Yuri (faction)

"Yuri" sometimes refers to the army under Yuri's command rather than the man himself. His army revealed itself during the Psychic Dominator Disaster after a hidden buildup behind the backs of Soviet forces during the Third World War.

Background
"Yuri uses mind-control and genetic mutation to corrupt the battlefield. His special units can seize the forces and structures of his enemies."

- Yuri multiplayer loading screen

Yuri was the leader of a very versatile and efficient army. Yuri and his mad scientists conducted secret researches which resulted in great scientific advances, which Yuri exploited to the full.

Yuri relied on mind-control, cloning, advanced magnetic weapons, and laser technology, as well as speed, maneuverability and flexibility to bring him victory on the battlefield.

Third World War
The foundings of Yuri's army came from the Psychic Corps branch of the military of the USSR. Premier Romanov created the Psychic Corps shortly after the end of the Second World War according to Stalin's wishes but it was his advisor Yuri who really led the corp throughout the war. As the Psychic Corp, they were predominant in deploying Psychic Beacons in Washington, D.C. and St. Louis during the Soviet invasion of the United States, before the beacons were destroyed by the counterattacking Allies.

As the war turned against the Soviets in favour of the Allies, Yuri and the Psychic Corp secretly began to break away from the Soviet Union and created their own army under the Allies' noses. Since the Allies were fully concentrating on beating back the Soviet forces, the secret activities of the Psychic Corp went unnoticed and were able to construct three Psychic Dominators across the world - one on Alcatraz Island, one near the Great Pyramid in Egypt, and the last in Antarctica. Only a small handful of Psychic Corp troopers were loyal to Romanov and subsequently attempted to defend Moscow from a surprise Allied invasion. Yuri and the majority of his unit retreated underground when the Soviet Union surrendered.

Psychic Dominator Disaster
A few days after the Soviets' surrender, Yuri openly broke away from the Soviet Union and announced his plans of world domination to US President Michael Dugan. A late US airstrike damaged the nuclear reactor powering the Psychic Dominator on Alcatraz island but the rest of the world succumbed to Yuri's dominance permanently. Yuri's Initiates searched for additional power plants in San Francisco but the Allies managed to capture them first to power Einstein's new time machine. The remnant forces travelled back in time to the first wave of the Soviet invasion of the US west coast. At the time Yuri had already began construction of the Psychic Dominator while the Soviet invasion was underway but the Allies not only repelled the Soviet forces in San Francisco but also destroyed the Psychic Dominator.

The Psychic Corp then dropped all pretense and openly waged war against both the Allies and the Soviets, with their own army to combat both sides. Even then, Yuri's army continued to develop new weapons that would intimidate their enemies such as the Boomer and the Floating Disc. While they operated all over the world, the Allies managed to foil their plans to clone the world leaders, destroyed all the Psychic Dominators and arrested Yuri himself. With the new timeline replacing the old, Yuri's army was now defunct.

The army
"Yuri uses mind-control and genetic mutation to corrupt the battlefield. His special units can seize the forces and structures of his enemies."

- Loading screen message

Yuri is most notorious for his mind-control and brainwashing abilities. His secret army, simply named Yuri Yuri in the drop-down list of countries in, used many psychic units like the Yuri clone, the Mastermind and the Psychic Tower. Yuri commanders would use these to turn enemy units against each other. If powerful units were captured, then they would fight for the Yuri player to help defend his base. Captured units could also be sent into a grinder for a extra funding, supplementing the income from Slave Miners. Slave Miner refineries, unlike Allied or Soviet Ore Refineries, can freely move around the battlefield to mine any available ore. This can significantly save time in transporting ore back to the refinery, and eliminates the need to build extra refineries in far away mining locations. Using the Slave Miners alongside the Genetic Mutator and sending mind-controlled units into the Grinder can build a super-stable economy, and experienced players find that money is rarely (if ever) a problem.

