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For other uses, see Tesla coil. |
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The iconic Tesla Coil returns in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 as one of the pinnacles of Soviet technology that is used as their main advanced base defense structure.
Background[]
The Tesla Coil is based on the designs by Nikola Tesla. As it was not invented by Professor Albert Einstein, Cherdenko's erasure of the professor did not harm the Soviet research of Tesla technology by the (altered) time of the Third World War in any way. As such the Tesla Coil is still in operation and the success of Tesla technology soon expanded to the electrifying Tesla Troopers, the amphibious Stingrays, and the prototype Tesla tank models.
The Tesla Coil is an electrifying threat to the Allies in the few offensives they had managed to mount before they were pushed back to Western Europe by the Soviets. Infantry is fried to ashes while the intensity of the electric current is enough to heavily damage Allied tanks and vehicles. Thus the Tesla Coil, and its branches, demoralise the Allied forces and the Soviets prefer to keep it that way. In terms of naval warfare, the base defense structure can now be built on water to protect the Soviet naval yards from Allied naval attacks.
Deployment history[]
Tesla coils were more common at important Soviet strongholds such as the Soviet HQ in Heidelberg and Leningrad. In operation The Shark and the Lure, Allied spies sabotaged the Soviet naval base's power supply allowing Tanya to pass through the coils without harm. In The Famous Liberation, the Allies rendered the Tesla Coils offline by destroying the Super Reactors powering the electric towers allowing the Guardian Tanks to assault the HQ without being electrocuted. The same tactic was used in the Allies' final battle with the Soviets in The Moon Shall Never Have Them.
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The following is based on the Soviet campaign of Red Alert 3 and might contradict canon. |
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In the Soviet campaign the Tesla Coil was a great asset for the Soviet commander in defending his base from enemy attacks, including against rogue Soviet forces, in many missions starting from March of the Red Army.
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The following is based on the Imperial campaign of Red Alert 3 and might contradict canon. |
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In the Imperial campaign however, the pinnacle of Soviet technology was turned against its creators when the coils, instead of severely damaging a rampaging Shogun Executioner in Odessa and Moscow, actually healed the monstrosity from other Soviet attacks. This allowed the Executioner to continue its path of destruction through the USSR, constantly healed along the way by the Tesla currents so the Tesla Coil was itself a factor that caused the Soviet Union to fall to the Empire of the Rising Sun.
Game structure[]
Tesla coils are advanced base defense structures and were even deployed at important choke points or strategic locations. Electrifying against all ground forces that were foolish enough to get within the coil's range, it can electrocute enemy infantry in one attack and, when charged up to its full power by Tesla Troopers lending their own electricity, could destroy any enemy vehicle, tank or ship in one fully charged-up blast. Furthermore the extra electricity supplied by the Troopers can increase the coil's sight range and can strike at tanks before they could fire even one shot.
Unlike other advanced base defences, the Tesla coil can be accessed earlier, as it only requires the Super reactor, instead of the Battle Lab to be build.
However like the Allied Spectrum Tower and the Empire's Wave-Force towers, the coil has a long cooldown period before it could strike again. But this can be shortened if the Tesla troopers were willing to lend their own electricity to power up the coil.
The Tesla coil was also vulnerable to enemy aircraft (since it could not strike air targets), and to long range bombardments by the Allied Athena Cannons and Aircraft Carriers, rogue V4 Rocket Launchers and Dreadnoughts and the Imperial Wave-Force artillery and Shogun Battleships. Also like its Allied and Imperial counterparts, the Tesla coil consumed up much of a Soviet commander's base's power and can be rendered offline and easier to destroy if an enemy commander decided to take out the base's power plants first before attacking, although Tesla coils can be powered entirely by Tesla-bearing units, even without any source of power.
Tesla Coils can now be built on water, becoming a potential threat to any naval unit that is within range of the weapon. While it is still vulnerable to long-range naval units, it can detect submerged units and destroy them in a few seconds.
Trivia[]
- In RA3 beta, tesla coils can link between them like Prism Towers.
See also[]
 Soviet Red Alert 3 Arsenal | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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