Finally, the Soviets have a healthy selection of powerful units on their hands. Here’s the lowdown on what’s available for the Comrades in red:
- Tech progress is achieved by purchasing the Super-Reactor and then a Battle Lab, which enables the production of all high-tech units.
- The Soviets pack a lot of power and not as much versatility as their opponents. They’re easier to learn to play with, however.
- Descriptions of the Soviet Top Secret Protocols:
- Grinder Treads equips your vehicles with treads that repair them as they crush enemies.
- Toxic Corrosion poisons an enemy vehicle, seeping away at its armor and leaving a trail of toxins behind it.
- Orbital Drop, Dump, and Downpour send varying amounts of space junk crashing into the desired target area.
- Cash Bounty allows you to designate a target and then destroy it for monetary reward.
- Magnetic Satellite and its two upgrades suck enemies into space.
- Mass Production allows for unit building at reduced cost.
- Terror Drone Surprise provokes an occasional outpouring of Terror Drones from your defeated vehicles.
- Magnetic Singularity drags nearby vehicles toward a selected point.
- Desolator Airstrike and its two upgrades drop poisonous packages in a specified area.
- Here are some Soviet unit profiles:
- Conscripts pack machine guns and can toss Molotov Cocktails as a secondary ability.
- At least the Flak Troopers “have job”, they say. They excel against aircraft and armored vehicles, and can throw anti-vehicle explosives at targets which detonate if the Flak Troopers is crushed.
- War Bears are pretty much the same as Dogs.
- Combat Engineers can fire a pistol as well as take over structures and repair things. Secondarily, they can construct a tempting bunker that can only be garrisoned by infantry after payment is collected.
- Tesla Troopers have a secondary ability that produces a small EMI field which shuts down any mechanical enemies nearby. But their primary ability sports the best description in the game. When the secondary ability is activated, the button to reactive the primary ability reads “Did you miss being able to shoot terrible bolts of lightning at your enemies?”
- Natasha, like all Commando units, excels against infantry. She also has a secondary ability, Pilot Snipe, which can dispose of the driver of a vehicle and leave the vehicle capturable to any nearby friendly infantry.
- Sputniks are faster and cheaper than MCVs and can set up expansion bases, meaning you don’t get the extra production queue, but you can build nearby nonetheless.
- The Soviet Ore Collectors have a secondary ability called Ceramic Armor which covers the cargo hold and makes them slower, but protects them well until help can arrive.
- Sickles are bizarre walkers with triple machine guns that can mow down infantry like nobody’s business. Secondarily, they can Flea Jump into or out of battle, or even onto higher/lower ground or into infantry.
- Hammer Tanks are respectable mid-range units that can also siphon enemy vehicles’ armor away from them.
- Bullfrogs are amphibious transport units that are effective against aircraft and eject their passengers into the air to parachute back down.
- Terror Drones, as always, are good against infantry and can bore into vehicles’ innards to wreak all sorts of havoc. Their secondary ability freezes approaching vehicles.
- V4 Rocket Launchers are powerful long-range units as always. Secondary ability is Multi-warheads, which is a special rocket that splits apart in the air for spread out damage.
- Stingrays are not animals; they’re anti-surface strike craft that possess Tesla-based weaponry. Their secondary ability, Tesla Surge, briefly immobilizes them, but electrified the surrounding water in the process.
- Akula Subs surface only when firing and are very powerful. Their secondary ability, Ultratorpedoes, fire straight ahead and are even more devastating.
- Dreadnoughts pack V4 rockets and are a formidable foe. They can also use Sacrifice Launchers to fire faster, but they sustain damage in the process.
- Twinblades are attack helicopters with both machine guns and rockets. They can also transport troops (5 total).
- MiG Fighters are air-to-air fighters with burst missiles.
- Kirovs, of course, bomb the heck out of anything below them, and now have a secondary ability that improves their speed at the cost of their armor.
- The Soviets also still have the usual Flak Cannons, Sentry Guns, and Tesla Coils.
That just about does it for the Soviets.
Still have questions? That’s what I’m here for. Drop me a line and I’ll do my best to answer them for you. Sure, it’s the weekend… but “work” never stops when you’re a chump.
I hope you’ve found something of use in this preliminary write-up of mine; if there’s anything you’d like to know, you can contact me by clicking my name above.
Until then, stay tuned to DigitalChumps. We might be a bunch of regular guys, but we sure as hell love our Command & Conquer.
-Steve “OtherSteve” Schardein
