Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2: Difference between revisions

"RA2" redirects here. See also Robot Arena 2: Design and Destroy.

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2
Red Alert 2 box cover Red Alert 2 box cover
Developer(s)	Westwood Studios Westwood Pacific
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows
Release	October 21, 2000 October 23, 2000 October 27, 2000
Genre(s)	Real-time strategy
Mode(s)	Single player Multiplayer

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 is a 2.5D real-time strategy computer game by Westwood Studios, released in 2000 as the follow up to Command & Conquer: Red Alert, another game in the Command & Conquer series. The Allies and Soviets return in the game, and units and some structures from the first Red Alert make a reappearance. The game features better graphics, multiplayer and a continuation of the Red Alert story. However, unlike the first Red Alert, it does not feature connections to the Tiberian storyline.

Characters

Allies

• Michael Dugan — President of the United States of America. Played by Ray Wise.
• Major General Carville — Highly-respected Texas general of the United States Army National Guard. Carville trains and commands new commanders in the military. Played by Barry Corbin.
• Special Agent Tanya Adams — United States commando of a voluptuous appearance who demands to undertake missions her way and with no meddling of any armchair strategist. Tanya first appears in the original Red Alert as a commando for the Allies: she can kill any infantry unit almost instantly and can destroy entire buildings and bridges just by getting close enough to them and attaching a C4 charge. In this game she is played by Kari Wuhrer.
• Professor Albert Einstein — Scientist who works for the United States. He is responsible for the removal of Adolf Hitler through time using the Chronosphere. Played by Larry Gelman.
• Major Eva Lee — Intelligence advisor. She will guide the Allied player through the entire campaign and regularly provides first-hand mission briefings. Played by Athena Massey.
• General Lyon- Commander of the French Allied forces. He is only seen in one FMV, during which the player is in a meeting with other Allied leaders. He is played by Frank Bruynbroek.
• The British Prime Minister. She is seen in one FMV, and bears a resemblance to Margaret Thatcher.

Note: Despite the fact that the Allies won in Red Alert, German Commander von Esling does not appear, and he is assumed to have retired after the last war. Greek Commander Stavros does not appear either since Greece was destroyed during the beginning of the last war, and it is assumed that Greece was rebuilding during the course of Red Alert 2.

Soviets

• Alexander Romanov — Premier of the Soviet Union. A distant relative of the last Russian Czar, Romanov became a Bolshevik, and was appointed by the Allied commanders to (presumably) be the puppet head of the Soviet Union. Instead, he forms the World Socialist Alliance and begins a new war against the United States. His character is played by Nicholas Worth.
• Yuri — Alexander Romanov's aide-de-camp. Yuri's arch-nemesis within the Soviet ranks is General Vladimir. Yuri is responsible for psychic technology the Soviets use to gain control of their enemies. His loyalty to Romanov is questionable and Vladimir is quite suspicious. Played by Udo Kier. Yuri also has a strong resemblance to Vladimir Lenin. In one of the Soviet campaign briefings, Yuri displays a photo of Vladimir Lenin and Joseph Stalin that has been doctored so that Yuri's photo is in place of Lenin's.
• General Vladimir - A loyal general of the Soviet Union. The one who leads the attack on the Florida Keys. Played by Adam Greggor.
• Lt. Zofia — The Soviet equivalent of Lt. Eva. She is the advisor of the Soviet Commander. Played by Aleksandra Kaniak.

Note: Since Red Alert 2 continues from the Allied forces winning it is assumed that Nadia, Gradenko and Kukov were killed. Since in the final Allied mission for Red Alert the Kremlin was destroyed with only Stalin remaining and Greek Commander Stavros killing Stalin shortly after his men found him.

Countries

Just like both World Wars both the Allies and Soviets have other nations joining their cause. Each country has a specific unit although only available through multiplayer in Red Alert 2. In Yuri's Revenge some of the country specific units appear in the missions.

Allies

The Allied forces focus on lightning fast attacks and gathering info on its enemies in order to win. The European nations from Red Alert with the exception of Greece join the United States along with The Republic of Korea to fight the Soviet onslaught.

