User:Balloonman/AfD/Soviet technology of Command & Conquer/article
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This page lists various technologies employed by the Soviet Union in the fictional, alternate history setting of the Command & Conquer: Red Alert series real-time strategy computer games.
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[edit] Conventional Weaponry
[edit] Infantry
In Command and Conquer: Red Alert, Soviet infantry include riflemen armed with AK-47 rifles, grenadiers, soldiers armed with flame throwers, and in the later expansions, "shock troopers" equipped with portable electrical generators. Soviet forces also have access to attack dogs to defend against Allied Spies and Thieves, and as with the Allies can produce Engineers to capture buildings.
In Red Alert 2, the Soviet regular infantryman is a conscript, who is cheap and quick to field(a cheap cost of 100 credits compared to the 200 of an Allied GI). Supporting these conscripts are soldiers carrying flak cannons to defend against air units, and specialized soldiers called Tesla Troopers in heavy armor, and capable of generating powerful electrical blasts to damage tanks. A specialized demolitions unit called Crazy Ivan is also available, and can attach powerful explosives to any unit, even neutral vehicles and animals. As with the previous Red Alert, Soviet forces have access to both Engineers and Attack Dogs.
In multiplayer, if the player chooses to play as Cuba, the player has access to suicide bombers known as Terrorists. If the player chooses to play as Iraq, they have access to special soldiers known as Desolators who are clad in a nuclear battlesuit and can fire highly radioactive blasts from a shoulder mounted cannon, as well as poison wide areas with radiation. If the player chooses to play as Libya, they have access tosuicide bomber trucks that ram targets and explode. These trucks can beupgraded to carry nuclear warheads, and to act as dirty bomb.
In the Yuri's Revenge expansion, the Soviets have access to a "hero" unit known as Boris, who carries a heavy assault rifle and can call in air strikes against buildings from dedicated MiG bombers.
[edit] Ground Vehicles
[edit] Armor
In the original Red Alert, the Soviets have access to a variety of powerful tanks. The standard Soviet tank is a twin-barrelled T-80 which is more powerful than even the Allies' heaviest tanks. In addition, the Soviets have access to the gargantuan Mammoth Tank, an armoured behemoth capable of annihilating Allied vehicles with little effort, and also capable of firing rockets at airborne targets and infantry, although it is easily overwhelmed if unescorted.
In Red Alert 2, Soviet tank technology has developed further. In this game, the standard Russian armoured vehicle is the Rhino tank, more heavily armoured than Allied equivalents. The Mammoth tank appears to have been upgraded and appears as the Apocalypse tank, an immensely powerful and heavily-armoured vehicle which mounts two cannon barrels and travels on four independent sets of caterpillar tracks. Like the Mammoth, the Apocalypse is capable of firing rockets at airborne targets and when used in large numbers, is virtually unstoppable.
If the player chooses to control Russia in multiplayer matches, they have access to Tesla Tanks, which fire powerful blasts of lightning over walls and can devastate enemy armored units.
[edit] Artillery
In both games, the Soviets have access to sophisticated missile-launching vehicles. In the original Red Alert, the Russians use ZIL-135 rocket launchers that fire V-2 rockets. In Red Alert 2, similar vehicles launch V-3 rockets, a long-range missile with greater range and destructive power than the V-2.
It should be noted that the V-2 was originally developed by Germany, and not the Soviet Union. The V-3 was actually a Nazi cannon in France made to bombard England. The naming of the rocket and cannon may be an oversight by the game developers, or due to the presence of the name 'V2' in the popular imagination. However, Red Alert does take place in an alternate timeline where the Soviets may have developed the technology instead of the Germans, since the Atomic Bomb is available only to the Soviets in Red Alert in single player missions.
[edit] Miscellaneous
The original game sees Soviet forces make use of minelayers capable of deploying effective anti-infantry mines. In Red Alert 2, the Soviets no longer have access to minelayers but instead have access to the Flak Track, a fast armoured personnel carrier mounting a flak gun, effective against infantry and aircraft. Additionally, in Red Alert 2 the Soviets possess the Terror Drone, a complex spider-like robot which, when activated, seeks out enemy vehicles and drills its way inside, rapidly dismantling the vehicle from the inside out. In multiplayer and certain single player missions, the player also has access to extremely powerful radiation-enhanced bomb trucks if he or she chooses to play as Libya. These trucks explode when destroyed, making them excellent for rushing heavily defended bases and urban areas.
