena Cannon is named for the Greek goddess of wisdom and war, and it is a technologically advanced weapon system operated by a woman.
- Siege Engines: Serves this role for the Allies due to its long range and effectiveness against structures.
- Splash Damage: Athema Cannon beam causes 'splash' damage and can take valuable health off of groups of enemy units.
Mirage Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Stealth Combat & Ambush Attack
Weapons: Spectrum-Dispersion Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
Role: Stealth Combat & Ambush Attack
Weapons: Spectrum-Dispersion Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
The Mirage Tank is the Allies advanced strike tank, capable of using its advanced weapon systems and personal Gap Generator to cause havoc on the battlefield. With its combination of stealth and powerful weaponry, the Mirage Tank is a direct threat to anything that moves on the ground. While it possesses incredible firepower, it lacks armour, and has an extremely short attack range. Skillful usage however, can overcome these disadvantages easily.
- Composite Character: Combines elements from several elements of the Allied arsenal in Red Alert 2. It uses the same weaponry as the advanced anti-ground defense, like the Prism Tank, can disguise as an ordinary object when immobile as that game's Mirage Tank (and has a fixed turret too), its weapon is effective against all ground targets like both combined, and its ability to cloak nearby allied units is named after the Gap Generator. It does, however, lack the range of either unit, being fairly short in comparison.
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Is turret is in a fixed position, so the whole vehicle must turn in order to engage a target.
- Glass Cannon: Does more damage per shot than Apocalypse Tanks and King Onis, and unlike them does the same amount of damage against infantry as it does vehicles, but doesn't have much more health than a Guardian Tank.
- Invisibility Cloak: By re-routing power from its main weapon to its Personal Gap Generator, the Mirage Tank can deploy a cloaking field that shrouds all targets within its radius from the enemy's view. The downside to this ability is that the Mirage Tank cannot use its main weapon due to the power requirements, and that the Mirage Tank cannot conceal itself as well.
- Mobile Shrubbery: Turns into a lamppost and milk truck when on roads preventing the issues of their Red Alert 2 predecessors turning into a tree on a street.. When there is nothing around to mimic, the Mirage tank will turn invisible, and on rare occasions, the Mirage Tank will copy a unit.
- Tank Goodness: Its spectrum cannon is highly effective against all surface targets, capable of reducing structures and even the most heavily armoured vehicles to scrap in a few seconds. This, combined with its ability to camouflage itself while stationary, or not using its secondary ability, makes it perfect for ambushing enemy forces.
- Wave Motion Gun: Short range version of the spectrum tower's gun, it will still fry anything it hits.
Pacifier FAV
Type: Vehicle
Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: 2 150mm Grand Cannon/7.62mm Minigun
Trained at: Armor Facility
Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: 2 150mm Grand Cannon/7.62mm Minigun
Trained at: Armor Facility
The Pacifier FAV is a self-propelled artillery hovercraft.
- Area of Effect'Pacify Them!'
- BFG: Two 150mm Twin-Barled Long-Range Artilery Grand Cannons, that required the Pacifer entrench using the lifts as stabilizers.
- Crosshair Aware: Before shooting its slow-traveling but long-ranged and EXTREMELY explosive shell, it marks the target area with crosshairs. Getting inside the crosshairs may be hazardous to your health.
- Machine Guns: Its secondary weapons.
- Fake Balance: While it costs more than the Athena Cannon, it's nowhere near as fragile, it's amphibious (which lets them bombard bases from unsuspecting locations), deals Splash Damage with its attack, and can even use twin miniguns to deal with infantry if needed. And, despite all of this, it's available as soon as Tier 2, earlier than the Athena Cannon.
- Gatling Good: When not deployed.
- Glass Cannon: Nope. The Pacifier is quite durable, and it's twin miniguns mulch any infantry that try to take it down like a common artillery piece.
- Hover Tank: Specifically, the Pacifier is built on a streamlined, all-terrain chassis that uses four independently-articulated hoverlifts to carry the vehicle over land and sea.
- More Dakka: A nasty surprise to any commando that decides to try and take them down.
- Shout-Out: To the Siege Tank in Starcraft, made even more obvious that the title of the mission to unlock it in challenge mode is called 'Ready to Roll Out', which is the Siege Tank's creation line.
- Siege Engines: The Pacifier was a self-propelled artillery hovercraft that entered limited service with Allied in Uprising and available with lower clearance levels than Athena Cannon.
Future Tank X-1
Type: Drone
Role: Automated Anti-Armor
Weapons: Neutron Scrambler & Riot Beam Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
Role: Automated Anti-Armor
Weapons: Neutron Scrambler & Riot Beam Cannon
Trained at: Armor Facility
The Future Tank X-1 is a humanoid-esque, computer-operated drone vehicle available to the Allies in Red Alert 3: Uprising. Far and away one of the most powerful and deadly units in the game, a single Future Tank is more than capable of going toe-to-toe with most opposing forces and emerging victorious, if not seriously damaging or outright crippling entire columns of vehicles and infantry.
- Area of Effect: Outfitted with a pair of arm-mounted 'Neutron Scramblers,' Future Tanks could fire concentrated bursts of explosive energy at a target which would detonate and expand outward in a wide radius, including air units even though the Future Tank can't actually target them, dealing significant damage to any enemy unit within the sphere of effect. Utilized in groups, successive blasts from this weapon had the ability to obliterate entire divisions of enemy forces in mere seconds.
- Gameplay and Story Segregation: Despite it is described as completely robotic, Natasha can still pilot snipe it, and you can then steal it with a conscript just like any other vehicle.
