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Allied units
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GI
This is our basic infantry.
The GIs are cheap units, but more expensive than the soviet infantry. However,
the GIs can deploy themselves. Deployed GIs have upgraded guns and armour,
but can't move until they un-deploy. It's best to deploy GIs when you want
to keep them in the same place for a while. And they can also garrison
civilian buildings.
Rocketeer
------
The Rocketeers use special jets
to fly above the battlefield. They never come down, unless they
die. Rocketeers have moderatelly powerful guns, and they can also fire
at air units. They're good as an AA defense and against anything without
AA support.
Attack Dog
------
The Dogs are for anti-infantry
use only. They kill any soldier with one bite. They're useful against paratroopers
and unarmed infantry, and they can also sniff out spies. But don't send
them head-on against armed soldiers.
Engineer
-------
The good old engineer that we
know and love... He can capture enemy buildings, repair bridges, repair
buildings (including civilian ones). And he can also de-fuse Ivan bombs.
Keep some of these around at all times.
Spy
This is one of the most useful,
but hard to use units in the game. It can disguise itself as any enemy
or civilian soldier (even a dog) and infiltrate enemy buildings. Only dogs
can detect spies, but a good human player will notice them most of the
time and kill them. Or worse, mind-control them, since spies are unarmed.
This is what happens when he infiltrates a building:
power plant - enemy power
is shut down for a while
war factory/barracks - your
vehicles/infantry get to the next veteran level
(only works once)
superweapon - the timer for
the weapon is re-set
radar building - the shroud
is re-set for the enemy (a sort of anti-scouting)
battle lab - Very useful! You
get a special unit. I'll say more about them later.
Tanya
----
Remember Tanya from RA1? She's
back and more powerful than ever. She can massacre whole "swarms" of infantry
in seconds and she can put C4 on any building to demolish it. She can also
swim and put C4 on ships. But her weapon can't do anything against vehicles,
so watch out for them. A direct assault with Tanyas will be crushed by
Pillboxes or tanks.
Note: In the singleplayer
campaigns, instead of building Tanyas you can build SEALs, who do exactly
the same thing but look different.
Chrono Legionnaire
------------------
This allied unit can be devastating
if used properly. It can teleport anywhere on the map. But it doesn't exactly
get there instantly, because it takes time to "phase in". The farther it
is, the longer it takes him to be completelly "re-constructed" at his new
location. And during this time, he can be killed by the enemy. His weapon
is a chrono rifle that erases things from time. Once he starts fireing,
the target begins to dissapear. If he stops fireing before the target is
erased, then that target will re-appear undamaged. While it's being erased,
the target is "stunned", but also invulnerable. The more Legionnaires,
the less time it takes to erase things. The big advantage of erasing is
that the target doesn't explode, so you can safely get rid of a Demo Truck,
for example.
Chrono Miner
The Chrono Miner is the allied
harvester. It collects ore and gems. It must drive out to the field, but
it can chronoshift to a Refinery at any time (also, it chronoshifts automatically
once it's full).
Infantry Fighting Vehicle
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This fast and light-armoured
vehicle can carry a single infantry soldier. When it's empty, it fires
missiles at the ground or the air. If it has a soldier inside, the IFV
weapon will change to the weapon of the soldier (except when it carries
a Dog or a Spy). If you put an Engineer in an IFV, the IFV will become
a repair vehicle.
Grizzly Battle Tank
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The Grizzly is the basic allied
tank. It's cheap and fast, but light-armoured and with a weak cannon. Build
them only if you can't have any other tank.
NightHawk Transport
This transport helicopter can
carry only infantry, up to 5 soldiers. It has a small machinegun for defense,
but it can only fire while it's in the air. The NightHawk can land anywhere
(except water) and it's invisible to enemy radar. You can use the chronosphere
on NightHawks while they're on the ground.
Mirage Tank
The Mirage Tank has a holographic
projector that is turned on when it stands still. The projector makes the
tank look like a tree, so it's perfect for "forest" ambushes. It's especially
good against infantry, but it also works well against vehicles and buildings.
Prism Tank
It's considered by many to be
the best allied tank. It fires a long-range "laser" beam which hits not
only the target, but also the things that stand next to it. The Prism Tank
is devastating against buildings and great for killing vehicles, but less
good for infantry. Its only weakness is the very light armour.
Harrier
The Harrier is the allied aircraft.
It's an airplane that can be built from the Airforce Command HQ. You can
only have 4 Harriers for each HQ, because they need landing space. They
can't land on normal ground. Each Harrier carries one moderatelly powerful
missile and they must return to the HQ for re-loading. They give you great
air support and can be devastating against an enemy with few AA defenses.
Amphibious Transport
This is a hovercraft transport.
It can go over both land and sea, but it's built from a Naval Yard. The
transport has a total of 12 "slots". A tank uses 4 "solts", while a soldier
only uses 1. It's really useful only as a water transport.
