| “ | Takin' 'em down! - IFV attacking an enemy | ” |
The Infantry Fighting Vehicle (abbreviated as IFV) is a versatile and lightly armoured recon vehicle used by the Allies during the Third World War and the Psychic Dominator Disaster. It is designed as a support unit capable of performing a variety of roles, including anti-infantry, anti-air, and vehicle repair, depending on the infantry unit garrisoned within.
Background
The IFV can be garrisoned by one infantry unit. This will cause its weapon to change. Without any infantry inside, it is primarily an anti-aircraft unit and fires a weaker version of the missiles used by the Patriot Missile System against both ground and air targets. While fast, the IFV is very lightly armoured. It requires support from other vehicles or the element of surprise in order to last long. However in the early game, the IFV can be used for scouting and recon missions, thanks to its high speed and good sight radius.
An IFV that has been promoted to heroic however becomes surprisingly effective as both an Anti-Air and Anti-Ground unit; capable of destroying Kirov airships and other durable air units with just a few salvoes of missiles. It also becomes dramatically more effective against ground targets, killing groups of infantry in a single salvo, tanks and most large buildings in a few, like the Barracks, War Factory, or Ore Refinery. That said, it should be micromanaged because of its light armor.
Game unit
Infantry effects
See this article's video gallery for demonstrations of each combination.
- GI, Conscript, or Spy: machine gun
- Guardian GI: advanced anti-armour/anti-air missile launcher
- Engineer: crane/welder for repairing vehicles (also known as healers)
- Note: Having too many engineering IFVs is highly discouraged as your army will have no offensive capabilities.
- Attack dog or Slave: none (retains the missile launcher)
- Sniper: sniper rifle with improved range and rate of fire
- Chrono Legionnaire: Chrono gun
- Tanya, Navy SEAL, Chrono Commando or Boris: advanced machine gun
- Flak trooper: flak cannon (incapable of firing at air units.)
- Tesla trooper: powerful anti-surface Tesla weapon
- Desolator: anti-infantry rad-cannon with improved range and rate of fire
- Crazy Ivan, Chrono Ivan, or Terrorist: suicide bomb (Desolator worked on v1.00)
- Note: The effect also irradiates the ground. However, it is smaller in range but longer duration than Demolition truck's.
- Initiate: enhanced pyrokinesis
- Virus: Virus rifle with improved range and rate of fire
- Any Yuri unit variant: anti-infantry psychic blast
When garrisoned with a President, Cow, or other animal, the IFV will gain a Prism weapon similar to that of the Prism Tower, but more powerful. This does not usually happen during regular gameplay. Mind-controlling civilian units does not work, because mind-controlled infantry cannot be garrisoned.
Aftermath
It is not known to operate after the events of the Psychic Dominator Disaster. After Cherdenko changed the timeline, the Allies improved upon the designs of the IFV resulting into the Multigunner Infantry Fighting Vehicle by the time of the War of the Three Powers.
Assessment
Pros
- Good against infantry, light vehicles and aircraft
- Versatile due to quick weapon switches and addresses all kinds of weaknesses and problems.
- Cheap ($600) to mass produce for some quick firepower in numbers.
- Very fast hit and run vehicles for scouting and raiding.
- In a desperate situation, 8 to 10 IFVs can shoot down a Kirov very quickly
- Its anti-air missiles have a faster firing rate than the Apocalypse tank.
- A group of them loaded with Guardian GIs are able to harass Apocalypse Tanks due to their speed and range.
- Powerful anti infantry and easily gains veterancy when loaded with a Sniper or Navy SEAL.
- Makes the Sniper very useful, by addressing his issues with rate of fire and movement speed on foot.
- Loading an engineer converts IFV into a mobile repair vehicle, enabling quick field repairs free of charge, also effectively counters Terror Drones. Note: it cannot repair aircraft unlike Tech Machine Shops which can auto repair.
- Multiple engineer-loaded IFVs can stack up repair effects, restore health of friendly vehicles with incredible speed (those defensive units can withstand massive amounts of damage, even doubling that of their normal health)
- Good escorts for fellow Allied vehicles with a mix of loaded and unloaded IFVs in different configurations.
- Default rocket IFV gains surprisingly massively heavy firepower when promoted to Elite; very effective against all targets. Its firepower is sufficient enough to one-shot Harriers as well as to destroy and heavily damage heavy tanks and structures with a few volleys.
- Interestingly able to win against a Rocketeer in a duel at the same cost.
- Great for destroying buildings in groups.
Cons
- Useless against tanks if not loaded with anti-tank infantry and unable to go toe-to-toe even when loaded with one.
- Lightly armoured.
- Weaker than Gattling Tanks in the default configuration.
- Vulnerable to mind-control unless loaded with long range infantry such as Sniper against infantry, or Guardian GI against tanks.
- Frequent target from Rogue Black Eagles since they can destroy IFVs with one shot. Patriot Missile Systems or Guardian GI are more suitable against them.
- Has a tendency to outpace slower, tougher (meatshield) units.
- Poor choice of harassing War Miners and Slave Miners, as their machine guns are strong against them, and they have strong armor as well.
- Base defenses can be a problem
Selected quotes
Note: If Yuri's Revenge is not installed, this unit will use quotes from the Grizzly battle tank.
| “ | Everything's made to fit - When selected | ” |
| “ | IFV ready - When selected | ” |
| “ | Need a conversion? - When selected | ” |
| “ | We can make adjustments - When selected | ” |
| “ | Transformer panels in order - When selected | ” |
| “ | Tools of the trade - When selected | ” |
| “ | Fast and light - When moving | ” |
| “ | Made for speed - When moving | ” |
| “ | On the go - When moving | ” |
| “ | Yup - When moving | ” |
| “ | Running smooth - When moving | ” |
| “ | Watch my dust - When moving | ” |
| “ | It's a sure shot! - When ordered to attack | ” |
| “ | We've got 'em - When ordered to attack | ” |
| “ | Of course - When ordered to attack | ” |
| “ | Takin' 'em down - When ordered to attack | ” |
| “ | Hittin' 'em hard - When ordered to attack | ” |
Gallery
Add an image to this galleryVideo gallery
Trivia
- During the beta phase of Red Alert 2, the IFV sported a different design, having treads instead of tires and a different chassis. This tracked version resembles the German Marder IFV.
- The lower part of the IFV for the final version of icon were taken from a Soviet / Russian 9K31 Strela-1 stock model.
- IFVs' missiles are weak against tanks in most cases, which is strange for many modern real-life IFVs have anti-tank missiles lethal to armors. This could be a consideration of balancing.
- Placing a Tesla Trooper into an IFV modifies the turret into a domed turret reminiscent to the Tesla tanks from the first Red Alert.