• America - Paratroopers. Drop out of cargo plane anywhere on the map, after which they behave like normal GI units. Unlike other players, who can only get paratroopers by capturing a neutral airport building, America automatically gets them when they construct their airforce command center. Also, if an American player captures a neutral airport, they will receive those paratroopers in addition to the ones they receive as part of their country bonus. Paratrooper GI's are completely free, and in long-term games can build into quite a substansive force.
• France - Grand Cannon. A large, long-range defensive cannon with moderate rate of fire. Deals considerable damage to both tanks and infantry. However, it cannot fire at air units. It has a minimum firing range, so it will be unable to fire upon any units standing close to it and is outranged by Soviet Artillery (V3 Rockets)
• Germany - Tank Destroyer. A dedicated anti-vehicle tank, it's armor-piercing shells can quickly destroy any vehicle, also making them very dangerous in rapid assaults against enemy harvesters. Useless against infantry and buildings.
• Great Britain - Snipers. Like Tanya or Navy SEALS, their gun is a one-hit kill against infantry and practically useless against vehicles. Unlike Navy SEALS, they have a much longer firing range, coupled with a slower rate of fire. Thus they can actually kill Navy SEALS before the SEALS get close enough to fire their own weapons. Unlike Tanya or SEALS, snipers cannot attack buildings.
• Korea - Black Eagle Jets. A stronger, tougher version of the standard Allied Harrier unit, whose missiles also deal more damage. Due to its tougher health, it can survive anti-aircraft fire that would destroy a standard harrier.

Soviets

The Soviet Union focus on pure power and sheer numbers to overwhelm the enemy. The union of Soviet nations in game is explained as a "World Socialist Alliance" that Russia built up since the last war, ostensibly for foreign aide to other socialist countries but which was really a front for a new military alliance to attack the Allies.

• Russia - Tesla Tanks. A mobile, scaled down version of a Tesla Coil is mounted on this tank, which is not as powerful as that of a Tesla Coil defensive structure but more powerful than those used by Tesla Troopers. Damaging to vehicles, infantry, and tanks, Tesla Tanks can fire over walls at their targets.
• Cuba - Terrorists. A suicide bomber, the terrorist is an infantry unit that will run up to enemy units or buildings and blow himself up. Standard Crazy Ivan units also explode when they die, but cannot intentionally self-destruct like terrorists can (unlike Crazy Ivans they cannot plant bombs on other things). Terrorists cost 1/5 the amount of money that Crazy Ivans do, equal to the cost of a basic Conscript infantry unit, allowing them to be produced en masse. The destructive power of their explosion isn't quite as powerful as that of a dying Crazy Ivan, however while Crazy Ivan is one of the slowest units in the game, terrorists are very fast, allowing them to quickly close in on enemy units.
• Iraq - Desolators. Use radiation-based attacks, and wear armored suits (similar to the Tesla Troopers) which render them immune to damage from surrounding radiation. They are armed with a "rad gun" which fires a bolt of radiation that is devastating against enemy infantry, though not very effective against vehicles and buildings. The Desolators' main attack is when they are deployed, which allows them to use their "blacklight" weapon which spreads a patch of radiation around them roughly the same size as that left by a nuclear missile detonation. This radiation patch will near-instantly kill any infantry unit that passes into it, and severely damage vehicles that stay inside it for too long. Many Desolators deployed in concert across the battlefield can irradiate large sections of the map. However, they cannot attack air units, so Allied Rocketeers can easily pick off deployed Desolators (it is difficult for Soviet anti-air units to defend a Desolator, as Flak Troopers would immediately be killed by their radiation patches and Flak Tracks are lightly armored vehicles which would rapidly be damaged by the radiation as well).
• Libya - Demolition Trucks. Another suicide unit, it is a truck loaded with a small nuclear bomb. The explosion isn't as powerful as the tactical nukes launched by nuclear silos, but it will still spread lethal radiation which will rapidly kill enemy troops. While the missiles launched from nuclear silos have a time limit, so that only one may be launched ever 10 minutes, a Libya player can create as many Demolition Trucks as they want and send them out in a coordinated attack, which depending on how many one uses could surpass the damage caused by one nuclear missile. Worse, the Iron Curtain devise may be used on Demolition Trucks, making them impossible to destroy, allowing a Libya player to simply drive them inside an enemy base, shrugging off all damage, and wait for the Iron Curtain effect to wear off and the truck to detonate.

