The war miner is the Soviet resource gatherer in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge.
Background
Soviet military analysts saw a major problem with the ore truck used during Second World War. It was easy for the Allies to overwhelm them with small groups of infantry wielding anti-tank weapons. Other than trying to run them down, which was not often successful if they were spread out, it had no defensive capabilities. To counter this, the new war miner was equipped with a machine gun to fight off enemy infantry and rogue terror drones. However, it still did not have a decent defense against vehicles and aircraft.
In-game
Only requiring the placement of a machine gun, the war miner has lots of allotted space to stow ore. This difference benefits the Soviets, as their war miner can carry up to 1000 credits (or up to 2000 if assigned to a gem field). However, it is much slower than its Allied counterpart, the chrono miner.
When elite, its machine gun upgrades into a powerful auto-cannon which is effective against tanks, infantry, and structures, and can easily ward off a squadron of GIs or initiates, especially if it finds the powerup crates. Like all heavy vehicles, it can also crush most enemy infantry by driving over them.
War miners are effective against soldiers with mind-control ability, as they are resistant to all forms of mind control,; this includes Yuri Prime.
In general, war miners make better distracting units than Rhino tanks due to their higher health. Because of this, they are less vulnerable to splash damage.
Aftermath
After Soviet time travel that led to the War of the Three Powers, it was replaced by the amphibious Soviet ore collector. This unit had no weapons, but could activate a strong shield around itself. However, the Imperial ore collector couldn't protect itself in the same fashion as the war miner could with its kinetic burst gun.
Quotes
Note: in Red Alert 2, the war miner shares its quotes with the Rhino heavy tank, except when ordered to harvest, which it does silently.
When selected
- War miner here!
- Pride of the working class!
- Building Soviet economy!
- Making Russia strong!
- We are armed!
When moving
- Relocating operations!
- At once, comrade!
- For Soviet people.
- Serving the cause.
- Da, comrade general!
When ordered to harvest
- Equal share for everyone.
- Let's keep the ore moving!
- Da, we will need that!
- Looks like good place to mine.[sic]
When ordered to attack
- On the attack!
- Protect the ore!
- Take them out!
- They pose a threat!
- This will show them!
Gallery
Concept art
Voxel
Early voxel
Alpha/beta appearance - remains in final version labeled as "WRMN"
- RA2 War Miner French Icons.gif
Icon with French text
- RA2 War Miner Korea Icons.gif
Icon with Korean text
- RA2 War Miner China Icons.jpeg
Icon with Chinese text
- RA2 Alpha War Miner Icons.png
Alpha icon
- RA2 Beta War Miner Icons.png
Beta icon
Trivia
- An early version of the war miner's voxel remains in the game's files.
See also
- Chrono miner - Allied equivalent
- Slave Miner - Yuri's equivalent
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