Red Alert 2

From Red Alert 2

Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 was the follow up to Red Alert. The Allies and Soviets returned in the game, and units and some structures from the first Red Alert made a reappearance. The game featured better graphics and multiplayer and a continuation of the Red Alert story. However, unlike the first Red Alert, it did not feature connections to the Tiberian storyline. See Connections to the Tiberian Series.

[edit] Characters

Alexander Romanov - Secretary of Ukraine during the events of the first Red Alert game, Romanov was appionted by the Allied commanders to be the (presumably) puppet head of the Soviet Union. Instead, he formed the World Socialist Alliance and began a new war against the United States. His character was played by Nicholas Worth.
Michael Dugan - President of the United States. Played by Ray Wise in the in-game movie sequences.
Yuri - Alexander Romanov's aide-de-camp. Later turned traitor to the Soviet faction as he staged a coup d'etat following Romanov's extended preference and favoritism of Yuri's arch-nemesis within the Soviet ranks, General Vladimir. Throughout the story which unfolds, Romanov's obvious favoritism spills over and Yuri hatches a secret plan to eradicate all his enemies and create a new world order. His character was played by Udo Kier.
General Carville - Highly-respected commander of the United States army. He was apparently assassinated by a Crazy Ivan unit but he makes an anticipated return in Yuri's Revenge add-on thanks to the use of the time-travel technology. Played by Barry Corbin.
Special Agent Tanya Adams - United States commando unit who demands to undertake missions her way and with no meddling of any armchair strategist. Was involved in the capture of Alexander Romanov in the storming of the Kremlin in the final allied mission. Played by Kari Wuhrer.
Lt. Eva Lee - In-game and intelligence advisor. She will guide the Allied missions player through the entire campaign and regularly provides first-hand mission briefings. Her character was played by Athena Massey.
Lt.Zofia - The Soviet equivalent of Lt. Eva. Played by Aleksandra Kaniak.

[edit] Units and structures

The nations at war; while the Allies posses technology that are slightly more advanced than the soviets and are more mobile, the Soviet forces have more emphazise on conventional technologies eg. Longer scan sight, greater speed and range, faster rate of fire and basic armor needs. While the Allies have ventured with prism technology and chronosphere, plus flying infantry (rocketeer) they prefer to attack with numbers and speed . To conclude the Allies have greater technology in terms of unconventional ways, while the Soviets are more advanced in the conventional way, and they prefer heavy armor divisions and large infantry strikes.

Notable Soviet units:

Conscript - basic infantry. Effective in large groups while also being decent in moderate groups. The Conscript has the toughest armor, per cost of any infantry, they possess decent weaponry and but are easily squashed.
Tesla Trooper - strong infantry; shoots short-ranged blasts of electricity and may power up Tesla Coils if base power is down, adding range and firing power to the devastating defensive structure. Tesla Troopers are slightly tougher than Conscripts, have heavier armour (thus more resistance to anti-personnel weapons) and cannot be crushed by tanks. They are the perfect tank killers
Terror Drone - fast mechanical unit that leaps inside any enemy vehicle and tears it apart from the inside unless it is removed (by a Service Depot or Repair IFV). It can also pounce on enemy infantry and score an instant kill.
War Miner - mines ore for the Soviets (a player recieves one free War Miner after building a Soviet ore refinery). The War Miner can carry twice as much ore as the Allied Chrono miner, and it has a small gun to defend itself with mainly against enemy infantry.
Flak Track - The Flak Track has a flak gun which is very strong against air units and infantry and it can also carry up to 5 infantry units. It is however, not effective against armored units and its splash damage may be inflicted on friendly units, but it makes up for being an excellent scout, anti-air, anti-infantry transport.
Rhino Heavy Tank - the basic tank for a Soviet player, homologous with the Allied Grizzly. Rhinos are tougher than Grizzlies and possess longer range, although they are slightly slower.
V3 Rocket - an upgrade to the previous V2 launcher unit. This unit can take out structures from afar although its slow launch speed means that its rocket payload can be shot down during its flight to its target. Once elite it is invisible on radar. ( thus giving the soviets STEALTH!)
Apocalypse Tank - The most technologically advanced and powerful tank. Has anti-aircraft capabilities, advanced targetting systems,strong armor,Hybrid nuclear diesel engine and massive firepower.
Kirov Airship - Slow and heavy bomber blimp. It can take a huge battering to deliver bombs over key enemy structures. Its bombs can quickly take out Allied buildings.
Yuri - psychic, can control one enemy unit at a time using mind control.
Typhoon Submarine - underwater interceptor. great anti ship vessel ( probaly the best of the war) . But cannot attack onshore targets.
Dreadnought - heavy cruiser armed with two V-3 rocket launchers. It possesses great firing range and thick armor. It must be escorted by the 'Sea Scorpion' unit which is a naval vessel version of the Flak Track as well as submarines as its close quarter battle abilities are weak.

In-game screenshot.

