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The following is based on the Soviet campaign of Red Alert 2 and might contradict canon. |
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| “ | It is your good fortune to be in the vanguard of the Soviet assault on the United States. Lead your troops through Washington and destroy the most hated symbol of American military power, the Pentagon. - Mission briefing |
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Operation: Red Dawn is the first mission of the Soviet campaign in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2.[1]
Background[]
As the USSR unleashes its forces on the US mainland, a newly appointed Soviet Commander is given the task of invading Washington D.C. by Premier Romanov himself. In this endeavour, he is assisted by Zofia as his intelligence officer.
The US was completely off guard and mostly unprotected while the Soviets had been preparing for years.
Force composition[]
The Soviets had legions of fresh and highly dedicated conscripts brought in by airplanes. More Conscripts could be deployed from a small base if necessary. A legion of engineers were also used to capture enemy structures. Once the Soviets had advanced to the Pentagon, a battalion of Rhino Tanks arrived to assist. The Soviets drastically outnumbered the Allies, with hundreds of soldiers.
The Allies had a small base protecting the Pentagon, but it was ill-defended and quickly destroyed. There were also legions of G.I.s, but they were spread out and easy prey. The Allies clearly had not expected an attack, and they simply could not compete with the invaders.
Walkthrough[]
As the first mission in the Soviet campaign, it is a fast an easy one, with a par time of 15 minutes. It begins with an in-engine cutscene, showing cargo planes dropping off conscript paratroopers near the Iwo Jima Victory Monument, who land and make their way south. A single conscript enters the monument and swaps the US flag for a Soviet one. A mobile construction vehicle deploys once conscripts enter the parking lot, establishing a forward base. At this point, the player gains operational control.
The goal is to destroy the Pentagon, and that is the only consideration. The path there is linear, with no branching paths, as it introduces the concept of garrisoning buildings and several key gameplay aspects. The first challenge is a small military base immediately to the north, protected by entrenched GIs. As player's forces enter it, more Soviet planes will arrive to drop off conscripts, and be promptly shot down by Patriots, unless the conscripts intervene.
At this point, the destructible bridge are introduced:
| “ | We cannot let a mere bridge delay our conquest, Commander. Order your Engineers to enter the bridge's control station. - Lieutenant Zofia telling the new commander that a destroyed bridge can delay their mission. |
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Sending an engineer into the repair hut will fix the bridge and allow access to the second base, protected by pillboxes. The adjacent buildings can be garrisoned and make short work of the opposition, while power-up crates behind them allow for buffing conscripts a bit. The second base also has a tech airport that can be captured to provide paratroopers, as well as a second barracks and Allied construction yard. There's one secret here: The path to the northwest, rather than across the river to the Pentagon, leads to a damaged railway bridge and a small dock. Repairing the bridge and uncovering the dock will spawn a transport that drops off four Rhino tanks to assist in the attack on the Pentagon.
Finally, the mission's goal is to destroy the hub of American military might. Swarming conscripts across the bridge allows for overwhelming the pillboxes and GIs, while entering the Pentagon's perimeter will spawn multiple Soviet paradrops and two platoons of four Rhino tanks each attacking from the northwest and southwest, under the player's control. Once all four parts of the Pentagon are destroyed, the mission ends.
Note that a bug exists in this mission that allows players to receive the final reinforcements twice: Attack the Pentagon defenses (the Pillboxes on the hill, or the surrounding Patriot Missiles, or the GIs on the hill next to the Pentagon segments, or the flags behind the wall, or even the Pentagon segments themselves) to fire Trigger Force Reinforcements 7 (which forces Trigger Reinforcements 7), then move your units up between those two Pillboxes to fire Trigger Reinforcements 7 normally. The reason that works is because WW forgot to disable Reinforcements 7 after it's forced to fire by the other Trigger.
Debriefing[]
- Par time
- 15:00
- Below par
- The Pentagon was crushed so quickly that many important American generals were captured by our victorious soldiers, crippling their armed forces.
- Above par
- Thanks to you, the Pentagon has been destroyed and the American military has been thrown into chaos.
New units and buildings[]
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Tips[]
- Capture the Allied outpost near the destroyed bridge to gain GI's, which are way more powerful than your conscripts.
- There is another destroyed bridge near the Allied-occupied Airfield, where Rhino Tanks in Amphibious transports will deploy.
- There are several Pickup Trucks that cause power-up crates to spawn when destroyed near the player's starting location before entering the first Allied outpost. Interestingly, every single Pickup Truck makes a crate spawn via triggers when destroyed in this mission. This prompts some players to a rabbit hunt.
- There are also 2 Oil Derricks to capture behind the Pentagon.
- Before assaulting the first Allied outpost, enter the docks which is due south of the outpost. There will be supply trucks with bonus crates inside. There will also be a few ships which are defenseless, but will grant promotion when destroyed.
Trivia[]
- The Iwo Jima Memorial is seen in this mission, just like the Arizona Memorial is seen in Deep Sea and Sub-Divide, suggesting that either the United States fought a war in the Pacific at one point, or Westwood simply glanced over such details.
- The mission title, Red Dawn, refers to a 1984 American war film of the same name directed by John Milius. The movie also depicts a Soviet Paratrooper invasion of the United States.
- The initials of one of the game designers appear in the lower right corner of the map. The only way to reveal them without cheating is to drop paratroopers there.
- If the player does not command the tank reinforcements, the tanks will automatically hunt all remaining Allied Forces, including civilians.
- The mission makes the following overrides to normal game stats:
- Doubling of resource-worth and halving of harvester-capacity.
- All civilian units pose a threat with a value of 15; that way they get auto-targeted by units not allied to their owner.
- Cop cars have AmbientSound=Dummy (presumably so you don't get too annoyed by the cop-siren)
- Money difference Easy/Hard is set to +/-1500 respectively.
- Soviet ConYard cannot be sold, Sight nerfed from 8 to 5.
- Iwo Jima Memorial is garrisonable by one InfantryType, is Immune, and will not show pips.
- ParadDropSpecial recharges in 3 instead of 4min at 15FPS, so 1.5min at standard 30FPS.
- Pentagon segments nerfed: Strength 180 from 600 and made ungarrisonable.
- Conscript garrison weapon, SovietOccupyW, has one more cell for Range.
- Sentry Gun' Primary, VulcanTower, has Range re-set to 5.
- Tech Oil Derrick's explosion nerfed: damage spread only in 1.5 cell radius (from 4 cells), 25% max damage at edge (from 50%).
- Soviet Engineer, SENGINEER, got buffed: Speed=7 (from 4); Sight=9 (from 4).
- Conscript, E2, got nerfed: 100HP from 125HP, ArmoType=none from flak
- Conscript got buffed: Sight=9 (from 5) and Speed=7 (from 4)
Gallery[]
Loading screen
Map render
American citizens standing by peacefully, but not for long ...
Soviet Paratroopers touched down
The Soviet engaging American defenders
... and overrun the outpost
They crossed the bridge
Getting close to the Pentagon
Destination reached
The Soviet is surrounding the Pentagon
... and destroys it
Videos[]
References[]
- ↑ Westwood Pacific, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2. Soviet mission 1: "Operation: Red Dawn".
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