Storyline: An alternate World War III

Template:Spoiler The story takes place after the events of the original Red Alert, following on from the Allied storyline, whereby the war ends in an Allied victory. With Stalin dead and the war over, the Allies appoint Alexander Romanov as a puppet ruler, stating that "although an aristocrat and a member of the Communist party, Romanov was an advocate of peace". Under Romanov's leadership, the USSR rebuilds itself from the destruction of the first war. However, unbeknownst to the Allies, Romanov harbours a deep hatred of the victorious Allies, and secretly works to develop military technology and rebuild the Red Army. Romanov builds up a supposedly peaceful "World Socialist Alliance" that is ostensibly meant to lend peaceful aide to other socialist nations, notably Iraq, Libya, and Cuba. When a civil war breaks out in Mexico, a member state of the peaceful WSA, Romanov dispatches troops as peace keepers. Sensing that the time is right for an attack, Romanov launches a full-scale invasion of the continental United States. The Russians realized that they lost the last war because the United States came to Europe's aide, so they decided to focus their efforts against the United States in this new war. Russia's peace keepers in Mexico roll across the border into the United States, while the Red Navy and Red Air Force launch devastating attacks on America's Pacific and Atlantic coasts. When US President Michael Dugan threatens nuclear retaliation against the USSR, Romanov's Science and Technology Advisor, Yuri, uses psychic technology to sabotage America's nuclear capabilities. As the Soviet military machine swarms across the United States, President Dugan makes a desperate plea for assistance from the European Union. European forces unite with the war-torn United States, and the world is plunged into a Third World War as the Allies and Soviets once again grapple over the fate of the entire world.

Phase One: Soviet surprise attack, America stands alone

The Soviet Army's ground forces poured into the United States from Mexico, while naval and air forces attacked from all sides, making a major amphibious landing in the Northeast which quickly spread. The scheme of Mutually Assured Destruction broke down: the United States' nuclear arsenal had been destroyed harmlessly in their silos, but the Soviets were unwilling to use full-scale strategic nuclear weapons against American forces, as they wanted to conquer the USA, not destroy it outright. Tactical nukes were used only sparingly by the Soviets.

Using the mind-control powers of Yuri's Psychic Corps, the Soviets converted civilians in conquered territory to total loyalty to the Soviet regime, thus stamping out most resistance before it started and allowing for rapid advancement from the Southwest onwards. Psychic beacons were also used to enable the rapid fall of New York City and Washington, D.C. President Dugan and the Pentagon's military command staff were briefly mind-controlled before being rescued and evacuated from Washington, D.C. before it totally fell to the Soviets. American government and military command relocated to Canada, and struggled in a rapidly losing fight.

The main thrust of the Soviet invasion spread from the Southwest across the Great Plains to the Mississippi, and covering over a quarter of the country, while the Cubans invaded Florida, and the amphibious Soviet salient in the Northeast spread in all directions. The opening wave of the Soviet attack on New York City resulted in the destruction of the Statue of Liberty. From Illinois, the Soviets mounted a drive on Chicago, an offensive which if it succeeded would cut the remaining free parts of the USA (in the Northwest and eastern seaboard) in two. The United States military staged an amphibious attack from across the Great Lakes to retake Chicago soon after the Soviets advanced into the city, and were successful in turning back their advance through the city. However, the enraged Soviet General Vladimir ordered a full-scale nuclear bomb dropped on Chicago, destroying the entire American relief army as well as a large portion of the remaining Soviet troops in the city. This was the only time in the war that a full-scale nuclear weapon was used, in order to destroy a major US city. With Chicago in nuclear ruins, a major remaining American army destroyed, and the nation cut in two, the United States' situation was dire.

Phase Two: European involvement, the tide turns

However, the Soviets seemed to have bitten off more than they could chew. European countries such as the United Kingdom, France and Germany had up until this point been unwilling to enter the war to help the United States because they were afraid that in response the Soviet Union would attack them with ICBMs. But the nuclear bombing of Chicago frightened the European leaders, and they afterwards became receptive to American requests for aide. The European nations would join the war, contributing troops and funds, if a US commando mission led by agent Tanya was able to destroy the ICBM silos located along the Polish border. In one of the most important missions of the war, Tanya was successful in slipping her team past the border and destroying the missiles. The Soviets hid their remaining missiles deep inside Russia for safety, however this meant that they were out of range of any European targets and strategically worthless after this point.