- Mighty Glacier: It has a Herd Hitting Attack that has superweapon-level blast radius, and its special 'Riot Beam' is instant death for anything that's not a conyard or superweapon. Naturally they cost almost twice as much as the apocalypse tank, is a tier 3 Allied vehicle (With allies taking the longest to tech up), and is slow as they get.
- Mecha-Mooks: A completely robotic and autonomous tank.
- One-Hit KO: Its Riot Beam. An accurate Riot Beam can turn into an One-Hit Polykill, as said Riot Beam has a small (but still noticeable) area of effect roughly the size of a smaller tank. On infantry and when hitting between two tanks, it does enough damage to kill all of them.
- Shout-Out: To T-1 Terminators from the third Terminator movie, Rise of the Machines.
- The tank's ability 'Riot Beam' firing animation bears great similarity to the attack of the Starcraft 2 Protoss Collosus, who fires two searing hot 'thermal lances' across enemy lines.
- Splash Damage: It does less damage per shot than an Apocalypse Tank or King Oni, but its have a huge area of effect that even hits aerial units, even though it can't actually target them. As a result, the Apocalypse Tank and King Oni can beat it one-on-one, but don't stand a chance in massed assaults, as each Futuretank hits the entire enemy formation at once.
- Wave Motion Gun: The special ability the Riot beam, it fires a pair of continuous beams from its cannons.
Vindicator
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: BD 8 Bombs
Trained at: Airbase
Role: Aerial Attack
Weapons: BD 8 Bombs
Trained at: Airbase
The basic Allied aircraft, the Vindicator is fast and relatively well-armoured, armed with guided bombs which it can drop on targets with great accuracy. This attack is extremely powerful, and can be used to great effect throughout the game, killing early units singlehandedly, while later in the game several can be used to take out strong enemy units, as they have the accuracy required, whereas the heavy Century Bomber, while more powerful, is inaccurate and can often miss moving units, leaving that niche to be filled by the Vindicator. It is however, very vulnerable to anti-air fire, and can be downed by fighters and anti-aircraft ground units with ease.
- Ace Pilot: Marcos 'Toreador' de la Concepcion, a Vindicator pilot who during the Battle of Hill 227, he flew continuously for over 29 hours, helping repel an attacking Soviet armored regiment, until he was finally shot down by a patrolling MiG. Armed with only a pistol, he made his way through enemy held territory to the 3rd Battalion perimeter. He refused evacuation and remained with the troops, coordinating strikes by his fellow Vindicator pilots over the next three days until a wave of Sickles finally overran his position.
- Boring Yet Practical: Not as flashy as other ground attack aircraft but arguably the most useful.
- Cool Plane: It's stubby, not terribly fast, carries just two little bombs, and can't even kill other aircraft. What it can and will do is consistantly and constantly knock out enemy resource collectors, vehicles, buildings and just about anything else. It's like a little sniper rifle you point at whatever you want dead and let fly. Entire strategies were built around the reliable little guy, and it pretty much entirely defined Allied strategy throughout the patch cycle.
- Difficult, but Awesome: Compared to the Twinblade and the Chopper VX, the Vindicator requires the most micromanagement and is less versatile.
- Gratuitous Spanish:'¡Por supuesto!''Vamonos!'
Apollo Fighter
Type: Aircraft
Role: Air Superiority
Weapons: 2 20mm Autocannon
Trained at: Airbase
Role: Air Superiority
Weapons: 2 20mm Autocannon
Trained at: Airbase
The primary Allied aerial anti-aircraft unit, the Apollo Fighter is a fast and agile unit armed with two autocannons for use against enemy aircraft. The Apollo Fighter is fast and extremely effective against all airborne targets, and thanks to its vertical take-off and landing capabilities, can hover in one area for an extended period of time.
- Cool Plane: It arguably the most powerful air superiority fighter available in all since a newly trained Apollo will almost certainly destroy a Jet Tengu or MiG Fighter in a one-on-one fight. Defeating a Jet Tengu will be easy for the Apollo, a MiG, however, is slightly a closer call. When fighting each other, the Apollo tends to emerge victorious as its firing rate is constant while the MiG's weapons are more damaging, has intervals between salvos.
- Danger Deadpan: The Apollo pilots sometimes shout 'Where's the eject?' when you shoot them down.
Cryocopter
Type: Aircraft
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Cryobeam & S.H.R.I.N.K. Beam
Trained at: Airbase
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Cryobeam & S.H.R.I.N.K. Beam
Trained at: Airbase
The Cryocopter is a civilian helicopter armed with experimental Cryo Beam, which is capable of freezing targets to sub-zero temperatures. This makes the Cryocopter an extremely valuable support unit, capable of helping Allied forces dispatch many other units with ease, even allowing far weaker units to deal with some of the strongest units in the opposing arsenal.
- Fragile Speedster: Any unit hit by the S.H.R.I.N.K. Ray, even Apocalypse Tanks, is turned into one of these.
- Freeze Ray: The Cryocopter's main weapon is capable of freezing targets to sub-zero temperatures.
- Fun with Acronyms: Strong Homogenous Residual-Interactive Neutron Kinetic.
- Harmless Freezing: The unit's profile in the official website lampshades this:Frozen targets are effectively thrust into a state of suspended animation. The effects of the freezing gradually wear off and the target snaps out of the effect all at once, with no recollection of the passage of time, as though waking from slumber. In fact, a majority of test subjects reported feeling unusually relaxed after this fugue state. Although research findings concerning the long-term effects of the freezing are inconclusive as of yet, the cryobeam has provisionally been deemed 'perfectly safe' by manufacturer FutureTech Corporation.
