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Command & Conquer Red Alert 2 FAQ

Written by George Ngo (a.k.a. Eggo from GameFan magazine)
Special thanks to my RTS partner in crime, Tao, also of GameFan and
NWTR fame.
Feedback is welcome via E-mail at gngo@earthlink.net

Version 2.0

Revision History:
2.0 - Added an outline to the FAQ, a section on individual map
strategies, and expanded the advanced tactics with some great tricks
such as the double War Factory and an alternate build order for the
Rhino Rush. Made significant changes to the Tank Destroyer,
Superweapons, and Rhino Rush sections. Also made scattered revisions
all over the place (too many to list). I'd recommend re-reading
everything if you're hungry for information.

Overview/Objective: I come from a background of playing WarCraft II and
StarCraft heavily online. I've always believed Real-Time Strategy
games should be played online against human opponents because fighting
the computer doesn't teach you how to play a game. It teaches you how
to defend and build up an overpowering army of outrageous proportions -
tactics which DON'T work against a living, breathing opponent. This is
my first F.A.Q. and first time playing a Command & Conquer game. While
I like Red Alert 2, I've noticed that a lot of the players online are
not very good. Sure there are newbies in any online game, but I'm
noticing more scrubs in Red Alert 2 than other games. I'm hoping this
F.A.Q. can improve the quality of play online and raise the level of
competition so it's easier to get a good game going. I'll assume you
already know what all the units are, what they do, what's needed to
build them, etc. This F.A.Q. just talks strategy and tricks. I hope
all players (be you rookie or expert) find it useful.

Outline:
I. Soviets
a) Unit Descriptions
b) Structure Descriptions
II. Allies
a) Unit Descriptions
b) Structure Descriptions
III. Strategies/Tactics
a) Desolator Bomb
b) Rhino Rush
c) Rocketeer Rush
d) Engineer Rush
e) Kirov Escort
f) Nighthawk/Tanya
IV. Fundamentals
V. Individual Map Strategies
a) Alamo
b) Urban Rush
c) Isle of War
d) Little Big Lake
e) South Pacific
f) Anytown, Amerika
g) Lake Blitzen
h) Golden State Fwy

Soviets

Unit Descriptions

Iraqi Desolator - Pound for pound, the best unit in the game.
Excellent for wiping out ALL ground-based infantry including Tanyas,
Chrono Legionnaires, and Yuris with its Rad Cannon. The only exception
is the British Sniper. but fighting against Great Britain, you should
be able to steamroll your opponent before the Sniper can even come into
play. Deployed Desolators are also great for wiping out ALL Allied
tanks, parked Harriers, and to a lesser degree. Rhino Tanks. If an
opponent is using Desolators against you, use Harriers, Rocketeers, or
Terror Drones to deal with them. See the strategy section for tactics
such as the Desolator Bomb, which really maximizes this unit's
potential. Desolators also make good base defense. Keep a few around,
standing behind your buildings to wipe out enemy Paratroopers,
Engineers, Tanyas, and Chrono Legionnaires. If you're playing Soviets
(and you should be), Iraq should be your first choice.

Libyan Demolition Truck - Not as well-rounded as the Iraqi Desolator,
but perhaps more deadly. Libya is a great second option for Soviet
players. If you can detonate one of these in a guy's base early, the
game should be over. Just be sure to follow it up with an immediate
attack of Rhino's. I've had a guy 'bus' me three times and take me
down to a Con Yard with no buildings, yet he was unable to finish me
because he was too intent on attacking with just Demo Trucks. These
things are expensive (1500), and an early one can really set you back.
A good player should be able to intercept a Demolition Truck with a
Harrier, Rocketeers, or a Terror Drone well before it reaches his base.
Building a Truck warns your opponent as the driver says, "My truck is
loaded!" when it comes out. Listen for it! You should never be
surprised to see a Truck drive into your base. If you are, you deserve
to lose. When steering a Truck, aim for the Refinery early, or the War
Factory if he already has two Refinery's built. Con Yard's take more
than two Demo Trucks to destroy, so it's not really feasible to go
after it early. Always try to blow up a Demo Truck in the enemy's base
if he builds it! You hear the warning, and if you can get there in
time, you can detonate it in his base, wiping out his forces. Very
entertaining. Also, Yuri's can turn a Demo Truck back the way it came.
NEVER leave a truck parked in your base! These work GREAT under an
Iron Curtain!