Destroyer
The Destroyer is the "workhorse"
of the Allied Navy. It has a good deck-gun that it can use to bombard shores
and fight other ships. But it also has an ASW helicopter that detects stealthy
units (subs, squids and dolphins). The ASW is used against those units,
and it's replaced quickly (and free) if it gets shot down.
Aegis Cruiser
The ultimate AA defense! This
allied vessel can't fire at land or water, but it's deadly against anything
that flies. Use them against all enemy air threats.
Dolphin
These dolphins are specially
bred for combat. They carry a sonic gun (that can only fire at water targets)
and they're stealthy. Dolphins can remove Squids from ships and they're
deadly in numbers.
Carrier
The Carrier is the most powerful
allied unit. It's a very large ship with 3 Hornet planes. The Carrier attacks
by sending its planes against the target. It has great range, but after
attacking, the Hornets need to re-load. If a Hornet is destroyed, the Carrier
will build a new one for free.
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Soviet units
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Conscript
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The Conscripts are basic cannon
fodder. They're the cheapest unit in the whole game and can be easily mass-produced.
But they don't have any special abilities, except garrisoning civilian
buildings (that GIs can also do). Just crush these puny soldiers with more
advanced infantry or tanks.
Flak Trooper
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This soviet soldier has a large
flak gun that's very useful against air targets and moderatelly useful
against ground units. It's best to kill them with infantry.
Attack Dog
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The Dogs are for anti-infantry
use only. They kill any soldier with one bite. Kill them with anything,
except infantry
Engineer
------
Just like the allied version...
kill them without mercy and DO NOT underestimate them. If left alone, the
Engineers can wreck havoc.
Tesla Trooper
---------
Tesla technology in its smallest
form. It's pretty cheap and good against anything. These troopers can also
energize Tesla Coils, especially in a low-power situation. It's best to
kill them from a distance, with longer-ranged weapons.
Crazy Ivan
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These guys are soviet demolition
experts. They have unlimited bombs and can put them on anything.
Kill them before they reach something and place a bomb.
Yuri
--
This is the soviet psychic soldier.
They can build as many Yuris as they want. A Yuri can mind-control nearly
any unit, but only one at a time. This can be lethal to your troops, since
the Yuri can control another unit as soon as the first one dies. Yuri can
also deploy, "frying" all infantry within a certain range. Kill Yuris with
dogs, since they're immune to mind-control.
War Miner
This is the soviet harvester.
It collects ore and takes it to a Refinery. It doesn't have the chrono
ability of the allied version, but it has a machinegun for defense. It
can mow down infantry quickly. Although the machinegun does only minor
damage to vehicles, the War Miner (just like the Chrono Miner) has heavy
armour and can resist attacks. Destroy them with air units.
Terror Drone
---
The Terror Drone is a spider-like
mechanical unit with great speed, but nearly no armour. It's hard to kill
only while it's moving. It can only attack units, not buildings. It attaches
to vehicles and starts "eating them up" from the inside. The vehicle will
lose health until it explodes and the Terror Drone can pick another target.
But a Repair Pad can remove Drones from vehicles. That is very important.
The Terror Drones can also kill infantry, like a dog can (but it takes
a few seconds for a soldier to die after a Drone attacks it). Kill the
Terror Drones with air units, or fast vehicles.
Rhino Heavy Tank
The Rhino is the soviet basic
tank. It's a bit slower, but much more powerful than the allied Grizzly.
The Rhinos are the main components of a soviet rush, since they can easily
destroy Grizzlies. To defeat them, you need better tanks (Mirages are best
for this) or simply more Grizzlies than their Rhinos.
Flak Track
This is a soviet APC that can
carry up to 5 soldiers. And besides that, it doubles as an AA vehicle.
It has a flak cannon that can shoot at both ground and air, but it's best
against air units. Destroy it with tanks or other such vehicles, but beware
of the infantry inside!
V3 Launcher
It's a vehicle that launches
powerful V3 missiles. Those missiles are big (can't fire at air units)
and they re-load slowly, but they can do massive damage. Elite Launchers
fire V3s that make mini-nuclear explosions. But the missiles can be destroyed
in mid-air by AA fire. Always bring AA support when facing V3s.
Apocalypse Tank
The Apocalypse is worthy of
its name. Many people consider it the most powerful tank in the game. It
can hit both ground (with its huge cannon) and air (with its AA missiles).
This tank is equally powerful against everything. The way to destroy it
is by using superior numbers, which isn't too hard considering the Apocalypse's
huge cost.
Kirov Airship
This is the only soviet air
unit (besides the V3's and the Dread's cruise missiles). The Kirov is extremelly
expensive and the slowest unit in RA2, but it has the biggest raw firepower
in the whole game. It has unlimited bombs that it can only drop from right
above the target, but nothing (not even a Con Yard) can withstand
more than a few bombs. The Kirov has pretty good armour, and it shouldn't
be allowed near your base under any circumstances. It's easy pray for a
pack of IFVs, as long as they run away when it gets above them.
Amphibious Transport
This is a hovercraft transport.
It can go over both land and sea, but it's built from a Naval Yard. It's
unarmed. Destroy it over water so the "cargo" is also destroyed.
