Tesla coil (Red Alert 2)

The Tesla Coil was a static defense weapon used by the Soviets in Third World War and the Psychic Dominator Disaster. It used electric discharge and atmosphere ionization to shoot lightning bolts at enemy targets, either seriously damaging them or, in the case of infantry, reducing them to ash instantly. As its name implies, it was based off an original prototype created by famed inventor Nikola Tesla, with the Third World War variation being an nearly perfect replication of a similar device of the same name used in Second World War.

Nikola Tesla described the Tesla bolt being "a beam of force itself of concentrated current - it need be no thicker than a pencil - of microscopic particles moving at several hundred times the speed of artillery projectiles."

Development
After the Allied victory in Second World War, the world entered a long period of peace and tranquility. Russia, as per the terms of their surrender at the hands of the Allies, was forced to disarm much of its former military power and was granted an Allied appointed leader in the form of Alexander Romanov. The USSR was not forced to lose all of its weaponry, however, as the Tesla coil and its use on the Russian homefront still remained a strong fixture in the Red Army arsenal. Even after the Soviet Union's defeat, the coil remained a common sight around Soviet military installations.

During the years prior to Third World War, as Premier Romanov was gearing up for his revenge on the capitalist west, the original Tesla coils received several important upgrades that would keep them relevant and powerful in the modern battlefield. One of these changes was the removal of the underground control bunker located underneath the base of the coil tower; in place of a human operator, modern Tesla coils would make use of a computerized AI similar to those used in Soviet sentry guns and flak cannons. This was done to remove the "human weakness" of the original coils and, in the process, make them cheaper and easier to maintain.

The second and even more important change involved the problem of the original towers power needs. It was a well known fact that Tesla coils, when deprived of power, were rendered inert and useless; in order to combat this weakness, modern coils had special input slots installed at the upper base of their "trunks." The purpose of these slots was to allow the energy input of Tesla troopers, who would keep the coil charged even when there was no energy coming in from any other outside source if they were gathered in a group of two or more.

Aside from these two differences, the Third World War version of the Tesla coil was essentially identical to the models used in Second World War.

Third World War
Tesla coils were a common sight in the Soviet occupied states of the USA during the initial invasion. The coils first appeared before Tanya in Dark Night. She went on to note that her mission would have been nearly impossible without the help of Allied spies to cut off the coils' power supply, a statement that indicated the fear the coils brought to the hearts of all Allied soldiers, even to a heart as toughened as Tanya's.

Tesla coils were also present in Soviet Cuba, surrounding three nuclear missile silos that threatened to destroy professor Einstein's Chronosphere prototype and sabotage any chance for a quick end to the war. The sheer destructive power of the coils was one of the many obstacles the Allied forces had to circumvent in order to destroy the silos and launch their chronosphere invasion of Moscow.

Psychic Dominator Disaster
The Tesla coil served a valued purpose in the temporal restart of the Third World War, albeit in a form that was much more benign to the Allies, since both the Eastern and Western hemispheres had a common enemy, the Soviet traitor Yuri. During the final stages of the new war, the once unthinkable sight of Allied Prism towers and Soviet Tesla coils standing side by side became quite common, greatly symbolizing the strange alliance that had been garnered between the two former enemies. It should be noted, though, that the means that made such a sight possible came via the extensive reprogramming of Prism Tower and Tesla Coil targeting computers, a task that frustrated eastern and western technicians a great deal.

Legacy
The Tesla Coil was upgraded to be deployed over water and to be able to hit submarines.

In-game
A powerful base-defense against all ground units, the Tesla Coil attacks with a powerful bolt of electricity. Unlike other base-defenses, a Tesla Coil can be charged by Tesla Troopers to increase its firepower and range. If the base loses power, it will still be able to use its regular attack if being charged by two Tesla Troopers, and will be able to use its more powerful charged attack with three or more.

Counter
The destructive power of the Tesla Coil is stronger than its Allied counterpart, albeit with a noticeably slower rate of fire. Like the Prism Tower, it can only target one unit at a time, and as such, a group of heavy armor or anti armor units like Rhino tanks, Grizzly tanks, or Apocalypse tanks can crush even the best line of Tesla Coils. In addition, artillery like the Prism Tank or V3 rocket launcher can outrange and destroy them; Boris with his superior range can call in an airstrike from safety; and Yuri Prime can control a tower from outside its range. Of course, any air unit can also clear them out easily.

Cameos
Pre-release cameos, in order: alpha variant 1, alpha variant 2, beta.

In order: English, French, German, Korean, Chinese.