Natasha Volkova

"Natasha here, you have a list for me?"

- Natasha



Natasha Volkova (Russian: Наталья Волкова) is a Soviet commando appearing in Red Alert 3 and its expansion, Uprising.

Background
Natasha is an elite Soviet black ops agent. Very little information is available about her past. The woman herself is a seasoned professional (and, in the words of some, a cold-blooded killer). She deals only with the most severe affairs of the Union.

While Soviet Union agencies continuously dismiss and/or incarcerate journalists who question Natasha's military conduct (due to reports of shocking cruelty she shows on the battlefield) or the validity of official sources on her life and career, the rumours persist.

Storyline
Natasha is a key element of the Soviet armed forces and so she fought on nearly all fronts during the War of the Three Powers. In the Allied campaign, Natasha teamed up with her Allied counterpart Tanya in Gibralter and the North Sea against the Empire of the Rising Sun. Unconfirmed reports state that she participated in the USSR's last stand in Leningrad against the Allies and survived the battle. In Uprising, one of her engagements included a massive battle on the north-eastern coast of Brazil that has left the battlefield full of deserted combat worthy vehicles, after she shot out the pilots

In the Soviet campaign she led the counterattack in the defense of the Peter and Paul Fortress in Leningrad against Kenji's Imperial forces. Commander Moskvin later guided her through the Imperial-occupied Krasna-45 Aerospace near Moscow and recaptured the space facility. She later served in all missions.

Game unit
Natasha is a commando-class unit. Unlike Tanya or Yuriko, she has no effective direct weapon against vehicles, however, she could load her rifle with special armour-piercieng cartridge and then use x-ray targeting mode on her custom-made scope to place a high-precision shot against an enemy vehicle, sniping out the vehicle's pilot. Now unmanned vehicle could be later claimed by any infantry unit, including herself (identical to Jarmen Kell's ability).

Alternatively, to destroy vehicles and buildings, she can designate them for an airstrike with her laser designator. Once the target is painted, the bomber takes a while to arrive, but the result is a one-shot kill against the vehicle or building. This makes her the perfect base destroyer. However, during airstrike calling sequence she has to remain idle and can't defend herself, a Commander could order her to move during the airstrike request, however, it terminates airstrike sequence.

Behind the scenes

 * Natasha's ability to call in air-strikes is very similar to Boris' air-strike ability. Only it targets all enemy vehicles and structures.
 * Natasha's sniper rifle can pierce through the heavy armor of some units.
 * Unlike Boris, Natasha can swim in water.
 * Her capability of firing a single sniper rifle round through multiple infantry units resembles the Ghost Stalker and Mammoth Mk. II's railguns in the Second Tiberium War.
 * Natasha's sniper rifle is similar to the real SVD Dragunov, except it has a different scope, is blockier, and is lacking an ejection port. One explanation is that Natasha's rifle fires high velocity, caseless rounds, thus eliminating the need for an ejection port.
 * The role of Natasha Volkova is played by female MMA fighter Gina Carano.
 * Natasha was set to be a cameo in the EA game MySims SkyHeroes, which has many cameos from other EA games such as Dragon Age, Dead Space, Mirror's Edge, Army of Two, and Medal of Honor. However, Natasha and Faith, from Mirror's Edge were cut from the game during production. Visit Natasha's page on the MySims Wiki, here.