The European entry into the war divided the Red Army between the North American and European fronts, taking pressure off of the USA. Perhaps more importantly, Prof. Albert Einstein, working in his lab in the Black Forest of Germany, was able to develop new technologies to share with the Americans, such as Prism Tower technology to counter the threat of Soviet Tesla Coils. Using these new assets, American forces staged a large attack on Washington, D.C. and in the ensuing battle the capitol was liberated. The tide slowly started turning against the Soviets.

During this time the Republic of Korea joined the Allies in fighting the Soviets and attacked Vladivostok, but were repulsed.

The Soviet Fleet then attacked Oahu, hoping to wipe out the US Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor, and capture the Hawaiian islands in order to stage further attacks on the American west coast once they controlled the Pacific. While the Soviets were able to capture Kauai, they failed to capture Oahu and they were eventually repulsed.

With battle lines fluctuating, the Soviets mounted a counterattack against St. Louis, Missouri, using another Psychic Beacon to take control of the city. However, Tanya's commando team infiltrated and city and destroyed the Psychic Beacon located in the bombed out Busch Memorial Stadium, and conventional forces were then free to enter the city without fear of mind control. By this point the Allied army had adapted Einstein's Prism Tower technology into mobile Prism Tanks were served as a highly effective artillery unit, whose long range and heavy firepower proved devastating against enemy base defenses. St. Louis was liberated, and the Soviets were again forced into retreat. The Soviets did capture a Prism Tower from a west coast base and tried to reverse engineer it at a lab in Mexico's Yucatan peninsula, hidden in the ancient Mayan city of Tulum. However, an assault by crack American Navy SEALS was able to wipe out the lab. The Soviets had been completely removed from the Northeast, and were rapidly beaing pushed out of the few areas of California they still controlled.

Phase Three: Counting up, counting down

By this point in the war, the continental United States had been liberated and US forces were pushing into Soviet-occupied Mexico, but internationally the World Socialist Alliance still held a strong hand. Using their Iraqi and Libyan allies the Soviets confused the Allies by not making a direct march westwards across Europe to Paris as they had done in the last war, but instead attacked through Italy and southern France, and soon Paris was besieged. Soviet Tesla troops rigged the Eiffel Tower into a gigantic Tesla Coil, foiling Allied counterattacks.

During this time, the Soviets started using suicide bombers in a campaign of assassination to take out top Allied generals. One of these attacks claimed the life of General Carville, US supreme commander.

Meanwhile, the Soviets realized that Einstein was greatly responsible for many of the new technologies that the Allies were using to counter the advanced tech the Soviets had ready at the beginning of the war, and that he was working on a new Chronosphere that would prove a grave threat to them. As a result, the Soviets mounted a massive drive from the Polish border westwards, which captured much of southern Germany, as they moved on the Black Forest in the southwest corner of the country (however, Berlin remained under Allied control). In a massive battle, the Soviets attacked Einstein's lab in a three pronged attack using their new Apocalypse tanks, the ultimate land weapons. However, the Allies were able to stem the tide of the Soviet advance, thanks in no small part to Einstein's new Mirage Tanks were capable of disguising themselves as trees for surprise attacks. After a grueling battle, the Soviets were repulsed and Einstein's lab was secured.

Phase Four: Chrono invasion and victory

Realizing it would take many years and cost many lives to defeat the Soviets using conventional weapons, the Allies developed the plan to use Einstein's new Chronosphere to chronoshift an invasion force into Moscow.

Unfortunately, Einstein determined that in order to do this, the Chronosphere would have to be constructed at the perfect place within Earth's magnetosphere, and this site turned out to be an island in the Florida Keys, "Only a few short kilometers from Soviet Cuba". The Allies beat off wave after wave of Soviet attack, and mounted air and amphibious assaults on Cuba to destroy nuclear missiles there which were about to be fired against the Chronosphere being constructed on the island.

With the Chronosphere completed, every able bodied unit was rushed through the Chronosphere for a full-scale Chrono-invasion of Moscow. With the element of surprise and most of the Soviet army out in the field, the Allies were able to push through the city in a fierce urban battle. Eventually the Allied army was able to defeat the elite Black Guard units outside the Kremlin. Then Tanya chronoshifted in to Moscow, and Tanya and her commando team stormed the Kremlin to capture Romanov and forced him to surrender. However, Yuri was nowhere to be found...

