Terror Drone (Red Alert 2)

	For Red Alert 3 version, see Terror drone (Red Alert 3).

Terror Drone
Unit
Internal ID	DRON
Faction	Soviet Union
Role	Anti-infantry and armor drone
Armament	Drill
Tier	1
Tech level	4
Properties
Hit points	100
Armor type	Special
Amphibious	No
Production
Cost	$500
Build time	0:20
Produced by	Soviet war factory
Combat
Ground attack	50 (Parasite)
Cooldown	60
Speed	10
Attack range	1,83
Sight range	4
Function
Abilities	Instantly kills infantry Immune to mind control and radiation

“

Sir! The Soviets have released their terror drones. If our tanks get too close, these mechanical arachnids will tear them to shreds. - Eva Lee(src)

”

The Terror Drone is a Soviet AI-piloted anti-personnel and vehicle unmanned combat ground vehicle in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge.

Official description

“

Terror Drones are a new robotic unit created by the Soviet military. These small, mechanical spiders scuttle across the battlefield looking for enemy vehicles. When a vehicle comes within range, the Terror Drone leaps into action, jumping inside the vehicle and dismantling it from the inside. Only a Service Depot or Outpost can remove a Terror Drone once it attacks. - Red Alert 2 manual(src)

”

Game unit

“

Comrade, I have just received a demonstration brief of our new anti-armor weapon. They are affectionately referred to as 'Terror drones'. Do you like, Comrade? I thought you might like to play rough in battle. - Zofia

”

Terror Drones are very cheap, costing only $500 per unit or, if the Industrial Plant is built, a mere $375. They can be used to attack ore miners, the only downside being that they would exit a chrono miner when the latter chronoshifted back to the ore refinery.

Due to the Terror Drone's extremely fast speed, it is very difficult to catch them before they reach their targets, but their lack of armor makes them easy to destroy. Small-arms fire, electrical bolts, prism beams and Mirage Tanks' guns are sufficiently accurate to quickly destroy terror drones, while tank shells and missiles are somewhat less so. Air units are ideal for scouting the map for terror drones and destroying them, since they are immune to their attacks.

Aside from a Service Depot or Tech Outpost, an Infantry Fighting Vehicle with an engineer inside it is also fit for the task. The drone will also be destroyed if the vehicle it infects is destroyed by an outside attack, so in desperate situations, deliberately destroying one's own infected vehicles by force-firing on them will prevent other units from being attacked. If the targeted vehicle is affected by Iron Curtain, the Terror Drone will also despawn. Although rare and impractical, an infected amphibious unit may be cured by Dolphin sonic attacks.

Bug

On rare occasions, if a Terror Drone happens to leap on an enemy infantry unit that is adjacent to a body of water, the drone will disappear. This leaves the possibility that the drone tackled the infantry into the water, killing them both simultaneously.

AI behavior

In skirmish, Terror Drones controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:

Easy

• 1x targeting vehicles

Medium/Hard

• 4x targeting vehicles
• 2x guarding Ore Refineries, War Factories, Tesla Reactors and Sentry Guns
  • This strike force will only be constructed if the enemy owns 6 or more Rhino Tanks

Hard

• 2x guarding Ore Refineries, War Factories, Tesla Reactors and Sentry Guns
  • This strike force will only be constructed if the enemy owns 8 or more Grizzly Tanks

Aftermath

Terror Drones return in Red Alert 3, capable of swimming and replacing the squid in attacking enemy ships.

Changelog

• Red Alert 2 patch 1.004: a glitch preventing the game from ending while an MCV is deployed while infected with a terror drone is fixed.

Gallery

• 

  Early concept art

• 

  Final concept art

• 

  Terror Drones attacking a Grizzly battle tank

• 

  Render

• 

  Installer slide

• 

  SHP sprite

Cameos

English	French	German	Korean	Chinese

Beta cameo:

Trivia

• The Dolphin's attack will eject the Terror Drone from an infected unit, if the Dolphin's IsSonic weapon can hit the unit.
• When attacking, the drone essentially "becomes the bullet" until it reaches and kills the target. During this phase, the drone is immune to even a nuke blast.
  • This mechanic, called LimboLaunch, is shared with both Giant Squid and Attack Dog.
  • The reason the "drone-turned-bullet" turns immune is because the Westwood C&C engine has no mechanics in place to attack, harm and destroy bullets (Projectiles). That logic is added in the fan-made engine extension Phobos DLL.

See also

• Robot tank, Allied counterpart
• Chaos drone, Yuri counterpart