[edit] Air Force
The Soviets have a distinct advantage in air power in the original Red Alert; Soviet commanders have access to the Mil Mi-24 Hind, the Yakovlev Yak-9, the MiG 23, and the Tupolev Tu-16. In Red Alert 2, the Red Air Force no longer has access to aircraft but instead possesses Kirovs, large airships which can unleash devastating aerial bombardments on ground targets, however, the "Kirovs" are easy to shoot down due to their incredibly slow pace. In the expansion, Yuri's Revenge, the Red Air Force gains the Siege Chopper, which while in the air can act as an air assault vehicle, or deploy on the ground as mobile artillery. The Soviet hero unit, Boris, is also capable of calling in air strikes via MiG fighters planes as well. The number of MiGs called in starts out at two, but goes up as Boris is promoted. Each MiG is very fast, and thus most survive to deliver their payload. They are signifficantly much more powerful than the Allied Harrier jets. The missiles fired by Soviet Dreadnoughts and V-3 launchers are also considered air units for purposes of air defense weapons on all sides.
[edit] Navy
In the original Red Alert, the Soviets are only able to deploy Victor class submarines, which are fairly effective against Allied shipping but which cannot attack land or airborne targets. The expansion pack Aftermath allowed the construction of missile submarines, capable of firing powerful SLBMs at land targets.
Red Alert 2 sees the Red Navy gain access to a much greater range of naval weaponry. The Scorpion flak gunboat is capable of attacking airborne (including Soviet missiles), land-based, and naval targets, while the submarines from the original game are more powerful and much faster. The Soviets' fleet of dreadnoughts is immensely powerful, with each vessel capable of launching a pair of powerful V3-esq (except they can change their trajectory in the air) missiles against land and sea-based targets. A bizarre addition to the Soviets' naval forces are telepathically-controlled giant squids, which seek out enemy ships and use their tentacles to damage and drag them to the bottom of the sea. Note, certain weapons can shake a giant squid off of a boat. An interesting note: when Yuri separated himself from the Red Army he did not take the Giant Squids, meaning Yuri did not have a hand in their creation.
[edit] Cloning Technology
In Red Alert 2, the Soviets develop a structure called a Cloning Vat, which allows infantry to be cloned and sent into battle; whenever you buy any infantry unit, a clone pops out of the Cloning Vat. In Yuri's Revenge, Yuri uses cloned versions of himself for infantry- but when a player builds a Yuri Prime unit while a Cloning Vat is present, a second Yuri Prime is produced, not a Yuri Clone.
[edit] Iron Curtain
The Iron Curtain is a defensive system that makes an armored unit or structure invulnerable for a period in time. In Red Alert, Einstein explains it works on a theory of resonating molecules to a certain frequency. However, the system was limited to making only one vehicle invulnerable, and only for a limited time. Also, infantry would be killed if the Iron Curtain was used on them. By Red Alert 2, the Iron Curtain was improved so it could affect multiple units, to devastating effect.
[edit] Psychic Technology
In Red Alert 2, the Soviets developed psychic technology with the help of Yuri. Yuri himself had powerful telepathic and telekenetic abilities. He could control a unit's mind, as well as send out lethal mind blasts. One such application of this technology was a modified telephone that Yuri could contact anyone and influence their behaviour. It was used to prevent a nuclear retaliation by the U.S. when the Soviets launched their invasion.
Psychic technology was also developed for gathering intelligence, such as the Psychic Sensor, which revealed enemy attack plans on any structures or units within its radius; also Yuri's own Psychic Radar. The Soviets developed several structures to control the minds of people across a wide range, like a city - these were called Psychic Beacons. Other similar buildings were developed, increasing the telepathic control across continents, but these were eventually destroyed by the Allies. In Yuri's Revenge, Yuri developed a Psychic Dominator to take over Earth by placing them at strategic locations over the Earth.
In Yuri's Revenge, Yuri forces included Initiates, infantry that can send out psychokinetic blasts at units and buildings.