- Though shooting one soldier with more than one cryobeam will make him explode.
- Helium Speech: Anything that gets shrunk.
- No Experience Points for Medic: As they cannot kill enemies on their own, they will never get any veterancy points.
- Support Party Member: Cryocopters cannot directly damage enemy units and buildings, however they can make them extremely fragile.
- Shrink Ray: Their S.H.R.I.N.K. Ray can causes an increase in speed, but a decrease in range, damage and armor to it's target. Due to smaller size, any affected vehicle can be run over by any other enemy vehicle.
- Squishy Wizard: It is extremely vulnerable to anti-air fire, and it can't defend itself, but it's support abilities combined with effective micro-management make it utterly deadly.
Century Bomber
Type: Aircraft
Role: Heavy Bomber/Aerial Transport
Weapons: 500lb bombs
Trained at: Airbase
Role: Heavy Bomber/Aerial Transport
Weapons: 500lb bombs
Trained at: Airbase
The B-2X Century Bomber evolved out of a need to maintain in the air at all times a powerful response force to Soviet aggression. It is capable of absorbing tremendous amounts of punishment, and carries a large payload of bombs. Thanks to its large crew cabin, the Century Bomber can carry up up to five infantry, which can be paradropped behind enemy lines. The most powerful aircraft in the Allied Air Force, the Century Bomber is devastating to enemy structures and large groups. Best used against buildings or masses of units, the Century Bomber inflicts great deals of damage to the enemy. The Century bomber can be shot down however, and is especially weak against fighter aircraft.
- Cool Plane: Made in the U.S.A., these sturdy planes can carpet-bomb fortified enemy compounds into dust, then deploy paratroopers to mop up.
- Flying Brick: Sufficient to say they can take much, much more punishment than the average aircraft.
- It's Raining Men: Not only an effective bomber, it can also transport infantry. Air-dropping Tanya and some Engineers into a base was once an extremely viable tactic.
- Mighty Glacier: For an aircraft, it's pretty slow.
- Shout-Out:
- It's quotes' are taken from Major Kong's lines in Dr. Strangelove.
- 'Norwell-Hucks', the company whose products Century Bomber is probably based on Rockwell, an aviation company in real-life that produced the B-1 bomber.
- Taking You with Me: You think you're safe when you shoot down that Century Bomber? Think again: the wreckage will fall to the ground (possibly on whatever killed it) and explode, dealing heavy damage.
Harbinger Gunship
Type: Aircraft
Role: Heavy Air Support
Weapons: 120mm Collider Cannon & 25mm Eliminator Chaingun
Trained at: Airbase
Role: Heavy Air Support
Weapons: 120mm Collider Cannon & 25mm Eliminator Chaingun
Trained at: Airbase
The Harbinger gunship was one of FutureTech's additions to the Allied arsenal in Red Alert 3: Uprising. It is a massive 4-engined bomber, mounted with an on-board Collider core and heavy machine guns and cannons for ground attack.
- Cool Plane: It's more or less the Real Life American AC-130H Spectre on steroids.. and the Harbringer's very much based on it.
- Death from Above: Harbinger is a heavy air support bombardment unit with huge ass cannons.
- Energy Weapon: Packing the power of the Proton Collider, the Collider Cannon can decimate enemy armor divisions and facilities. The first shot from the Collider Cannon is almost always on target, though subsequent rounds tend to stray slightly due to overheating and recoil. Even still, the ensuing explosive blast makes pinpoint accuracy unimportant (and impossible).
- Fake Balance: The Harbinger may be extremely expensive, far away in the tech tree and somewhat slow, but that hardly matters. It is basically a flying fortress that tanks even the strongest anti-air attacks as if they were nothing. Infantry divisions die like flies to its chain guns. The Harbinger has collider cannons that destroy armored units in usually no more than two hits - only the Giga Fortress could survive a second attack (Which is out of the question if there is a second Harbinger), and even then the Giga Fortress needs to hit at least four times to down a Harbinger, so it loses one-on-one anyways. The best part of all of this? The Harbinger does not have to refuel. It just stays in the air for as long as it wants, decimating anything of a different colour. The best way to defend against a Harbinger attack is preventing them from being built.
- Flying Brick: It's extremely durable, more so then the Kirov and less so then the Giga Fortress, and is faster than the other two heavy bombers, though aside from them it is the slowest aircraft.
- Gatling Good: It's minigun.
- Mighty Glacier: It's slow, but it's ungodly tough (Only augmented by its Regenerating Health), and practically no unit can take a hit and survive to tell the tale.
- Regenerating Health: Harbingers self-repair, which can be speed up when near the vicinity of an Airfield.
- Wave Motion Gun: Does as much damage as Kirov's bombs, except it doesn't need to be right over a target to hit it.
- Weaksauce Weakness: Cannot attack air units, and, with proper micro, most Anti-Air units can kite it thanks to the collider cannon being inaccurate. Good luck taking it down, though.
Dolphin
Type: Naval
Role: Naval Support
Weapons: Sonar Pulse
Trained at: Seaport
Specially-trained dolphins are an integral part of the Allied Navy, which used them as scouts and cheap defence against enemy ships. The dolphin can also leap out of the water to avoid enemy attacks or bypass some obstacles.Role: Naval Support
Weapons: Sonar Pulse
Trained at: Seaport
- Attack Animal: Dolphins which are specially trained to assist the military.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Dolphin is a dedicated anti-naval unit and cannot attack land unit and aircraft.
- Fragile Speedster: Very fast swimmers and excellent naval harassers but also very weak and not likely to survive a prolonged fight.
