Next up, let’s examine the Allies’ units and powers:
- The Allies are a very versatile army, with many units amphibious and multitalented combinable units such as the ever-present IFV and the mannable Multigunner Turret structure.
- They seem to be well-rounded in most regards, with only their selection of aircraft overpowering that of their opponents.
- Walls can be built up to ten spaces away in a single click, which makes them much easier to construct than in previous games.
- Descriptions of the Allies’ Top Secret Protocols:
- Advanced Aeronautics improves defenses, scan range, ammo capacity, and reload times of your planes.
- Surgical Strike bombs a target.
- Time Bomb, Deluxe Time Bomb, and Supreme Time Bomb do just what they say they do.
- Surveillance Sweep briefly reveals a large area of the map for you to see.
- Chrono Rift, Chasm, and Fissure make units within a small radius vanish temporarily.
- Free Trade gives you more credits for each load of ore.
- High Technology powers up your Dogs, Guardian Tanks, Cryocopters, and Aircraft Carriers.
- Chrono Swap switches any two of your units instantly.
- Cryoshot, Cryoblast, and Cryogeddon freeze units in a small radius temporarily.
- Some primary/secondary abilities of the Allied troops:
- Peacekeepers sport shotguns and have a secondary ability, Riot Shield, which can repel weaker enemy fire.
- Attack dogs, as before, can easily maul infantry, and have the ability to locate spies. Their secondary ability, Amplified Bark, stuns nearby infantry.
- Javelin Soldiers are your basic rocket infantry, which makes them strong against vehicles, structures, and aircraft. Their secondary ability, Laser-Guided Mode, makes their missiles hit faster and harder, but requires a longer preparation time in-between shots.
- Engineers’ secondary ability is First-Aid Tent, which unpacks into a small structure that heals nearby infantry much like the Field Medic in Red Alert.
- The Riptide ACV is an all-purpose transport unit (ground and sea) that is also armed with machine guns and anti-ship torpedoes.
- Loading units into the IFV, as with Red Alert 2, results in different abilities:
- Peacekeepers provide anti-infantry fire
- Javelin Troopers provide anti-vehicle and anti-structure fire
- Engineers provide repair ability for nearby units
- Spies provide the ability to detect enemy’s spies
- Tanya provides long-range sniping ability
- Dogs provide a deafening bark ability that stuns nearby infantry
- Loading infantry into the Multigunner Turret provides the same abilities.
- Guardian Tanks are your typical tank, sporting a secondary ability, Targeting Laser, that reduces the enemy’s damage resistance.
- Mirage tanks now have laser cannons rather than the tank armor-piercing bullets of RA2, but their secondary ability allows them to cloak nearby units within a small radius, which is quite useful.
- The Athena Cannon links with satellites to provide a focused beam of extreme strength. Secondarily it provides an Aegis Shield, which repels incoming fire for a short ten or so seconds.
- Apollo Fighters are perhaps the premier air-to-air fighters in the game. They’re fast and effective. Their secondary ability, like all planes, is to simply return to base.
- Vindicators are planes that excel at air-to-ground fighting.
- Century Bombers can bomb enemy bases and then drop paratroopers on them–and any kind of infantry can be carried and dropped. Their secondary ability is Paradrop.
- Cryocopters, as previously reported, can either freeze units with their primary ability or shrink them with their secondary ability.
- Assault Destroyers are ships that can move onto land to attack as well. Their primary attack is very powerful on buildings and vehicles, while their secondary ability, Black Hole Armor, absorbs all enemy incoming fire.
- Hydrofoils are anti-aircraft ships with a secondary ability beam, Weapon Jammer, that prevents enemies from firing.
- Aircraft Carriers sport the usual squad of tiny planes, but now they have a secondary ability, Blackout Missile, that temporarily disables any electrical systems in the target it hits.
- Dolphins have the typical ability to tear apart ships and naval structures (what dolphin can’t?), and now also have a secondary ability that leaps them out of the water to quickly travel and avoid fire.
- The Allies also still have an equivalent Prism tower unit, whose name I cannot currently recall.
And that’s it for the Allies. Next up is the Soviets… stay tuned.