Weather control device (Red Alert 2)

The weather control device (or weather machine), was an Allied superweapon used during the Third World War and its second iteration, designed by Albert Einstein as a weapon of last resort.

Description
Because the Allies' stockpile of nuclear weapons were destroyed by the Soviets at the start of their invasion of the United States, Professor Albert Einstein invented a new superweapon for the Allies to counter the Soviets' own nuclear missiles. Interestingly enough, Einstein initially didn't want the device used believing that it was "God's Toys", but he relented when he decided that the ends justified the means (i.e. ending the Soviet Union as a threat to the free world). This also later applied to Yuri and his minions.

It could manipulate the weather patterns to create a powerful lightning storm. The lightning bolts could destroy heavily armoured structures. Interestingly enough, the more surface area that a building occupied, the more likely that it would be destroyed. Therefore, structures such as war factories, although significantly armored, could be easily destroyed. However, structures such as sentry guns, though they had low health, were much more likely to survive the storm, owing to their small surface area. The Weather Control Device also disables all allied and enemy radar for the full duration of the storm.

Interestingly, on a skirmish map with multiple Allies players owning this superweapon, a lightning storm couldn't be created if another is already active (the few seconds between the time it was targeted and it dissipated).

Counters
There was really only one counter, and that was to destroy the weapon before it could be used. Its effect, however, could be postponed by sabotaging the power by a Spy, or taking out power plants. A Spy could effectively reset the Weather Controller's timer also. Once launched, a devastating lightning storm would form, and short of vacating the area of effect or deploying an Iron Curtain or Force Shield to make the affected area invulnerable, there was no way to withstand the lightning storm's barrage. Fortunately, the weapon was expensive, and it took 10 minutes to recharge and deploy. There was approximately 12 second delay before the lightning storm cloud were visible. 2 seconds after that, the lightning bolts commenced. Also, a Weather Control Device could not be destroyed instantly with a direct hit from any of the three superweapons.

Usage
It was deployed during the final battle against Romanov during the final battle of Third World War, as well as several times during the war against Yuri, that followed immediately after, particularly in the incident surrounding the threatened nuclear strike against the city of Seattle.

In the Soviet campaign, the Allies deployed their Weather Control Device in the US Virgin Islands in a desperate attempt to counter the Soviet onslaught. This superweapon was modified to trade power (enough to 'level entire cities') for armor so only one well-timed nuclear missile was sufficient to destroy the weapon.

Post-War
After the war, the Allies reviewed the performance of this Structure. While the superweapon was powerful, it was very costly in terms of funds and power to maintain the structure in the battlefield. For this reason, the Allies deployed some Weather Control Devices around the globe and allowed an Allied Commander to use it once a Defense HQ was deployed, instead of having to construct the superweapon during the battle itself.

Because Einstein designed the Weather Control Device, the Allies did not have this superweapon by the time of the new Third World War. Instead the Allied defense contractor FutureTech developed the Proton Collider.

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

In order: English, French, German, Korean, Chinese. Top row is structure, bottom row is weapon.

Behind the scenes

 * The weapon may be reference to the Cobra Weather Dominator from the GI Joe universe, which operates in a similar capacity.
 * In the RTS game Earth 2150, Lunar Corporation has similar facilities. However, compared to Allied ones, they are more compact and more versatile, capable of creating lightnings, rains, blizzards, strong winds, even summon meteorites from outer space.