- Heroic Dolphin: That can bring down submarines and large warships.
- Jumping Fish: The Dolphin's secondary ability is to jump out of the water to avoid attacks from in the water. While the dolphin is in the air, it can be shot at by anti-air so you have to make sure that your opponent does not have any anti-air units in the area.
- Make Me Wanna Shout: Dolphin has an amplified sonic weapon that fire rapidly and are effective against all type of ships and damage multiple targets at once.
- Weaponized Animal: Dolphins are equipped with sonar weaponry.
Hydrofoil
Type: Naval
Role: Anti-Air/ECM
Weapons: 20mm AA Gun/Weapon Scrambler
Trained at: Seaport
Role: Anti-Air/ECM
Weapons: 20mm AA Gun/Weapon Scrambler
Trained at: Seaport
The Hydrofoil is the Allies' main anti-aircraft naval vessel, extremely fast, and highly effective against all aircraft.
- Anti-Air: Hydrofoil is the main Allied anti-air naval unit.
- Cool Boat: A light skiff made for surveillance and defense, but carrying two nasty stings: a 20mm Icarus cannon and a weapon jamming system.
- Crippling Overspecialization: Lampshaded with the background information Hydrofoil, which has a weapon jammer device. The background states that Allied tank crewmen and fighter pilots asked why their units could not also be equipped with jammers, but engineers the world over have encountered unspecified technical difficulties designing vehicles with multiple weapons. Red Alert 3 actually changed the whole model on this one, given that all units in that game have a special ability of some type, and for about half those units that ability is a second weapon. The hydrofoil's primary is an anti-aircraft gun.
- Power Nullifier: By alternating its weapon systems, the Hydrofoil can use a jammer that is capable of preventing any unit or defensive structure from using their weapons and weapon-related special abilities, rendering them useless.
Assault Destroyer
Type: Naval
Role: Amphibious Assault
Weapons: 120mm Cannon
Trained at: Seaport
Role: Amphibious Assault
Weapons: 120mm Cannon
Trained at: Seaport
The Assault Destroyer is a fearsome amphibious vehicle, capable of crushing smaller vehicles and absorbing large amounts of damage.
- Cool Boat: Can traverse in land and water, has average attack power, and its secondary ability is the 'black hole armor', which draws all fire towards it and can soak up a lot of damage (more so than tier 3 ships).
- Military Mash Up Machine: The Assault Destroyer is a amphibious battleships. Not a battleship-sized tank on treads, but a literal battleship on treads.
- Master of None: It can move on land and water, but other tier 2 ships and tier 3 armor will beat it, though it's less expansive than the other ship killers.
- Stone Wall: Assault Destroyer is heavy, slow, and packs a not-terribly-impressive gun for its cost. However, it has impressive armor to begin with, and its special ability both increases its durability and redirects projectiles from nearby allied units to the destroyer, at the cost of not being able to shoot at all. (It can, however, still crush things, including many light vehicles.)
- Unrealistic Black Hole: The Assault Destroyer is equipped with black hole armor, a magnetic force field that alters the trajectory of nearby enemy fire toward the ship. This allows the destroyer to absorb fire that would otherwise impact less durable friendly units. The armor only works on material weapons such as bullets, shells, and missiles. It has no effect on beam-type weaponry such as lasers and tesla-bolts.
Aircraft Carrier
Type: Naval
Role: Long-Range Attack
Weapons: Sky Knight Attack Aircraft & Blackout Missile
Trained at: Seaport
Role: Long-Range Attack
Weapons: Sky Knight Attack Aircraft & Blackout Missile
Trained at: Seaport
The Aircraft Carrier is a powerful naval vessel that launches squadrons of drones easily capable of destroying any enemy ground units and structures.
- Cool Plane: Its Sky Night fighters.
- Cool Ship: A floating fortress capable of deploying squadrons of short-range Sky Knight fighter drones and devastating Blackout missiles that fry all electrics in the blast radius.
- EMP: By launching a Blackout missile, Aircraft Carriers can create an EMP surge in a targeted area, temporarily shutting down all vehicles and structures in the area.
- Drone Deployer: The Aircraft Carrier doesn't attack by itself and serves as a platform for Sky Knight to bombard enemy units from afar.
- Mook Maker: The ship carries a contingent of five Sky Knight UCAV and capable of repairing, rearming and rebuilding the jets.
- Siege Engines: Packing several UAV capable of delivering their payload over huge distances with deadly accuracy, the Aircraft Carrier is capable of leveling any enemy base to the ground with ease.
Soviet Units
All Games
Tesla Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Tesla Coils
Trained at: War Factory
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Tesla Coils
Trained at: War Factory
These are tanks that are fitted with powerful built-in tesla coils that can destroy units and structures easily. They are lightly armored and expensive.
- Awesome, but Impractical: In Red Alert 2, they inflict a ton of damage against all surface targets, but their weak armor and cost keeps most people from using them.
- Chain Lightning: Gains this after promoted to heroic level in Red Alert 2.
- Dummied Out: A particularly weird one is that the Tesla Tank in The Aftermath expansion pack is based on the sprite for the Radar Jammer, and still works as a radar jammer, the original code having apparently been left in.
- EMP: In Red Alert 3, they can switch to using EM Disruptors same as a Tesla Trooper.
- Glass Cannon: In Red Alert 2, their attack was quite strong, had a very short reload and ignores line of sight requirements but two-three shots from the basic Soviet Rhino Tank will take it's out.
- Lightning Gun: Its dual Tesla Coils.
