For the Red Alert 3 unit, see Grinder (Uprising). For this structure's successor, see Crusher Crane. |
“ | This is a Grinder. These devices can break down anything, be it mechanical or organic. - Lieutenant Eva, Hollywood and Vain briefing |
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The Grinder was a Yuri structure that could recycle any ground unit under the Yuri player's control (including mind controlled units) converting them into funds.
Official description[]
“ | Thanks to his Psychic technology, Yuri often finds himself with a number of captured units he’d rather recycle than use. The Grinder was designed with this idea in mind. When placed, the Grinder allows for the recycling of any vehicle or infantry unit currently under Yuri’s control. Any unit sent into the Grinder is destroyed instantly, refunding all or part of the production cost of the unit. - Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge manual(src) |
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Background[]
The Grinder was essentially a large chamber with many rotating spike grinders within it. The structure would intake any unit, be it organic or mechanical, and break it down into scrap for recycling. Although the process was not perfect, some value was still extracted out of the pieces. Inorganic parts would likely be sent to Yuri's armories, war factories, construction facilities, and naval yards. On the other hand, organic parts would possibly be used in cloning vats or Bio Reactors.
During Yuri's takeover of Hollywood as part of the Psychic Dominator Disaster, Yuri utilized Grinders to grind up the citizens of Hollywood to fund his war efforts. Afterwards, he employed Grinders wherever his forces went as a supplement to his economy.
Game structure[]
Yuri's Grinder is a convenient to dispose of any unwanted mind-controlled units. This is especially useful if transports carrying valuable units could be controlled, such as a Chrono Legionnaire loaded into a Battle Fortress. If the transported units were disgorged from their transport, they would revert to their original owner, however, when a transport is sent to the Grinder, all the units within it were recycled as well. The Grinder also functioned as a convenient way of removing unnecessary units from the control of Psychic Towers. Since a Psychic tower could only control up to three units, some commanders would rush a tower with inexpensive units to fill up its queue before attacking with more valuable units.
The Grinder is also a convenient means of disposing of the cheaper units. Another tactic, involving the Genetic Mutator and slaves from the Slave Miner, could turn out quite a large sum without any expense to the owner. Since Slaves were free to manufacture, the Genetic Mutator could be used to turn them into Brutes, which could then be fed to the Grinder for the credits. This also works well for disposing of basic infantry paradropped by a captured Tech Airport. Another tactic would be using it in conjunction with the array of Psychic Tower. With these arrangement any unit psychically controlled would be recycled immediately, freeing the slot for the tower to control another immediately. Anti air and more "in hand" management is required for this tactic.
The Grinder may fill the role of a Service Depot as it "replenishes" the armed forces in Yuri's way. In this state, a Grinder is essentially a required building for Yuri's war factories to access Yuri's MCV.
As to the amount of how much is refunded, infantry sent to the grinder will receive a 50% refund of its training costs, whereas vehicles will net a full refund of their base build cost regardless of whether the Industrial Plant is built. Therefore with an industrial plant in play, vehicles trained will net the commander a profit. The only oddity is the Guardian GI, which refunds only $150 of its original $400 cost and the Chrono Ivan at $500 from its original cost of $1750.
AI behavior[]
The AI typically sends mind controlled units to the Grinder rather than their own units.
On normal circumstances after a unit is mind controlled, this has a 5% chance of happening (for reference, the other AI decisions in the same circumstance are as follows: there is a 75% chance the unit is added to AI squads, 5% it is sent to a Bio Reactor, and 15% it will mindlessly attack the enemy, usually the former owner).
This changes when the mind controlled unit in question is at red health (or 25% health). The probability increases from 5% to 40% (5% it is added to AI squads, 40% it is sent to a Bio Reactor, and 5% it will mindlessly attack the enemy).
This also changes when the AI is low on money (2000 credits or less). The probability increases from 5% to 75% (15% it is added to AI squads, 5% it is sent to a Bio Reactor, and 5% it will mindlessly attack the enemy).
Bug[]
- On some occasions, the Grinder may be stuck in a frame showing all its shredders inside the structure. Despite this, the Grinder is still fully functional.
Changelog[]
- Yuri's Revenge patch 1.001:
- stray units will no longer get stuck in the Grinder and render it unusable.
- when a vehicle carrying additional units was sent into a Grinder, the Grinder will refund both the main unit and the carried units instead of just the former.
- when a Yuri Clone is loaded into a Battle Fortress, then mind-controls an enemy unit, and that Battle Fortress is sent into a Grinder, the player will no longer control that mind-controlled unit.
Gallery[]
Cameos[]
English | French | German | Korean | Chinese |
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See also[]
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