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

Main article: Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge is the expansion pack for Red Alert 2, released in 2001. It features a whole new faction: Yuri's psychic army. Yuri's Revenge expansion pack is like a whole new game, with seven new Soviet campaign missions and six as the Allies. The expansion is also playable in multiplayer and skirmish mode. There is no single player campaign for the Yuri faction, but it is playable in multiplayer and skirmish modes. The game also features upgrades to general game balance, and gives individual voices to each unit in the game.

Controversy

Westwood found itself in a storm of controversy regarding Red Alert 2 after the events of September 11, due to the contents of both the game and its packaging, despite the fact that Red Alert 2 was released before the attack on the World Trade Center. In the first mission of the Soviet campaign, you are required to destroy the Pentagon, and in a later mission, capture the Allied Battle Lab at the base of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, once the Battle Lab is captured a Psychic Beacon is built between the twin towers, the player must then defend the Psychic Beacon for a given amount of time to complete the level. Destroying the two World Trade Center towers (or garrisoning Conscripts in them) in that mission made a crate from each of the towers appear. One crate contained funds for building more units and the other made all of the player's nearby units stronger. In addition, the original packaging for Red Alert 2 had a hinged cover that would open to show a scene of New York City under attack by Soviet forces, with the Twin Towers in the center of the image. Westwood immediately pulled all remaining copies of Red Alert 2 in the original packaging from stores, and retooled the box art before reissuing the game. (Note that the game is not 'outdated' by the attacks, as it takes place in an alternate history.) None of the game's content was changed (except for the names of famous landmarks, see below).

Later versions of the game (after patch) would rename the World Trade Center and other famous landmarks (Arc de Triomphe for one) to more generic names (Victory Arch for example). This has, ironically, caused a bit of controversy among fans who prefer the original "canon" names; fan made patches are available to restore the original authentic names.

Game Structure

Red Alert 2, like the other Command & Conquer games, has only one resource, money. Money is obtained from three sources: ore, gems, and oil derricks. Ore and gems are harvested by mining and refined to produce money (Gems produce more money than ore); to get money from an oil derrick, a player must capture the structure with an engineer, which rewards the player with an initial bonus followed by a steady stream of income. Oil derricks do not provide a very large cashflow unless acquired en masse, so mining is the primary source of income for most players.

Red Alert 2, like all Command & Conquer RTS games (except Command and Conquer: Generals), uses a system where a sidebar on the right side of the screen is used to select what will be built. The unit will then appear at the entrance to the appropriate structure. The construction of buildings follows a similar pattern, where the building is first built by selecting it on the sidebar, then after the building time is complete, the building is placed, where it appears almost instantly. This is unlike the pattern of building in most other games in this genre, where a specialized unit must construct a building gradually on the location where the building will be placed.

Buildings can only be placed within a short distance of other friendly buildings, which is critical to gameplay as it prevents the player from simply building all over the map. As a result, bases in Red Alert 2 are often fairly compact.

To accelerate unit or structure production in Red Alert 2, the player must build more of the structure where the unit is built, or in the case of structures, deploy more Mobile Construction Vehicles. This is another characteristic of the Command & Conquer series of games.

What the player is allowed to see in Red Alert 2 differs from other RTS games. In a classic RTS, such as Starcraft, Age of Empires or Warcraft, once a player has explored the area, and his or her units have left the area, all the players will be able to see is the terrain. Any enemy structures that lie within the explored area are visible, but only as static images; the present state of the structures is not shown. Terrain that is not actively being observed by a unit or structure is blanketed in Fog of War, which prevents the player from seeing what is happening in the area. In all Command & Conquer games, except Command & Conquer: Generals, there is no fog of war, only shroud. Shroud disappears after a unit has observed the area once, and then the terrain is fully visible from then on even if the observing units have left. The only ways to create shroud are to either use a structure called a GAP Generator, or to sabotage the enemy's Radar Center.

Furthermore, as with previous Command & Conquer games, a game of Red Alert does not start with a minimap available to the player, unlike most other RTS games; the minimap only becomes viewable after construction of radar(for the Soviets) or an airbase (for the Allies). If the Allies have build a spy radar and the airbase is destroyed, they will still keep the minimap.

Gameplay and Balance

File:Nukelaunch.jpg

Soviet forces launching a nuclear weapon.