- Master of None: Tesla Tank unfortunately falls into this trope in Red Alert 2 - its weapon is effective against both infantry and vehicles, but not impressively so compared to the Rhino Tank workhorse or the Flak Track APC. The electric bolts can arc over walls though.
- National Weapon: Tesla Tank are unique vehicles for the Russia in Red Alert 2.
- Palette Swap: Tesla Tanks first feature in the Counterstrike expansion pack to the first game, not buildable but usable in a specific mission. In that they are portrayed by Radar Jammers that just fire Tesla lightning. In the second Aftermath expansion pack where they become buildable their sprite at least gets a Tesla dome, but is still clearly based off a Radar Jammer (see above).
- Pre-Asskicking One-Liner:'Free hookup.'
- Pungeon Master: It just can't resist the electricity puns.'That sparks my curiosity.'
Red Alert 1
Grenadier
Type: Infantry
Role: Base Assault
Weapons: Grenades
Trained at: Barracks
The Grenadier has a longer range and more destructive power than regular infantry. In groups, Grenadiers are effective against heavily armored units and structures.Role: Base Assault
Weapons: Grenades
Trained at: Barracks
- Action Bomb: When one grenadier dies, he explodes and may injure other soldiers in his squad.
- Boring, but Practical: Capable of superior AoE damage against infantry than minigunners and decent damage against structures and vehicles, the Grenader could also be built both early and cheap, allowing a Soviet player to just spam them to victory. Though the minigunners were cheaper, the grenadier could hit all of them with a single grenade, allowing him to wipe out many times his own number.
- Splash Damage: Their grenades can damage, even kill multiple infantry at once provided they're close together.
Flamethrower Infantry
Type: Infantry
Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Flamethrower
Trained at: Barracks
These soldiers are slower and more susceptible to damage than other infantry (due to the large tanks of flammable chemicals they carry). The Flame Soldier can decimate structures and infantry in seconds with his flamethrower.Role: Combat Support
Weapons: Flamethrower
Trained at: Barracks
- Area of Effect: Their flamers cover a wide area, making it easy to eliminate entire infantry squads.
- Flamethrower Backfire: Flamethrowers explode when shot, likely killing other nearby infantry. They can also explode in a chain reaction from other exploding flamethrowers.
- Fire-Breathing Weapon: Their flamethrower.
- Kill It with Fire: A lot of fire, as flamethrowers can make a lot of it.
- Videogame Flamethrowers Suck: They are remarkably more effective at their jobs, if still heavy on the friendly-fire. However, the cheaper and faster Grenadiers serve much the same purpose, and Flamethrowers inexplicably cannot be built until you've constructed a Tech Center and rendered the poor fellow completely obsolete.
Shock Trooper
Type: Infantry
Role: Heavy Combat
Weapons: Portable Tesla Coil
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Heavy Combat
Weapons: Portable Tesla Coil
Trained at: Barracks
Armed with a mini Tesla Coil, Shock Troopers provide a significant amount of damage against tanks and infantry. However, their firing rate is very slow. Shock Troopers are also uncrushable.
- Awesome, but Impractical: Shock troopers are another cool unit that is very expensive and can easily be overwhelmed by cheap basic infantry.
- Bond One-Liner:'Extra crispy!'
- Early-Bird Cameo: Clearly one for the Tesla Trooper from Red Alert 2, most noticeably in how they are similarly uncrushable despite there being no in-universe reason why that would be (they don't have the armoured suits of the Tesla Trooper due to their Palette Swap sprite).
- Hurricane of Puns: 'Extra crispy!' 'Fully charged!' 'Shocking!'
- Lightning Gun: The Shock trooper is equipped with a portable Tesla coil, essentially a backpack generator with a lightning rod.
- Palette Swap: Their sprite is the same as the Flamethrower infantry, but with their weapon coloured yellow instead of white.
- Pungeon Master: They just can't resist the electricity puns.
Volkov
Type: Infantry
Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Sniper Rifle, pistols, & C4
Trained at: N/A
Volkov is a Soviet cyborg supersoldier appearing in Red Alert expansion packs, along with his trusty companion, Chitzkoi. He is the most powerful unit in the game (as of his Counterstrike appearance) and is the greatest commando in Stalin's army.Role: Special Forces
Weapons: Sniper Rifle, pistols, & C4
Trained at: N/A
- Arm Cannon: Depending on the level, he may use a silenced pistol instead.
- Cyborg: Volkov is cybernetically enhanced.
- One-Man Army: His first mission consists of wiping out dozens of Allied troops, buildings, tanks, and a battleship, finally ramming the point home by killing Tanya. Understandably, this worries the Allies..
- Sniper Rifle: His weapons in one of the Counterstrike mission.
- Super Soldier: He have enough firepower and durability to take on a battleship (this being one of his missions!).
- Super Toughness: Volkov can withstand much more punishment than most units.
- Too Powerful to Live: He's Purposely Overpowered, as such he appears in very few missions.
Chitzkoi
Type: K-9
Role: Anti-Infantry
Weapons: Bite
Trained at: N/A
Chitzkoi is Volkov's Cybernetic Dog. Like the normal attack dogs he is able to kill infantry very fast, but he is also more armored, can take much more damage, and can and jump very high.Role: Anti-Infantry
Weapons: Bite
Trained at: N/A
- Attack Animal: Specially trained attack dogs that are cybernetically enhanced.
- Crippling Overspecialization: One-Hit Kill to any infantry, but completely useless against tanks and building.
- Cyborg: Chitzkoi is cybernetically enhanced.
- Evil-Detecting Dog: Can detect spies that can fool any other unit and your base defenses.
- In a Single Bound: Chitzkoi can leap great distances and even up cliffs in order to attack enemy units.
