Dolphin (Red Alert 2)

Dolphin
Unit
Internal ID	DLPH
Faction	Allied Forces
Role	Anti-ship unit
Armament	Sonic wave amplifier
Protection	Natural skin
Tier	3
Tech level	8
Properties
Hit points	200
Armor type	Light
Production
Cost	$500
Build time	0:20
Produced by	Allied naval shipyard
Requires	Allied battle lab
Combat
Ground attack	4 (8 when elite) (SonicWarhead)
Cooldown	120 (80 when elite)
Sea speed	8
Attack range	6
Sight range	4
Function
Abilities	Force fire on ships attacked by giant squids Detects submarines, squids and dolphins

The dolphin is an Allied anti-ship naval unit in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge.

Background

Allied scientists realized that the intelligent dolphins would be useful as a swift underwater scout unit when properly trained, and so dolphins became part of the Allied arsenal in the fight against global communism.

Dolphins are trained from Naval shipyards, where they can also be healed.

Aftermath

After Einstein's erasure in the new timeline, the dolphin is now capable of high jumping to avoid land attacks.

Game unit

“

Intelligence informed me that effective countermeasures involves specially-trained dolphins which are now at your disposal. - Eva Lee(src)

”

Being no larger than any other sea animal (less than 15 feet long and weighing less than 1500 lbs), dolphins are basically invisible to radar and sonar, until they get close enough to an enemy unit for them to discern the idiosyncrasies of the dolphin. Due to their natural ability for echolocation, the Allies managed to fit the dolphins with equipment that would amplify the sonar pulses enough to damage Soviet craft.

These attacks were particularly effective against the Soviet Giant Squid, due to the squids' natural sensitivity to water-based vibrations. The focused sonic attacks of the dolphins caused the squids considerable pain. The squid, disoriented, would release its grasp on any ship it might be holding captive at the time.

Dolphins were also highly effective in groups, as their sonic pulses could damage multiple targets at once. Surrounding a submarine or other naval force with dolphins tended to have a greater than 1:1 damage ratio.

The dolphins were first deployed in the Florida Keys which was a few short kilometers from Cuba when a giant squid attacked a civilian cruise ship. They rescued the ship from being torn apart and went on to harass the Soviet fleet.

Counters

The dolphins were not armored or fitted with any serious body protection, and rely on speed and stealth to survive encounters with enemy forces. The Soviets soon found that their Sea Scorpions' flak cannons are highly lethal to the dolphins. Torpedoes from Typhoon submarines also works, but rather less efficient when it comes to large schools of dolphins.

AI behavior

In skirmish, the dolphin is not used by the AI.

Trivia

• In real life, the military dolphin is trained for military purposes. The United States and Russian militaries have trained and employed oceanic dolphins for several reasons. Such military dolphins have been trained to rescue lost naval swimmers or to locate underwater mines.
• Dolphin's IsSonic weapon may eject Terror Drones from infected (land) units. Unknown what happens when a Dolphin hits an infected Amphibious Transport (since Terror Drones are disallowed from attacking targets on water).

Gallery

• 

  Manual/website render

Cameos

English	French	German	Korean	Chinese

Alpha veteran cameo:

See also

• Attack dog
• Giant squid