Like previous Command & Conquer games, the two factions in Red Alert 2 have unique armies with their own strengths and weaknesses. To achieve victory, a player must play to his or her faction's strengths and exploit the other faction's weaknesses.

The primary advantages of the Allied forces are:

• Military Intelligence: The Allies can build two structures which function in an intelligence role: The GAP Generator, which blankets the surrounding area in shroud, making it impossible for the enemy to see what is in the area unless he or she explores it with land units, and the Spy Satellite Uplink, which allows the player to see everything in the game arena, except where shroud is being generated by the enemy. Once the Allies have constructed an Allied Battle Lab, they can produce a unit called the Mirage Tank, which disguises itself as a tree when it is not moving or firing its weapon.

• Mobility: Almost all the Allied land units are very fast, while the Soviet units are slower. This gives them an improved ability to use guerilla tactics, as their units can destroy an undefended target of opportunity and escape before the enemy can bring reinforcements to the area. The Allies can build a helicopter that does not appear on enemy radar that can transport up to five infantry units around the battlefield, called the Nighthawk Transport Helicopter. One of the allied superweapons, the Chronosphere can teleport groups of vehicles around the battlefield.

• Air Power: The Allied air force consists of Harriers and Rocketeers. Although both units are vulnerable to Soviet air defences, their high speed and, in the case of the Harrier, high firepower, allows them to strike targets of opportunity, or if the player using them is prepared to take losses (These units are very expensive to offset their offensive capabilities), even well defended targets can be destroyed using Harriers. Rocketeers are more useful against other Allied players, due to their extreme vulnerablity to Soviet anti-aircraft fire. The Allies also have an Aircraft Carrier at their disposal, which can launch three Hornet jets at ground-based targets.

• Efficient Ore Miners: The Allied ore miner, the Chrono Miner, has the ability to teleport back to the Ore Refinery, cutting its travel time in half. To compensate for this, the Chrono Miner can only carry half the load of the Soviet War Miner, which must drive both to and from the ore fields, so although both types of miners collect ore at the same rate, the Chrono Miner can retreat instantly, or be moved to any Ore Refinery on the battlefield instantly, as soon as the Ore field it was mining becomes depleted. When a lot of miners are working on an ore field, traffic jams at the Refineries will result, but this problem is far less prevalent with Chrono Miners than War Miners, because all traffic is moving away from the refineries instead of both towards and away. Generally, a Soviet player must build 1 refinery for every two to three War Miners, while 5 or 6 Chrono Miners can work from one refinery.

File:Terror Drone.JPG

A Soviet Terror Drone drilling trough the hull of a tank in an in-game animation.

The Soviet forces, on the other hand, have the following advantages:

• Tanks: The Rhino Tank is the backbone of the Soviet army. It is more expensive than the Allied Grizzly Tank, and does not move as fast, but its superior armor and weapons make up for this. To engage a Soviet force of Rhino Tanks using only Grizzly Tanks with no other advantage (such as strategic location or infantry support) is a foolhardy tactic for an Allied player. Once the Allied player has constructed a Battle Lab and has begun producing Mirage Tanks, this advantage lessens, although the Soviet Battle Lab allows the construction of an extremely powerful assault tank, the Apocalypse.

• Anti-Aircraft capability: While the Allies have the only fast-moving attack aircraft in the game, the Soviet forces have superior anti-aircraft weapons. Soviet AA is based off of flak. The Soviets have Flak Troopers and Flak Tracks, which are ground AA units. They also have Flak Cannons, which are able to do severe damage and take down both planes and the rocketeers. The Soviets also have the Sea Scorpion, which is a ship equipped with a large flak cannon. The Apocalypse tank also has the ability to fire missiles and take down air units. Allied air units tend to move en masse, and because almost all Soviet anti-aircraft weapons do splash damage, a deceptively small number of anti-aircraft weapons can inflict costly losses to an enemy's air force. If the enemy player chooses to invest too much money in an airforce, except in prolonged games, the Soviet forces will be able to overrun the allied player with tanks.

• Cheap infantry: The Soviet Conscript is half the price of the Allied GI. Once a Cloning Vat has been constructed, the player receives one free infantry unit for every one that is built, effectively halving the cost of infantry again; this opens up a wide range of otherwise-expensive tactics to the Soviet player.