- One-Hit Kill: Any infantry attacked by Chitzkoi is killed instantly.
- Super Toughness: Chitzkoi can withstand much more punishment than most units.
Heavy Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 2 105mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
The basic tank of the Soviet Empire, this beast is equipped with twin 105mm cannons, giving it twice the punch of the nearest Allied equivalent, the Medium Tank. It sacrifices speed for this bonus, but the net result still makes it a formidable opponent on the battlefield.Role: Armored Assault
Weapons: 2 105mm Cannon
Trained at: War Factory
- Fake Balance: Its cost and lower speed were supposed to be drawbacks, but giving the Soviets a basic tank that was stronger than the Allies advanced tank just proved to be a stupid idea.
- Lightning Gun: In one of the expansion missions a malfunctioning Chronosphere altered the weapons of units, causing its guns to discharge lightning instead.
- Tank Goodness: Superior to almost all Allied armor, the Heavy Tank is incredibly durable, fast, powerful and cost-friendly for its class, outperforming Allied's heaviest combat vehicles, the Light Tank and the Medium Tank, in a one-on-one match.
Anti-personnel Minelayer
A fast Soviet vehicle used it to lay anti-personnel mines. Its speed makes it ideal for crushing infantry, but it has no weapons to directly combat enemy units.- Land Mine Goes 'Click!': Its mines packed less explosives than the Allied anti-tank counterpart, but it can detect and target both infantry and vehicles that run over it.
- Splash Damage: Its mine can destroy entire groups of infantry with one explosion.
- Support Party Member: Has no weapons to directly combat enemy units but capable of laying mines kill approaching enemies infantry.
V2 Rocket
Type: Vehicle
Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: V2 Rocket
Trained at: War Factory
The V2 Launcher can destroy most buildings with just two rockets. Factor in its incredible range, and it is easy to see why the Allies fear this weapons platform. Its drawbacks are its light armor, long reload time, and inability to hit fast-moving targets.Role: Long-Range Bombardment
Weapons: V2 Rocket
Trained at: War Factory
- Fixed Forward-Facing Weapon: Is missile is in a fixed position, so the whole vehicle must turn in order to engage a target.
- Glass Cannon: Their missile shots can wipe out a medium tank, not to mention its splash damage can kill infantry nearby, but also one of the rare units that can be damaged by Technicians' absurdly useless pistols.
- Long-Range Fighter: V2 can outrange most base defences, but are weak in a direct fight with their slow rate of fire and weak armour.
- Siege Engines: Can launch missiles at the enemy from quite a big distance.
- Splash Damage: The missile has a large explosion radius, so can take out multiple infantry units.
Mammoth Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Heavy Assault
Weapons: 2 120mm Cannon & Missiles
Trained at: War Factory
The largest landbased weapons platform, the Mammoth Tank can take and dish out a lot of punishment. Its twin cannons are unmatched in power on land, and its missiles make it effective against infantry and air units as well.Role: Heavy Assault
Weapons: 2 120mm Cannon & Missiles
Trained at: War Factory
- Macross Missile Massacre: When attack infantry and aircraft.
- Mighty Glacier: The slowest and toughest unit in the game.
- One-Man Army: While not as powerful as its Tiberian Dawn incarnation, the Mammoth is the most powerful tank in the series. It eclipses even its successor, the Apocalypse Tank, as it uses its anti-air missiles to kill infantry quickly, whereas the Apocalypse Tank needs to be at elite rank to kill infantry in one salvo. There are also far less ways to punish the Mammoth Tank's very poor speed, as well.
- Tank Goodness: The biggest and the slowest tank in the game, the Mammoth is nonetheless one of the most dangerous units, as it can self-heal to 50% of its health and features double barreled cannons with Mammoth tusk rockets complementing them. The rockets are incredibly effective against infantry, structures, and enemy aircraft.
- Regenerating Health: Mammoth Tanks self-repair slowly, up to 50% health.
MAD Tank
Type: Vehicle
Role: Suicide Unit
Weapons: Seismic Wave Generator
Trained at: War Factory
The MAD Tank (Mutually Assured Destruction, a real abbreviation used for the nuclear deterrent on both sides during the Cold War) is a fierce weapon can destroy any base if given the chance. By deploying this tank near any structure, it will build up energy and explode resulting in about 44% damage to all buildings in the surrounding area.Role: Suicide Unit
Weapons: Seismic Wave Generator
Trained at: War Factory
- Action Bomb: MAD Tank sole purpose is to detonate itself, unleashes its powerful seismic waves in all directions. The MAD Tank also is a special case, in that the pilot actually gets out before it explodes, and the MAD tank only harms vehicles and buildings, not infantry.
- Area of Effect: The effects of the explosion do not vary: any vehicles, ships, and aircraft (even flying aircraft - probably due to engine limitations) in a large area around the MAD Tank (approximately the same area as a nuclear blast, a 10-tile radius) take damage equivalent to 45% of their maximum hitpoints, while structures in the same area take 40% damage. As a result, provided no time for significant repairs between detonations, just three MAD Tanks can destroy absolutely any non-infantry unit or structure outright.
- Awesome, but Impractical: It had to deploy for several seconds, more than enough time for any enemy units nearby to simply flee the vicinity, not to mention it cost quite a lot to deploy in the first place.
- Another strategy is to send a M.A.D. tank towards an enemy base or attack force, and just as it reaches firing range, use the Iron Curtain to keep it from being prematurely destroyed since it's too slow to reach a target on its own armor. Place it in the prime center of devastation and deploy it if it's still under the Curtain, it won't actually explode and damage everything until right after the effect fades, giving the enemy no chance to actually counter it.