Notable Allies Units:

GI - basic infantry. GIs are similar to Conscripts except that they can be deployed to benefit from longer range and greater damage.
Rocketeer - flying infantry, can attack both ground and air units. It cannot operate alone as its firepower is weak.
Spy - can steal money and technology from the enemy. The player has the choice to decide which enemy infantry unit the spy should look like. Enemy attack dogs are unlikely to be fooled.
Chrono Miner - used by the Allies to collect ore. The player receives one freeChrono Miner after building an Allied ore refinery. The Chrono Miner can only carry half as much as ore as the War Miner, but the Chrono Miner will instantly teleport back to the ore refinery after collecting ore. It still has to drive back out to the ore field, but being able to teleport back means each trip takes only half as much time. You can also teleport a Chrono Miner back to the Refinery when it is attacked, making Allied miners just as hard to kill as the armed War Miners.
Infantry Fighting Vehicle or IFV - a new innovation by the Allies that can assume the fighting capabilities of the infantry unit stationed in the vehicle. For example, with a engineer inside, it becomes a repair vehicle. In normal mode, i.e. without any infantry modifiers, it can take out enemy air units with its missile launchers.
Prism Tank - ground unit for long-range attacks; high firepower; light armor. Their defense structure equivalents, the Prism towers, when stationed near each other combine their firepower and magnifies the damage inflicted.
Grizzly Tank - the regular Allied well-armored tank that is best deployed with Prism tanks to draw enemy fire while the longer ranged-units take out key threats.
Harrier - VTOL (vertical take off and landing) attack plane; needs to reload after it launches its weapon payload.
Destroyer - anti-submarine boat with a 155mm naval gun for short-ranged off-shore bombardment. It has a depth-charge bomber on-board which is vulnerable to enemy anti-air weapons.
Carrier - naval vessel which launches 3 small interceptors. Its long range means that it can steer safely away from onshore threats while it carries out its devastation.
Tanya - Allies' commando unit; excellent infantry killer; can plant C4 explosives on structures and demolish them in an instant. Tanya can now swim across large bodies of water in the map as opposed to Red Alert 1 and plant her C4 charges on unsuspecting enemy naval units.
Chrono Legionnaire - Infantry unit that teleports across the map using Chrono technology and erases its targets from time. The further the distance which the unit is teleported, the longer the legionnaire takes to recover from a temporary immobility due to the unusual effects of Chronotechnology. A higher veterancy level improves the time the unit takes to recover from the immobility as well as dramatically shorten the time it takes to erase a target.
Mirage Tank - may alter its outward appearance to assume the form of certain vegetation in the area, fooling enemy units as to its true form while taking out enemies with its short-ranged weaponry. In Yuri's Revenge, the tank becomes a valid target if spotted by the player and force-firing into the area is not required.
Navy SEAL - a versatile infantry unit that annihilate enemy infantry units easily and can level structures with C4 charges. His weaponry is rather useless against armored units. Like Tanya, these units may traverse across water without reliance on the use of a sea transport as well as plant C4 charges on naval units.

Basic structures:

Construction Yard.
Power Plant.
Barracks.
Ore Refinery.
War Factory.
Repair Facility.
Naval Base.

Notable Soviet structures:

Flak Cannon - The Soviets Anti-Air defense. The most powerfull anti-air in the game.
Tesla Coil - high-voltage defense tower which is even more powerful when powered up by Tesla Soldiers.
Cloning Vats - 2 infantry for the cost of 1.
Iron Curtain - gives a timed immunity to up to 9 vehicles in a 3x3 grid. Any infantry that get hit by the Iron Curtain will die.
Nuclear Silo - produces a nuke about every 10 game-minutes.

Notable Allied structures:

Patriot Missile - The Allies Anti-air defense. Not as powerfull as the Soviet's Flak Cannon but still effective.
Prism Tower - powerful ground defense. Similar towers in the vicinity would harness its powers collectively and direct it to a single tower for a more powerful blast.
Airforce Command - a radar facility and landing site for four Harriers.
Gap Generator - covers a large area with a fog-of-war.
Chronosphere - teleports up to nine mechanical vehicles every several game-minutes. Any infantry that you try to teleport with the Chronosphere will die.
Weather Control Device - produces lethal lightning storm every 10 game-minutes, although the countdown time is much shorter. The difference in the multiplayer mode is that whereas the Soviet nuclear missile can be launched simultaneously with other Soviet missiles onto anywhere in the map, the weather control device when activated by one player would prevent another player with similar technology from unleashing the same lightning storm even though his weapon is ready. The first lightning storm must first abate before a second followup can be made.