Cuban Terrorist - Cuba would be my third choice when playing the
Soviets. Wan Zafran came up with the crazy strategy of planting
dynamite on five terrorists with a Crazy Ivan, then loading them in a
Flak Track for a makeshift Demolition Truck. It's the exact same cost
as a Demolition Truck, but there's no verbal warning ("My Truck is
Loaded!") when you do this and the Flak Track travels faster than the
Demo Truck. Just park the Flak Track near a guy's Ore Refinery or War
Factory and when he blows it up, it will take out the building and
damage adjacent structures, while loosing a minor nuclear bomb. The
blast and green aftermath doesn't seem as lethal as the Libyan Demo
Truck, but at least there is no verbal warning that you built it. This
tactic is a bit too fancy and time consuming to be practical, but it's
fun. Just build five Terrorists, hotkey them, grab a Crazy Ivan, plant
dynamite on all five of them, then load them in the Flak Track. Don't
worry, you have plenty of time to do this before they explode if you
use hotkeys, and that ticking sound in your base is natural.

Russian Tesla Tank - If I see my opponent has a Russian flag as the
game loads, I tend to relax. All the other country specific Soviet
units are deadly, but Tesla Tanks don't scare me. If I'm wrong on
this, please enlighten me, but I think Tesla Tanks fire too slowly,
thus making Rhinos a better choice. I hear Tesla Tanks are good for
frying buildings, but why not build more Rhinos?

Conscripts - These guys are not bad, but I don't recommend building
them. Train them only when you need to garrison a building near your
town and your initial bunch of conscripts isn't nearby. While not
worth building, these guys are definitely worth getting if you can
control an airport on the map. Towards the end of a long game, you can
easily have 50+ conscripts standing around from all the paradrops.
This is a lethal force capable of walking right through enemy defenses
and annihilating a guy's base. Just grab them all and watch the
creeping wave of death on the mini-map. A sight the enemy won't soon
forget.

Attack Dog - Very useful unit early. Dogs make great scouts in the
beginning of the game because of their speed. Train two or three of
these and open up the blackness surrounding the other guy's base BEFORE
you build a radar so you can see what he's doing and prepare the
appropriate countermeasures. Dogs are also useful later in the game as
infantry killers. If fighting an American opponent, I like to keep
five dogs scattered around my base in case of untimely paradrops. Just
position two dogs below a paradrop (before it lands) and they will make
quick work of all the Paratroopers. If you're really paranoid about
Spies, leave an Attack Dog near your Ore Refinery, War Factory, or
Battle Lab.

Engineer - A great all-purpose guy to have on hand. I always train at
least one engineer at the beginning of the game. If there are derricks
or an airport on the map, he's already ready to go. If there's nothing
worth taking in the field, leave him parked behind your Con Yard or
other important buildings (War Factory, Iron Curtain) so he can
instantly repair them in the event of an emergency.

Tesla Trooper - I hear these guys are decent, but I've never lost to
anybody who builds them and I almost never build them. The only use I
find for Tesla Troopers is to charge a Tesla Coil, giving it added
range and power when it ZAPS! Just stand two or three TT's next to a
Tesla Coil and they will automatically charge it with their weapon. As
an offensive unit, they are very slow and not very practical
considering their hefty price (500). You're better off spending that
money on a Desolator or Terror Drone. One interesting note about TT's:
it looks like they are not susceptible to being run over by a tank like
most infantry. I'm not completely sure about this, but I don't recall
ever running over a Tesla Trooper. Instead, I just roll by them and
watch as they crawl in my wake.

Flak Trooper - Don't build these guys. They're pretty worthless
considering they walk soooooo slowly. Rocketeers and Harriers are way
too fast for a Flak Trooper to give chase in the field. If there's a
Kirov in your town, then you can try to crank a few of these out, but
chances are if there's a Kirov in your town, you're already dead. I
heard somewhere they are pretty good against infantry, but Desolators
and Attack Dogs are much better for that.