Infantry

 * Yuri's initiates were more powerful than either the Allied G.I. or the Soviet Conscript, being able to start fires with only their minds. They were very effective against infantry and structures, as well as vehicles when garrisoned in a building.
 * Yuri had his own engineers, identical to Allied and Soviet ones.
 * The Brute was Yuri's tank hunter. It is a huge mutant who can smash almost anything with its powerful fists. They are specially designed to take out enemy tanks, because tank weapons are almost useless against Brutes. Brutes are immune to dogs, because their veins are embedded too deeply in their bodies for a dog to tear out - not to mention, canines are simply to scared of them to attack. Terror Drones, however, are still a problem. They are also immune to Yuri's mind control, because their psychology differed so greatly from a normal human.
 * The Virus was Yuri's sniper unit. Much like the British sniper, these female soldiers could kill infantry from a great range. While the British snipers had greater attack range, the Virus was armed with deadly toxins that could quickly kill infantry units, causing them to explode in a cloud of toxic viral fumes. Even structures and tanks were slightly damaged when coming into contact with these clouds, while infantry would explode and die, creating a chain reaction.
 * Yuri deployed a slightly cheaper mind-control unit called the Yuri clone. It cost 800 credits and works the same way as the old Psi-Corps trooper. Although it maintains the original Yuri model, it has a different dialogue.
 * Yuri's last unit required a Battle Lab to train, and was Yuri himself, riding a hovering platform. A player may train only one Yuri Prime at a time in multiplayer (unless a Cloning vat is built). He could mind-control most base defenses, structures, infantry units, tanks, or ships. Yuri Prime's secondary weapon was much more useful than his clones, as his psychic shockwave did not harm friendly infantry. He also had a shorter cooldown time than his clones.

Vehicles

 * His main battle tank was the Lasher Light Tank. Although it was not as strong as heavier tanks, such as the Rhino Heavy Tank, it was very fast and matched the Grizzly Battle Tank. When stationed in a tank bunker, it was heavily armoured versus ground attacks and made a very effective base defense.
 * Chaos Drones could deploy to emit a special toxin which drove enemy infantry berserk, turning them temporarily against their comrades. It could remain in this state for an extended period or redeploy at will.
 * His Gattling tanks were very fast and could easily kill infantry and shoot down aircraft. Once their guns spun up fully, they would do heavy damage even to Kirov Airships and some light tanks. These two vehicles comprised the bulk of Yuri's armoured divisions and allow Yuri's forces to conduct very fast offensives.
 * They were supported by various high-tech units including the Magnetron, which was useful against vehicles. While they did not damage vehicles, they allowed Yuri commanders to lift and drag enemy vehicles toward Yuri clones or Masterminds. Magnetized vehicles could not attack, but were vulnerable to anti-air fire, while airborne, helping to destroy them. The Magnetron acted as the Yuri artillery and could be used to tear buildings apart from afar.
 * The Mastermind was Yuri's ultimate mind-control unit. It was the near equivalent of a mobile psychic tower, being able to control up to three units safely. However it could not stop at a safe number. Instead, they controlled anything they could target in the vicinity. This resulted in a "brainwave overload" that could severely damage and even destroy the Mastermind, requiring near-constant supervision by its commander, lest it be lost.

Aircraft

 * Yuri did not use conventional aircraft like the Allied Harrier and the Soviet MiG. He possessed the Floating Disc, a flying saucer that could destroy infantry and vehicles with its powerful laser. Yuri's Floating Disc had a secondary ability, the siphon, such that when ordered to attack a power plant, it could drain its power. Used against an enemy Refinery, it could steal credits, giving them to Yuri, until there were none left or the Disc was shot down. If the Floating Disc was ordered to attack a base defense, it would instead power it down, with the exception of the Allied pillboxes, Gap Generator, Grand Cannon; Soviet battle bunker, sentry gun; and Yuri tank bunker. These exceptions and all factions' superweapons would be fired upon like regular structures. Floating Discs may continue to fire their lasers when syphoning, so are far from defenseless.

Navy

 * Yuri had his own amphibious transports, identical to Soviet ones in armour and similar to Allied ones in appearance.
 * The Boomer Submarine was Yuri's only combatant naval unit. It was a stronger version of the Soviet Typhoon attack submarine, able to fire two torpedoes at once, it could also launched ballistic missiles on land targets like the Soviet Dreadnought.

Superweapons

 * The Genetic Mutator turned any infantry, either friendly, hostile, or neutral into loyal Brutes. (Animals - such as dogs, squid, and dolphins - cannot be mutated, they simply die.)
 * The Psychic Dominator was Yuri's ultimate weapon, capable of permanently mind-controlling any units within a 3x3 area. It would unleash raw psychic energies capable of damaging or destroying structures. Units garrisoned inside a structure would be mind-controlled, if the power was used on the building. Using the Psychic Dominator in combination with the Genetic Mutator could turn many enemy units against their allies even in the heart of an enemy base, causing immense chaos.

Behind the scenes
Yuri's army is often discouraged in online matches due to a perceived advantage over the other two factions, but there is no clear community consensus on what exactly is considered overpowered.