In addition, players can select a specific country to fight for (which are allied to either of the 2 main sides, depending on which country you choose), and each has its own specialized unit or structure. For example, on the Allied side, Great Britain offers the Sniper unit with long range infantry killing abilities. France features the Grand Cannon defensive structure, a powerful long range gun. South Korea has the Black Eagle fighter jet, an improvement upon the Harrier, while Germany possesses the Tank Destroyer vehicle. Finally, the USA offers Paratroopers, a small squad of GIs, available for airdopping anywhere on the map. For the Soviets, Iraq features the Desolator, a powerful infantry unit capable of using a radiation gun to irradiate the ground around him or to attack enemy units. Cuba has the Terrorist, a unit similar to Crazy Ivan, whilst Libya has the Demolition Truck, a lorry filled with explosives. Russia itself features the Tesla Tank, a fast yet powerful vehicular version of the Tesla Trooper.

[edit] Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge (2001)

Command & Conquer: Yuri's Revenge was the expansion pack for Red Alert 2. It featured a whole new faction: Yuri's psychic army. The side had various "psychic" technologies, such as mind controllers, poison snipers, and genetically mutated soldiers. Although there was this new side, there was still only one Allied campaign and one Soviet campaign, but Yuri could be played in multiplayer and in the skirmish mode.

The Yuri's Revenge expansion also introduces new units and structures into the game for the Allies and the Soviets. In addition to the Yuri faction, also introduces a new Soviet commando Boris who can call in airstrikes and take out enemy light vehicles with little trouble. There was also a Soviet campaign mission where a conquest of the moon is in order. The Soviets also have the new Siege Chopper Gunship units which are large helicopters with artillery barrage capability. The Spy Plane from Red Alert 1 also makes a (retrospective) return however not with Soviet Migs but with a slower and vulnerable plane. For the Allies, they have the anti-armor infantry unit called the Guardian GI which can turn enemy tanks into scrap metal in large groups. They also have a new Battle Fortress which has decent armor, can crush walls(and even tanks!), and can house five different infantry units to enhance its fighting capability. The Robot Tank is also on the Allied side with normal fighting capabilities of a Grizzly Tank but with the bonus of the ability not to be mind-controlled, and can also easily cross bodies of water. One downside however is that Robot Tanks shut down if the base is on low power.

The game also featured upgrades to general game balance, and gave individual voices to each unit in the game.

Notable Yuri units:

Initiate - pyrokinetic, main foot soldier for Yuri. Its firing range is shorter than the Soviet Conscript and the Allies GI but its firepower is considerably stronger.
Brute - mutant melee unit who can deal a lot of damage up close. It can also be created by a Yuri player via the mutant device superweapon when targeted at normal enemy infantry.
Virus - female sniper. With each veterancy level, she may snipe even further.
Gatling Tank - tank wielding dual gatling guns that increases in velocity and deals out more damage at full throttle.
Magnetron - a tank that can levitate enemy non-organic units close to its position to facilitate mind control by nearby units with such ability. While lacking first strike capability against units, it can deal damage to buildings as would any ordinary tank.
Yuri Clone - same as Soviet Yuri, mid-level mind-control unit who may also capture certain enemy structures.
Floating Disc - a flying saucer attack-unit armed with lasers and may either deactivate enemy base power or steal credits from refineries.
Boomer Sub - a submarine equipped with SLBMs and dual torpedo launchers for naval defense.
Master Mind - a vehicle with a giant brain that can safely mind control three units although if it exceeds this limit, it will suffer damage on itself and eventually self-destructs if the limit is not observed.
Yuri Prime - Yuri Prime can use mind control to take over enemy structures as well as being able to control enemy units. Yuri Prime can only use mind control on one thing at a time.

[edit] Controversy

Westwood found itself in a storm of controversy regarding Red Alert 2 after the events of September 11th, 2001, due to the contents of both the game and its packaging. As part of the Soviet campaign, the player is required to both destroy the Pentagon and take over the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center with a mind control device. 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.

[edit] Mods

Red Alert 2 is a popular game for modding. Hidden within the ra2.mix is a file called the 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.

[edit] Multiplayer

Red Alert 2 supports both internet and local area network (LAN) multiplayer, but there are certain difficulties to get the IPX protocol working for LAN game without changing network settings. Default settings won't work and Westwood did not provide support for alternate protocols for LAN multiplayer. On a windows XP / 2000 machine, here are instructions to so:

ipx setup.

in network connections right click the network card and go to properties.
click install, select protocol and from the manufacturer: microsoft list select 'NWlink IPX/SPX netbios compatible transport protocol' and click OK to install the protocol.
select the new added protocol and click properties.
apply these settings:
internal network number should be set to "00000000" (write all 8 zeroes with no quotes, not just one zero)
For frame type select: "Ethernet 802.2"
Network number should be "00000001" (again, all leading zeroes and no quotes, not just one zero)
your settings should look like on the image.

You must ofcourse do this on all computers in LAN network where you want to play it.
After doing this restart all windows machines where you applied this.
It is also recommended to disable all other network cards other than those who will be used to play network game, examples of such cards to disable are VMware virtual machine network cards
It nay be neccesary to turn off specific software or hardware firewalls in the network, just make sure you turn on the protection back after the multiplayer session ends.

After this you should be able to establish ipx chat connections using directx diagnostic tool (DXDIAG.EXE).