- Delayed Explosion: Once deployed, the MAD Tank needs a few seconds to actually go off. If you're the enemy, throw everything you have at the MAD Tank to destroy it before it explodes.
- Fun with Acronyms: Mutually Assured Destruction Tank.
- Mighty Glacier: Being built on the same chassis as the Mammoth Tank will do that, although it's both slower and not quite as tough.
Yak
Type: Aircraft
Role: Low-Altitude Attack
Weapons: Twin Chainguns
Trained at: Airfield
A lightly armored plane that shoots machine guns in a straight line to attack. It is effective against base structures and infantry. These aircraft need to return to airfields to reload.Role: Low-Altitude Attack
Weapons: Twin Chainguns
Trained at: Airfield
- Anti-Infantry: Yak is a plane that strafed targets with machine guns and earned the nickname 'Infantry Eraser'.
- In-Series Nickname: The Infantry Eraser.
- Standard Hollywood Strafing Procedure: Yaks attacked like this. Players eventually learned to just target a spot right behind the target, so the Yak did more damage while 'walking' its shots at it. Against massed infantry, though, the nickname 'Infantry Eraser' is well earned, and it also chews up buildings and light vehicles with ease.
MiG
Type: Aircraft
Role: Fast Attack
Weapons: Heat-Seeking Missiles
Trained at: Airfield
This fast-attack craft carries a limited number of powerful and accurate missiles. Used in hitand-run tactics, the MiG can remove armored craft before they can become a threat.Role: Fast Attack
Weapons: Heat-Seeking Missiles
Trained at: Airfield
- Cool Plane: The MiG is a swept wing fighter-bomber that mounts numerous missiles. MiGs are equipped with at least 3 undercarriage mount missiles, which are optimized for use against armoured targets. The MiG's reload extremely quickly and fly to and from their targets with equal speed, allowing savvy player to make strike after strike against an opponent.
- Super Prototype: In mission 'The Legacy Of Tesla', The Allies stole vital data on the design of the Soviet MiG and began using the information to build their own prototype. The prototype was designed to drop nuclear payloads and in addition it could take a lot of punishment so it was very unlikely to get shot down; the prototype was superior to the standard Soviet version.
Spy Plane
Type: Aircraft
Role: Aerial Reconnaissance
Weapons: Camera
Trained at: N/A
When targeted, the Spy Plane will swoop in from off board and take a snapshot of the targeted area, removing the shroud. It is fast and cannot be destroyed. Not buildable by the player.Role: Aerial Reconnaissance
Weapons: Camera
Trained at: N/A
Hind
Type: Aircraft
Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Vulcan Chaingun
Trained at: Helipad
Large and armored, the Hind uses its highvelocity Vulcan chain-gun to tear apart enemy units and structure. Equipped with a large ammo supply, the Hind will follow its target for quite some time, all the while wearing away at its defenses.Role: Close Air Support
Weapons: Vulcan Chaingun
Trained at: Helipad
- Gatling Good: The Hind's main weapon is a chaingun, capable of mowing down infantry at an alarming rate and is surprisingly effective against vehicles and buildings.
Submarine
Type: Naval
Role: Anti-Shipping
Weapons: Torpedoes
Trained at: Sub Pen
Silent and stealthy, Submarines can attack ships from afar. Subs must surface to fire, giving away their position, and opening themselves up to any nearby units that can hit them. The sub is completely useless against any land or air units.Role: Anti-Shipping
Weapons: Torpedoes
Trained at: Sub Pen
- Crippling Over Specialization: All it's good for is attacking Allied ships, and its less cost effective as a ship killer than the Destroyer.
- Invisibility Flicker: Never mind that in Real Life, the first submarines did the perfect opposite: As they weren't equipped for prolonged periods underwater, they usually stayed afloat out of battle.
- Nuke 'em: In the Playstation version of Red Alert 1, there is a mission where submarine fleets are authorized to be armed with nuclear torpedoes. This greatly increase their firepower but with a risk of getting caught in the blast zone. This measure is taken against Allied's cruiser deployment.
Missile Submarine
Type: Naval
Role: Long-Range Shore Bombardment
Weapons: Ballistic Missiles
Trained at: Sub Pen
Available in the Red Alert expansion, the missile sub is the counterpart to the Allied Cruiser. It can fire far and its missiles are effective against enemy structures.Role: Long-Range Shore Bombardment
Weapons: Ballistic Missiles
Trained at: Sub Pen
- Anti-Air: Its missile has the reach to hit aircraft, allowing the Missile Submarine to serve as both an artillery and an anti-air unit.
- Long-Range Fighter: Like Allied Cruiser, the Missile Submarine can bombard enemy bases from extremely far away but do not carry any defensive measures and can do nothing but submerging and fleeing when confronted by smaller ships.
- Mighty Glacier: Tied for the slowest unit in the game, but difficult to bring down and can launch powerful missiles from incredible distances to annihilate targets with barely any chance of retaliation.
- Siege Engines : Serves this role for the Soviet due to its long range and effectiveness against structures.
- Stealthy Colossus: This is kind of the point of being a big submarine.
Red Alert 2
Conscript
Type: Infantry
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: PP Sh-41
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Ground Combat
Weapons: PP Sh-41
Trained at: Barracks
The counterpart to the Allied GI. Not able to deploy into a fortified position, Conscripts are cheaper to build than the Allied GI.
- Cannon Fodder: Against Tesla Coils and Psychic Towers or other psychic units they serve as a very useful, expendable meat shield for your tanks. Send them ahead as a bullet magnet: its better for a few conscripts to fry or become mind-controlled, than for your tank crews to suffer such a fate.