Crazy Ivan - This is one unit I'd like to play around with more. I
think he has potential since his death results in a large explosion
which damages things around him. In the end though, you should find
that you don't really need a Crazy Ivan to win. His bomb-planting
isn't as effective as a Tanya, who can blow up buildings instantly with
no chance of a bomb being defused.

Yuri - Excellent base defense in a really long game, especially against
a Soviet opponent attacking with Apocalypse Tanks. I've seen many
games end like this: Player A rolls in with 6 Apocalypse Tanks. Player
B steals said tanks and turns right around and demolishes Player A with
8 Apocalypse Tanks (most of which are Player A's). Other potentially
game-changing units which can be yuri'ed are Tanyas and Libyan
Demolition Trucks. Note: you can not mind-control units in the air,
Terror Drones, or already yuri'ed units. If you yuri a transport, the
units inside it are still under the opponent's control. Because of the
shorter reach, it is almost impossible to yuri a Prism Tank and Mirage
Tanks usually broil infantry before they can get close. If your
opponent has Yuri's scattered throughout his base, try to take them out
with Rocketeers, Harriers, Prism Tanks, Desolators, Terror Drones, or
Attack Dogs.

Yuri Prime & Chrono Ivan - If you can get these, you deserve to win.
Mind-control an opponent's Spy, then send it into an Allied or Soviet
Battle Lab. Whatever. =P

Rhino Tank - This is, as Dave Kurtzberg said in his excellent early
FAQ, your "bread and butter." This single unit can give Allied players
fits. Considering you start with four of them in a Quickmatch game,
it's very easy to train four more and instantly demolish most Allied
opponents. I'll go into more detail about the Rhino Rush in the
tactics section. I don't see why people build Apocalypse Tanks when
Rhinos are perfectly capable of dealing with Prism Tanks AND Mirage
Tanks. To a lesser degree, they can also hang with low numbers of
Apocalypse Tanks. Rhinos are only good in large packs however.

Apocalypse Tank - The upgraded version of the Rhino Tank. Excellent
for taking down buildings in seconds. A major benefit they have over
Rhino's is Apoc's can hit aerial units. In 95% of my games, however, I
don't build a Battle Lab, so I rarely see these guys. Also keep in
mind they are painfully slow to move and train. Apoc's make excellent
'escorts' for a Kirov.

Terror Drone - When I first started playing Red Alert 2, I thought
these things were too good. Now, I rarely build them. A good player
should have no arachnophobia. For Allies, Repair IFV's make great
exterminators while Soviets can just build a Service Depot to pick any
unwanted fleas off their Harvestors. TD's make excellent base defense
however. They're pretty good for taking out specialized infantry such
as Tanyas, Yuris, or Desolators. If you want to play it safe, leave
two or three sitting around in your base for protection. They'll
automatically attack anything that comes near them. Sometimes they're
capable of clearing out Paratroopers, while sometimes they get
annihilated. I'm not sure why it's not consistent. If an enemy is
attacking with a wave of tanks, crank out as many TD's as you can,
especially if he's Soviet and doesn't have a Repair Depot nearby. If
you're attacking with a group of tanks and you get infected with
spiders, execute your units by force-firing (hold "Ctrl" then target)
on them. They're already dead, and you don't want to risk one spider
taking out more than one tank. Infected Rhinos, however, can usually
hang around for a while, getting off a few volleys before you have to
put them to sleep.

Flak Track - This is your anti-air. Its main purpose is taking out
Rocketeers and the occasional Kirov. Two Flak Tracks should be able to
handle eight Rocketeers pretty easily. Four Flak Tracks should be able
to down a Kirov well before it gets near your base. The other ability
of the Flak Track is for transport - great for getting slower infantry
around the map in a hurry. I'll discuss specific strategies in the
tactics section. Little known fact: you can put Terror Drones in a
Flak Track! Great for a Spider Bomb. They take up two unit spots.

V3 Rocket - Not completely useless, but kind of risky to build. These
things have the weakest armor of any vehicle in the game. Their long