• Siege weapons: The Soviet army can build the V3 Truck, a portable long-range missile launcher that outranges all defensive structures, even the French Grand Cannon. If an enemy has invested a lot of money in defensive structures, they will be vulnerable to Soviet attacks. The Soviet Dreadnought naval unit is also an effective siege weapon, capable of firing two powerful missiles at a very long range.

• Kirov Airship: The Kirov Airship is a large and expensive blimp. It is used by the Soviet side as a bomber aircraft. They are able to withstand large amounts of enemy firepower and each bomb can damage an enemy building severely. Their main drawback is that they are very slow and most are shot down before they get to their target. Nevertheless, used in a massed attack, they are almost unstoppable, and ensure the destruction of enemy infrastructure. Kirovs also begin dropping their payload before they reach their target, which can result in damage to the surrounding area.

File:Kirov Airship.jpg

A Kirov Airship dropping a bomb.

Kirov Airships are probably named after one of the Bolshevik revolutionaries, Sergei Kirov.

Kirovs also appear in the introduction sequence to the game in a CGI sequence. The airships are seen flying alongside skyscrapers in what seems to be New York City and are reflected in the window glass. The overall effect is rather ominous and a Kirov is given the honour of flying across the screen (causing it to darken) and allowing the words "Westwood Studios proudly presents," to appear on the apparent underside of the airship. The Kirov costs $2000 and can only be built if the player has a Soviet War Factory and a Soviet Battle Lab constructed.

Mods

Red Alert 2 is a popular game for modding. Hidden within the ra2.mix (ra2.mix\local.mix\rule*.ini) is a configuration file called rules.ini. This file can be extracted using a tool called the XCC mixer and edited after extraction. The rules.ini is constructed in such a way that it is very easy to modify; no programming skills are required. There are tags which refer to the strength of a unit, such as its hit points, which can be modified with the program.

It is also possible to create whole new units. There are other .ini files such as the art.ini and ai.ini which allow for further modification, such as adding a cameo to your units and making the AI use them.

Final Alert and Final Alert 2

"Final Alert", the map/mission editor for "Red Alert 2", was originally programmed by Matthias Wagner. In the early versions of Final Alert users were able to access various "extra" bits of code from Tiberian Sun that had accidentally been left in Red Alert 2, when the Tiberian Sun "engine" had been converted into Red Alert 2. These extras included the ability to create tunnels and railway lines which do not exist in the original Red Alert 2

After creating Final Alert, Matthias Wagner teamed up with Westwood to produce an "improved" version of Final Alert. Westwood endorsed this new version of Final Alert and made it official, but they insisted that access to the "extra" code be removed.

Later, Matthias Wagner created "Final Alert 2" with access to the extra code re-enabled; this version was not endorsed by Westwood.

XCC WOL IRC Server (XWIS)

In 2005, control of online play for Red Alert 2, and a number of older C&C games was passed over from EA to XWIS, a well-established community run server that now organizes the ladder, and with the help of a community reporting scheme, bans cheaters. The server is sponsored by the EA Germany Community Team, and cheat reports are handled by the Strike Team.

Original Soundtrack

The Red Alert 2 soundtrack was composed by long-time Command & Conquer collaborator Frank Klepacki.

1. Hell March 2
2. Industrofunk
3. Ready The Army
4. Grinder
5. In Deep
6. Motorized
7. Power
8. 200 Meters
9. Destroy
10. Burn
11. Probing
12. Blow It Up
13. Eagle Hunter
14. Fortification
15. Jank
16. C&C In The House

Trivia

• The World Trade Center, although mentioned in pre-mission briefings, is identified by tooltips as a simple "building". Other monuments in the game are identified by name. This was actually changed in the patch, if you do not update your game, all famous monuments retain their actual name.

• The Pentagon is destroyed in four segments, not five, though the building graphic does indeed have five sides. This is due to the fact that due to in-game constraints, the Pentagon is made up of four separate buildings placed together to form a square, with each of the four buildings containing a portion of the Pentagon.

• The ribbons that General Carville, Lieutenant Sofia, Lieutenant Eva, and General Vladimir wear on their uniforms are JROTC (Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps) awards and merits.