- Conscription: They were mildly patriotic but mostly unwilling basic soldiers.
- Gas Mask Mooks: Even though the game doesn't feature any chemical warfare until Yuri's Revenge.
- I Want My Mommy!: One of the quotes when the Conscripts are attacked.
- Submachine Guns: Conscripts are issued with the PP Sh, the drum magazines distinctive even with the isometric, sprite-based view.
- Starting Units: For the Soviets and a very useful bullet shield for important units.
- We Have Reserves: It's established early on the Soviets are not philanthropists. This trope is invoked by name in the first level of Red Alert 2 Soviet campaign when you build your first Conscript.
- Lt. Zofia: Pay no heed to casualties Comrade Commander, for every Conscript that dies in this glorious crusade, there are a thousand more eager to replace him.
- Zerg Rush: Conscripts are pretty much designed for this tactic; Very weak, very cheap, easily spammable.
Flak Trooper
Type: Infantry
Role: Anti-Air
Weapons: Flak Gun
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Anti-Air
Weapons: Flak Gun
Trained at: Barracks
This advanced infantry unit is useful against both ground and air targets. The Flak Trooper attacks with explosive flak, allowing him to damage aircraft as well as seriously wound enemy infanty units.
- Anti-Air: They serve as basic anti-air infantry for the Soviets. Oddly, when the Flak Trooper is placed in an IFV he cannot target aircraft.
- The Eeyore: While other units have Casual Danger Dialog or assert their strength and dominance, these guys either complain that their gun is heavy or that the work at least pays.
- Husky Russkie: They have a deeper accent than most of their countrymen. So Husky Russkie to Russkies, then?
- Splash Damage: Their shells can damage multiple units at once provided they're close together.
Crazy Ivan
Type: Infantry
Role: Demolition Support
Weapons: Dynamite
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Demolition Support
Weapons: Dynamite
Trained at: Barracks
A codename used for Soviet demolitions experts, a Crazy Ivan attacks by placing dynamite around the map. Virtually anything can be wired to explode, from enemy structures to individual Conscripts even wandering cows. Once placed on enemies or neutral units and structures, the bombs will count down to detonation and then explode.
- Action Bomb: When packed into Allied IFVs, they turn them into a mini nuke truck. They also explode on death. Crazy Ivan can also attach time-bomb to virtually every unit, including friendly (or mind-controlled), thus it possible to make any unit to be a Suicide Bomber.
- Bald of Evil: His in-game unit icon.
- Delayed Explosion: It takes a bomb a few seconds after being planted to explode.
- Die, Chair! Die!: They will plant their bombs on everything they can see.
- Evil Laugh: One of their idle quotes.
- Eyepatch of Power: His in-game unit icon, it's unknown if they all have it in-game.
- Mad Bomber:
- Ivans are a bit too enthusiastic to rid themselves of bombs. Full of one-liners to match. 'I lost a bomb.. do you have it?', 'Here, hold this!'
- To put it in perspective, the Crazy Ivan is the only unit in the game that has the pretty descriptive AttackCursorOnFriendlies attribute in the game files. (While the force fire command, Ctrl by default, allows you to do this, AttackCursorOnFriendlies doesn't require the modifier key to be held down)
- Shout-Out: Crazy Ivan itself is a naval designation referring to a particular submarine maneuver. As Red Alert is a parody of the Cold War, it is likely the developers appropriated the phrase to suit their needs.
- Time Bomb: Crazy Ivan bombs looks like large chunks of dynamite with flickering fuse, accompanied with ticking sound. It takes short time before they explode, and with right timing they can be defused by nearby Engineer.
- Why Am I Ticking?: They can cause a case of this to any unit or building they touch, whether it's the enemy, neutral or your own. (Those poor, poor mind-controlled cows!)
Tesla Trooper
Type: Infantry
Role: Heavy Combat/Base Defense
Weapons: Portable Tesla Coil
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Heavy Combat/Base Defense
Weapons: Portable Tesla Coil
Trained at: Barracks
This specialized infantry unit attacks with a powerful electrical charge generated from his portable Tesla coil. Tesla Troopers are valuable for a number of reasons, not the least of which is their immunity to being steam-rolled by enemy tanks. In times of emergency power shortages, Tesla Troopers can charge up the Tesla Coils defending your base to keep them operating against enemy units. Charging up a Tesla Coil will also increase its range and power.
- Arm Cannon: A miniaturized Tesla Coil.
- Chain Lightning: Gains this after promoted to heroic level.
- Large Ham: RRRUBBER SHOES IN MOTION!
- Lightning Gun: A miniaturized Tesla Coil.
- One-Way Visor: They can see your face but you can't see theirs.
- Powered Armor: Tesla Troopers wear a suit of insulative armour that protects from tank treads but for some reason not from dog bites.
Psi-Corps Trooper
Type: Infantry
Role: Psychic Operations
Weapons: Mind Control
Trained at: Barracks
Role: Psychic Operations
Weapons: Mind Control
Trained at: Barracks
These are the first Yuri clones that are able to be used in the missions. They have the ability to mind control units and also deploy to use a psychic blast attack to kill infantry.
- Area of Effect: Can release a Psychic blast which kills all nearby enemy infantry units.
- Charm Person: Psi-Corps Troopers are capable of mind controlling enemy units.
- Cloning Blues: In missions 'Chrono Storm' and in multiplayer, this unit is referred to as simply Yuri, implying that later members of this corps were in fact Yuri's clones.
- Psychic Powers: M