Prism tower (Red Alert 2)

The Prism Tower was an Allied advanced defense structure developed by Albert Einstein, used during the first and second iterations of the Third World War.

Description
The prism tower consists of 6 rotating mirrors on the top of a tower. These mirrors are positioned to form a charging chamber to produce a photon beam to be directed by the tower's top mirror. A single prism tower's laser beam is less powerful than a discharge from a Tesla coil, but the its rate of fire is faster and has a slightly further range. Two or more adjacent prism towers have the ability to combine their beams, increasing the power of the resulting beam, a property that the Tesla coils do not possess. In essence, this was done by firing off a beam at another tower's mirror, often in a chain, after which the final tower that the beam would reach would fire an enhanced beam that is proportionally powerful to the number of chained prism towers.

They were particularly effective against heavily armoured tanks, even Apocalypse tanks. Artillery units outranged them, however. Combining beams from nearby towers would create a blast that could destroy a tank in a single hit, but had a downside - prism towers that were close to each other could only focus on a single target.

Usage
The prism tower was developed by Albert Einstein to counter the Soviet Tesla coil. The technology was first used at the Pentagon, as seen during Operation: Liberty.

The Soviets attempted to replicate prism technology in a secret base near Tulum, Mexico. They placed turrets with larger mirrors upon Mayan temple ruins. This version was more powerful and had a faster rate of fire. The prototypes and the surrounding Soviet base were destroyed by a group of Navy SEALs during Operation: Sun Temple.

Aftermath
During the Post-war Crisis, prism towers were still used by Allied forces, and retained the ability to combine their beams.

Despite the disappearance of Albert Einstein, the prism tower was replaced by the functionally identical spectrum tower in the third iteration of the Third World War.

Cameos
Pre-release cameos, in order: early alpha, late alpha In order: English, French, German, Korean, Chinese, textless.

Trivia
In the campaigns, prism towers are much more potent when combined, as only two could destroy a Soviet Apocalypse tank in a single beam, while it took the combined beams of five towers in skirmish mode.