• In the Soviet Mission in Paris The Eiffel Tower is called The Paris Tower. The game's tower has only three sides and looks very different from the actual tower, including a bulbous upper deck and large, circular floors jutting out from the metal frame. In addition, the Arc de Triomphe is called 'The Paris Arch of Winning', which is also very different from the actual arch, as well as being far from its actual location. This does not tally with cutscene reports which show the real Arc de Triomphe. It is possible that the game's arch is simply a new structure built in the alternate Paris of the game. An early screenshot of the game shows the real-life Eiffel Tower in Paris, but in the released version of the game, the tower is far from realistic.

• Some voice actors for the units in Red Alert 2 also contributed to the unit voices in Emperor: Battle for Dune (most notably the Allied Blackhawk Transport Helicopter and the Atreides Sonic Tank.) Nicholas Worth (actor for Premier Romanov) also plays the Atreides Mentat in Emperor: Battle for Dune and General Marzaq in Tiberian Sun Firestorm.

• The Allied Spy can be disguised as any infantry-class unit (Including all Animals except Squid and Dolphins.).

• The storyline for the original Red Alert established that World War II has never taken place, because a time-travelling Einstein eliminated Adolf Hitler. However, there are several problems with this:
  • In missions around Pearl Harbor the Arizona Memorial can be seen. Also, the Iwo Jima Memorial is seen in some missions around Washington, DC. It should be noted that although the European theatre did not take place in the storyline, this does not affect the Pacific theater of World War II (against Imperial Japan), which explains why the Arizona Memorial and Iwo Jima memorial exist in the game. It is implied that the Second Sino-Japanese War and the resulting Pacific War would still occur.
  • In Europe, Germany and Poland have their post-1945 borders instead of the historical 1939 borders. This problem also exists in the first Red Alert game, which is even more strange considering that the post-1945 borders are the direct result of arbitrary decisions by a victorious Stalin after the end of WWII. Also, Yugoslavia is presented both as a union state and as separate republics on the maps.
  • The main land siege weapon for the Soviets is called the V3 Launcher. The V1 and V2 were developed by the Germans during World War 2 (although in Red Alert the Soviets have a V-2 Rocket Launcher). The real V3 cannon was also a large cannon as opposed to simply an improved version of the V2 rocket, as implied in Red Alert 2.

• In the ninth Soviet mission, the player is required to capture the President, forcing him to surrender the United States over to the Soviets. However, the following mission is set in the U.S Virgin Islands and after Yuri's betrayal and defeat, the player is informed of a secret Allied Chronosphere in Alaska. Although it could be rebel forces, this is never mentioned in movies or pre-mission briefings.

• In the first mission of the Allied Campaign in the Yuri's Revenge expansion it is clearly visible that Professor Einstein is using the Star Wars Comtech device as a remote controller.

• In the movie of the Soviet mission #12, Lt. Zofia informs that the Allied Chronosphere is near Point Hope, Alaska. However, the map shows Anchorage, which is very far away from the real location.

• In the Allied mission #12, when Special Agent Tanya enters the Kremlin to arrest Premier Romanov, there is a picture of Konstantin Chernenko in the hallway. However, he did not hold the office until February 9, 1984. (Magazines seen in in-game movies indicate the date as July 31, 1972.)

• An assistant in one of the FMVs with President Dugan bears a strong resemblance to Monica Lewinsky. In the scene the president briefly flirts with her.

• Even though the Soviet Union in Red Alert 2 is a whole state (according to FMVs), Only the Russian Soviet Socialist Republic is playable in Skirmish, a similar error appeared in the original Red Alert, where the Ukrainian SSR and the Russian SSR are playable. Maps also show the SSRs as Post 1991 in date and with separate borders.

• Lieutenant Eva on the Allied campaign is actually wearing Leiutentant Colonel ranks (a silver maple leaf) on her blouse collar.

• In the game's opening FMV, one of the lieutenants at the missile command station addresses the other officer as "Jerry." His nameplate clearly reads "Boyd." This identifies the lieutenant as Jerry Boyd. Air Force junior officers routinely call each other by their first names when they hold the same rank.

See also

• Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge
• Command & Conquer: Red Alert
• Command & Conquer: Generals
• Command & Conquer: Generals - Zero Hour
• Command & Conquer: The First Decade
• Red Alert 2 Soundtrack
• Technology of the Allies (Red Alert series)

External links

• Red Alert 2 official website
• XCC WOL IRC Server & Strike Team homepage
• About Red Alert 2
• Red Alert2 Den