[edit] Robotics
The first Red Alert saw the Soviets deploy Volkov, a cybernetic construct. Armed with a silenced hand cannon and coupled with his cybernetically enhanced attack dog, Chitzkoi, Volkov was utilized in covert operations missions to great success. However, as the war progressed, Allied engineers managed to capture Volkov and hold him in an Allied research facility. Thus a mission for the Soviets. Soviet forces have a chance to rescue Volkov before he is successfully re-wired by Allied engineers. If the Soviets manage to rescue him before the timer runs out, he is saved and is still operational for Soviet service. If the timer runs out, they have no choice but to destroy him along with the Allied base.
In Red Alert 2, Soviet robotics is exemplified in the terror drone, a spider-like robot used to destroy vehicles from within as well as instantly kill any infantry unit. Terror drones are lightly armored and thus vulnerable to even small arms fire. Because of their speed, terror drones can be utilized as scouts. Also, their resistance to nuclear radiation and psychic influence can make them excellent counters to such units as desolators or mind-controlling units. Their weakness is that Service Depots can remove them instantly from a vehicle, destroying it in the process.
[edit] Tesla Technology
In the Red Alert series, Tesla coils are weapons used by the Soviets. They generate an electric charge, and direct it to a target, which then electrocutes and burns it. It was used as a large, stationary defensive structure. In the Third Great War, Tesla Troopers could also provide energy to Tesla Coils in times of emergency. When ample power was available, the coils launched an extra-powerful bolt if a trio of troopers was assisting them.
Also, based on this technology is the Soviets' main power generator in Red Alert 2 - the Tesla Reactor, which, unlike Allied power sources, is less effective in providing sufficient energy; it makes up for this in its decreased cost.
In real life, Tesla Coils do actually exist but they only have one thick coil instead of the game's 3 coils and an electric ball. In reality, it is virtually impossible to control the direction of its electrical charge.
Mobile versions of Tesla technology were first utilized by the Soviets in Red Alert: Counterstrike. Units that used such weaponry were the Tesla Tank and Shock Troopers, the Tesla Tank is capable of disrupting enemy radar if it got close enough to an enemy radar structure; these units carried on to Red Alert 2 in the form of the Tesla Trooper and the Russian Tesla Tank. Also, Soviet Kirovs that have been promoted to elite status will drop Tesla bombs, rather than their incendiary weapons. A mission in Red Alert 2 has the player utilize 3 Tesla Troopers to electrify the Eiffel Tower to turn it into a WMD.
[edit] Weapons of Mass Destruction
In the first Red Alert the Soviets had made great strides in developing chemical and nuclear weapons. Soviet commanders utilized Sarin gas against both Allied troops and dissident rebels. Later in the war, Stalin threatened the Allied nations with nuclear bombardment; however this crisis was averted after Allied forces deactivated the Soviet nukes and later destroyed "The Dark Horseman," the base housing the missiles. Information from General Kosygin, a defecting Soviet general, was vital in the operation.
The Soviets continued to field their nuclear weaponry throughout the second war. Soviet nuclear silos placed along the Polish border were utilized to deter European intervention in the war in America, but the silos were destroyed through covert operations by an allied strike team led by Agent Tanya. During the action, spies were crucial in acquiring the coordinates for the silos and overriding Soviet tesla coil defenses. Freed POWs, plane crash survivors, patrols and even farm animals like cows also lent assistance. The Soviet nuclear bombardment on Chicago finally brought over the Europeans to the American cause.
Soviet forces have no qualms in deploying nuclear weapons with their conventional forces. In the later single player levels as well as in multiplayer game modes, the Soviet Nuclear Silo is a powerful weapon that delivers massive damage and leaves a radiation field that damages vehicles and is lethal to infantry. Upon reaching elite status, Soviet V3 rocket launchers and dreadnoughts are equipped with "clean" nuclear-tipped rockets (That is, they dispense no radiation). The Iraqi desolator is an infantry unit that is resistant to nuclear radiation and utilizes a radiation cannon against infantry and tanks. The desolator can also literally "desolate" a region by periodically poisoning the land with radiation by deploying his radiation cannon. Libya players also have access to demolition truck, which contain a nuclear payload upon destruction. However by Yuri's Revenge the Demolition truck had a rather ironic flaw: Yuri's high-end defense tower could simply mind control the truck before detonation and send it back at the soviet player.
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