Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3/Pearl Harbor

BACKGROUND AND GOAL
The map is basically divided into two regions: a land mass to the southwest, and open seas to the northeast. You start on the land with an established base.

At the beginning, two allied construction yards lie unseen off the coast to the northeast, building up naval and air forces. They are configured as two separate bases, building and sending units independently.

You and your co-commander are entrenched on the shorelines, and you have five monuments to defend against the enemy.

You must protect at least three of them until your own fleet arrives to reinforce. The timer until your fleet arrives is set at 15 minutes.

COMMENTARY
At the start of this mission, my co-commander told me they'd protect the east monuments, so I decided to protect the west. However, that proved to be a poor strategy. Unchecked, the first wave of enemy forces can be significant enough to cripple your co-commander, severely hampering their ability to defend their monuments.

Therefore, if you just try to build up and protect the monuments on the west side, you will lose this mission. With multiple naval bases and air bases, the enemy just builds and sends units too fast to keep up.

To win, you have to set up and manage great defenses on at least three of the monuments AND your base (which will be attacked), AND disrupt the enemy's ability to produce units and structures unchecked.

STRATEGY
You begin with 5 defender towers sitting in nanocore (mobile) form, two mechatangus, two tsunami tanks, two strikers, two engineers, two warriors, two tankbusters, and two subs.

I suggest you predetermine to sacrifice one of the hardest to defend monuments, which would be the one to the farthest northwest. Ignore it. Attempt to defend the four remaining monuments, so that if you lose one you can still complete the mission.

Immediately build (in this order) a sudden transport, 5 tsunami tanks (shift-click), and 5 subs. Hotkey the transport to a number when it is built, and send it to the shore by your co-commander's base.

Immediately build a defender tower, returning to build more in between operations. You should continue to build defender towers throughout the mission as long as you have funds, because some of the ones you have will get destroyed.

Send your two engineers to capture the two northern radar towers. Your co-commander will get the one closest to his/her base within a minute or so after you get your two.

Build another defender tower if you can.

Send your existing five defenders to set up around the western monument. Set them up in a semi-circle around the monument. The easiest way to do this is to quickly assign each of them a group number 1-5 where they stand, then move the map to the monument, click each tower by number, then use its special move to set it up where you want it. A little later when you notice they are all set up, change two of them to air defense.

Build another defender tower if you can.

Next, transform your two strikers into copter mode, hotkey them to a number, and send them to the far east edge of the map, about 1/3 of the way to the top of the map.

Next, transform your mechatangus to air support mode, and move them along with your infantry units up to defend the middle monument. Put your infantry units in nearby buildings.

Build another defender tower if you can.

At this time, take however many tsunami tanks and subs you've got and attack-move them to the coastline in between your co-commander and the enemy fleet. The first wave of enemy ships may decimate them otherwise.

You should have four defender towers now. While you build another one, take the four and set them up around the inlet area, setting half to air and half to ground.

At this point, your forces should be sufficient to repel the first wave of attacks. Set a group of 10 more subs to build and let them accumulate around your naval yard.

When the radar comes online, you should be able to see the enemy bases and ships. Quickly select your sudden transport, disguise it as an enemy unit, and send it up to the northern-most enemy base (beyond the radar visibility). This will allow you to see what's coming from there for the rest of the mission, in addition to providing targeting for top secret protocols.

SURPRISE
Soon after the radar comes online, you'll get a message from Randy Couture saying the surprise is over. At this point hotkey your copters and move them up the right side, toward the enemy base. Try to time it so as the first enemy attack wave departs for the shore, you slip behind them unseen with your copters. Target the enemy construction yard. You should have your first top secret protocol by now. Take the final squadron and use it on the construction yard. If you time this right, you can destroy the construction yard and start on a naval yard before the computer recovers and takes out your copters. This will help reduce the amount of structures the computer builds in the forward base, and thereby reduce the number of units sent to blast you.

After that, it's a matter of micromanaging the units you have to defend against what they throw at you. Strikers are your fastest way to put out fires, so try to keep a few of them available. If you withstood the first wave, your co-commander should be able to survive the rest of the mission.

You can get a lot of mileage out of a few conscripts fortified in the buildings to the north. They will eliminate paratroop drops, which is the main attack used on that monument.

CRUISIN'
The next major event occurs with about 5 minutes left on the timer. You get a message that the fleet is delayed, but to tide you over you and your ally each receive a fleet of 5 naginata cruisers. Your co-commander will immediately take them east to take out what's left of the forward enemy base. Take your cruisers along with him so you get strength in numbers, and also send the collection of subs around your base to attack at the same time to occupy enemy ships. Make sure you use the special ability of the cruisers when they are facing the enemy base and ships. Destroy as many enemy naval yards as possible, using your final squadron and the point-defense drones protocol for brief invulnerability to save a cruiser or two for a little longer. You should be able to take out all of the naval yards, or at least all but one. With but one left, your co-commander will take it out in a couple of minutes, clearing this base.

You can now build these naginata cruisers, so fire a couple off.

I SPY
The next major event occurs as an announcement that the enemy is trying to take back the radar towers with spies. The only way to complete this optional mission is to defend all three towers from the spy flotillas that come in, which is difficult with the other things you have to manage. Your co-commander should keep their tower from falling into enemy hands, and so long as the enemy does not get all three, you maintain your radar visibility. So you decide whether this is a big deal or not.

FLEET PRICING
The next major event occurs when your battleship fleet arrives. You get four or five battleships, a couple of cruisers, and a bunch of subs. You can select them as a group and run them due east to attack the main enemy base. Take out the defenses quickly, then concentrate on the buildings. It should not be that difficult to take out all enemy-producing structures with this fleet.

You can now build the battleships, so fire a couple off.

FINAL MOP UP
You may have a few fires to put out around the map. Use tanks, strikers, and mechatangu to clear out pockets of enemy resistance, gradually sweeping to the left of the map toward the northeast. The enemy has a small base up there with a barracks, a naval yard, and a couple of airfields. Take your two cruisers and battleships and take out that base. Any mechatangus or strikers you have left can provide anti-air on the spot.

That's it, you're done with one of the more difficult missions in the game!