Typhoon Attack Sub
The Typhoon is the most powerful
navy-killer in this game. It's a stealthy sub that doesn't become visible
even when it fires. But you can guess its position from the torpedos that
it fires. If a naval unit gets close to a Typhoon, it becomes visible.
These subs are powerful, but pretty expensive and they can only fire at
water targets. Sink them with lots of Dolphins or with Destroyers.
Sea Scorpion
This small vessel is cheap,
but weak. Sea Scorpions are only useful in numbers or for scouting. They're
the only soviet naval unit capable of AA fire and that's their primary
role: anti-air fire. Their flak cannon can also fire at ground or water,
but doesn't do much damage. Sink them with Destroyers (or dolphins).
Giant Squid
The Giant Squid is a good anti-navy
unit. It's stealthy and it can grab any ship. Once a Squid grabs a ship,
it starts swinging it from side to side. The ship loses health and eventually
sinks. During this process, the Squid is invulnerable and the ship can
only be freed by forcing Dolphins to fire on it (one shot). Squids use
a "punch" on other Squids, Dolphins and Tanyas. All ships are useless against
Giant Squids, but Dolphins can kill them without problems.
Dreadnought
The Dreadnought (or "Dread"
for short) is the most powerful naval unit of all. It fires two V3-like
missiles that do huge damage and have a decent re-load time. A Dread
can do some more damage than a Carrier, but unlike Hornets, the Dread missiles
don't "home in" on their tagets, so moving units are hard to hit. Always
keep Aegis Cruisers to destroy the Dread missiles in the air, and sink
the Dreads themselves with any other naval unit. But be careful, they always
have escorts.
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Country-specific units
(for skirmish and multiplayer)
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Grand Cannon
The Grand Cannon is a base-defense
building, that the French can build. It's the ultimate defense, good for
blasting away anything. It's extremelly powerful, but expensive. The only
real weakness it that it turns around very slowly. It's great for protecting
your base against nearly all infantry and all heavy vehicles.
Tank Destroyer
This is the German special unit,
also called the "Tank buster". It makes short work of enemy tanks, but
it's nearly useless against buildings and infantry. Its best use is to
stop a tank rush.
Airdrop
It's the special feature for
America. You need an Airforce Command HQ to have it. The Airdrop is a free,
recharging "weapon", which consists of a big transport plane that comes
to a place on the map (chosen by you) and parachutes down 8 GIs. If an
American player also captures an Airfield, the plane will drop 14 GIs.
It's useless to send it right above an enemy base, since your GIs won't
survive more than a few seconds. Drop them as reinforcements.
Sniper
---
The Sniper is a British special
unit. It has extreme range and can kill any soldier with one shot. But
it has a long re-load time and it can't do anything against vehicles and
buildings. Snipers can't stop an infantry rush, but they're perfect for
taking out small groups of powerful infantry.
Black Eagle
This airplane can be built by
Koreans. It has the same price as a Harrier, but it's much better. Black
Eagles have more armour and a bit more firepower than the Harriers. They
have the same uses.
Tesla Tank
The Tesla Tank is a Russian
vehicle. It's a tank version of the Tesla Coil. It can fire over walls
and its main advantage is that it has great firepower. The way to beat
it is by using cheaper things, since the Tesla Tank is pretty expensive.
Terrorist
----
This is the Cuban special unit.
It's a cheap kamikaze soldier that makes a big explosion by detonating
the explosives on itself at the target. Kill Terrorists before they reach
your units and blow them up.
Demolition Truck
--
The Demo Truck is the special
unit for Lybia. It's an expensive kamikaze vehicle that "attacks" by ramming
its target and exploding. It makes a nuclear explosion (with radiation
that quickly dissapears), even if it's destroyed the normal way. Kill the
Demo Trucks from a distance, and do not let them reach your base!!
If you can destroy the trucks inside the enemy base, do it.
Desolator
----
This special unit is for Iraq.
The Desolator is a pretty expensive radiation soldier. It has a rad-cannon
for self-defense while it's not deployed. When it deploys, the Desolator
irradiates a certain area and the radiation doesn't begin to dissapear
until it un-deploys. Deployed Desolators can't move or fire, but they can
keep that area permanently irradiated. Try to kill them near other enemy
units, so the enemy won't deploy them. Against deployed Desolators, use
air units.
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Secret stolen-tech units
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You can get these units by infiltrating
a Battle Lab with a Spy. Be careful! A good soviet player will mind-control
your Spy if he sees it. Then he can use the Spy against you. Since these
units are "secret", it's fun to discover by yourself what they do. I'll
tell you how to get them:
Chrono Commando - Infiltrate
an Allied Battle Lab & own an Allied Barracks
Psi Commando - Infiltrate
a Soviet Battle Lab & own an Allied Barracks
Chrono Ivan - Infiltrate
an Allied Battle Lab & own a Soviet Barracks
Yuri Prime - Infiltrate
a Soviet Battle Lab & own a Soviet Barracks |
DESCRIPTIONS
