Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3/Soviet Strategies

The Soviets have a more Versatile Army than the Allies because they got good Ground units, Slightly more Versatile Air Forces than the Allies and a Superior Navy compared to the Allies. Their Terror Drones are perfect for rushes and harassment and finally their Twinblades can transport units across the Battlefield and make perfect hit and run attacks.

Soviets vs Empire
An extremely effective way of going against the Empire is to use your airforce or an Apocalypse tank rush, using the air force for an early attack. First set up base defences to prevent a navy attack from the Rising Sun. Build some Akulas supported by Stingrays and make them patrol the area of the sea. Then make about twenty twinblades. Twinblades are very effective at hit and run, as they shoot their rockets first. Don't forget to escort them with MiG-fighters as Jet Tengus may be around. Do hit and run from the Twinblades and destroy their base. If you want, put some infantry in the Twinblades.

If you plan to do a late attack an apocalypse rush would be extremely effective. If the opponent has strong defences like Wave Force Towers, make a few V4 rocket launchers or Dreadnoughts. Then after destroying the defenses destroy their base. Once again don't forget to escort them with MiG-fighters as the Chopper vx is very effective in numbers to destroy tanks. You can build an Iron curtain and a Vacuum Imploder to aid you.

If the Empire employs more Nanocores, use Magnetic Satellite on their Conyard to suck up as many Nanocores as you can so when you use Orbital Downpour the Nanocores you suck up will become weapons.

Either go quick air or terror drones. 3 or 4 twinblades plus one mig quickly is pretty effective since the empire is slow to get air defense. Terror drones work well since they can take out the cores the empire uses to build and their ore collectors. Just watch out for empire infantry, the warriors and tankbusters are VERY good. So take some bears with you and position them in front of the barracks. Not only is the enemy not going to get any infantry, they're going to waste money on either trying to make more units or making another barracks.

Soviets vs Allies
One strategy is to overwhelm with Conscripts. Conscripts are dirt cheap ($100) and so you can produce a lot of them. For example, $4000 might only produce 2-4 tanks but will produce 40 Conscripts. Put as many as you can into as many buildings as you can. If most of the enemy's attacking units are dead and mostly buildings are left, switch the Conscripts to the Molotov Cocktails and have them tear up a base. This won't be so effective much later as they will build good defences.

You can even make a few Dreadnoughts supported by Akula submarines as the Allied navy is good for nothing and pathetic. But watch out for attacks from the sky as the Allied airforce is the best of quality. So escort them with at least six MiG-fighters. Then destroy their base. If you have an Iron Curtain, use it on your Dreadnoughts. If you do this use the Dreadnought's special ability as no damage would be taken.

The allies have probably the best air force so make sure you build migs or flak turrets. Also, javelins, hydrofoils, and Apollos are probably the best at taking things out of the sky so air would probably be best to avoid. Going for apocalypse tanks and Mig Assaults is another way since allied ground units sucks and watching for bombings from vindicators would probably be your best bet.

Soviets vs Both
Soviet build orders for different strategies tend to fall into two categories: Crane build orders and non-Crane build orders. Crane build orders are best on large maps where you have more time before your opponent attacks you; they start off by building a Crusher Crane, then building up your base fairly normally. The downside the Crane build order is that you are extremely vulnerable due to both spending money on a crane and spending money twice as quickly as you normally would on buildings, leaving you with less credits to build units for your defence. The upside is that, in the long run, you will likely expand and tech faster than your opponent.

Non-crane build orders are less risky, and generally start off with a barracks for scouting bears and engineers, then a power plant, refinery or refineries, and a war factory, although for an air/engie rush the war factory is instead replaced with a super reactor, then an Airfield to build twinblades. War Factory build orders are less risky and more versatile than Airfield build orders, as you can build units faster as well as rush your opponent with Terror Drones and Sickles faster.

A common multiplayer strategy is to attempt to sneak Terror Drones behind the opponent's base and infect their ore collectors. In the case of Imperial ore collectors which are armed, two drones can be used - one to lock down the collector with its special ability while the other infects it. Players often attempt to counter this by walling in the short path between the refinery and the ore mine - either with a wall structure or by using other buildings.

If fighting a Soviet foe beware of the following things: Magnetic Satellites, MiGs, Desolator Airstrikes, Orbital drops, Apocalypse Tanks, Natasha, Twinblades and Kirovs.

Conscripts are cheap but not so effective unless in large numbers. If however, you have taken out most of the military units of an enemy's base, build 30 or so conscripts (very cheap, only $3000) have them ready molotov cocktails, set to attack buildings, and unleash them on an enemy base. They take out a base rather quickly, and do it cheaply. But only effective en-mass.

Using Structures as Attack Pieces
This strategy, when used correctly, is very effective. The basic concept is that you will "walk" your defenses up, and let your buildings do the offense.

Pick a location (preferably open field or open ocean) between your current base and the enemy's base. First, build a Sputnik, then move it to the location you want to set up fort. Second, move some units there ahead of the Sputnik. Third, build the outpost. Fourth, immediately build two Tesla Coils, and two Flak Cannons so you have good ground and air coverage. Fifth, build a Crusher Crane. At this point, you can tell your ally commander to move some units there, but they generally will do that on their own.

If you are on land, build a War Factory. If you are on water, build a Naval Yard. At this point in time, you can now engage in guerrilla warfare. Move your units up to attack, and when the enemy fights back, retreat back. The Crusher Crane will repair your units while the Tesla Coils destroy the enemy. Make sure you are repairing your structures. Done correctly, you can literally place a base in front of the enemy that they can't really defend against.

The key though, is to have enough Crusher Cranes, so you can build two Tesla Coils simultaneously. If you have four Crusher Cranes already, you can "spring up" a base simultaneously. This is very difficult to defend against. Before you do this, build an extra Super Reactor, and make sure you have enough money.

Top Secret Protocols

 * Magnetic Satellite: upgrades in this order: Magnetic Satellite, Super MS, Ultra MS- a magnetic beam that sucks up any enemy vehicles in the area. The area gets progressively larger and longer lasting as you upgrade the satellite. Useful for clearing choke points of enemy vehicles and preventing nanocores from exiting a conyard.


 * Orbital Drop: sends a bunch of space junk crashing down to Earth. Does little damage, but useful against small groups of enemy infantry. Orbital Drop returns 1 or 2 vehicles you caught in a Magnetic Satellite attack.


 * Orbital Dump: sends a satellite crashing down to the Earth along with any vehicles caught from the Magnetic Satellite. More powerful than Orbital Drop.


 * Orbital Downpour: sends an entire space station crashing down onto the Earth along with any vehicles caught with the Magnetic Satellite. Capable of destroying enemy forces and some structures in one hit.

Special Abilities
Snipe Pilot: Useful on making big and powerful enemy vehicles stop dead on their tracks and available to capture.

Leech Beam: This ability causes the Hammer Tank to heal itself and steals a weapon from their victims.

Tesla Surge: In case the Stingray is outnumbered they may discharge their electricity across the water and do severe damage to even the biggest ships.

Grinders and Magnetic beam: The Apocalypse Tank draws a smaller vehicle from escaping into its grinders. If used on structures or Assault Destroyers the tank will not only prevent the big vehicles from escaping but also grinds up the big vehicle at close range.