This is the transcript of "Units & Abilities", the third Tutorial mission in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Uprising and Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3 - Commander's Challenge.
Mission script[]
Introduction[]
[The Guardian Tank, Hammer Tank and Tsunami tank enters.]
- Guardian Tank: Why hello again, Commander! In this lesson, you're gonna get acquainted with your units and some of the abilities tha make them unique. Every unit in Red Alert 3 has some sort of special ability, in addition to its primary ability. The majority of your units' primary abilities is to attack their targets. A unit's special ability may put a nasty status effect on an enemy, switch to an alternate weapon, or even transform into an entirely different unit.
- Tsunami Tank: Let us go over how to use special abilities now.
Primary Objective 1: Learn to Use Special Abilities[]
[An Allied Cryocopter flies onto the battlefield.]
- Tsunami Tank: Select that Allied Cryocopter, if you please. The Cryocopter's special ability is the Shrink Beam. With the Cryocopter selected, left-click on its special ability button in the bottom right of your screen, or press the F key/open the Command Menu and select its special ability, or hold the Right Bumper/R1 button and press the X/square button. Notice that the Shrink Beam is a targeted special ability, which means you have to left-click on/press the A/X button over a target to use it. Other types of special abilities take effect as soon as you press the ability button. Now then, use the Shrink Beam on my good friend the Soviet Hammer Tank.
- Hammer Tank: Wait, what...? No way, not me again!
[Upon being hit by the Shrink Beam]
- Hammer Tank: Aaah, I'm melting!
- Guardian Tank: As stated earlier, not all special abilities need to be targeted like the Cryocopter's Shrink Beam. Some abilities cause units to switch weapon modes.
[Three Apocalypse Tanks appear, though the heavily damaged one diverges from the other two tanks and fires at the house. A Hydrofoil appears on the lake in front of the instructor tanks and shoots down three MiG Fighters.]
- Guardian Tank: Blimey, that tank looks like he's lost control! And all you've got is an Allied Hydrofoil! Its primary weapon is an anti-air cannon that won't do you any good here. However, if you use its special ability, it'll switch from its gun to the Weapon Jammer. Select the Hydrofoil now and ready the Weapon Jammer by left-clicking on its special ability button or hitting the F key/selecting it in the Command Menu, or pressing the X/square button while holding the Right Bumper/R1 button.
[Upon using the ability]
- Guardian Tank: Proper. Now, have your Hydrofoil fire on that Soviet Apocalypse Tank on the shore.
[Upon affecting the Apocalypse Tank with the Weapon Jammer]
- Guardian Tank: Hah! So much for that tea party. As you can see, the Apocalypse Tank can no longer fire. Not so scary now, is 'e? So remember: Even the toughest enemy units may be vulnerable to your units' special abilities. Learn them all, and never give up.
[The Tsunami Tank fires at the Apocalypse Tank, destroying it.]
- Tsunami Tank: If you're finished with your motivational speech, perhaps we can continue? Commander, let's go over a unit whose special ability is...to transform! One basic example is the MCV, though let us take a look at a more exciting case in one of the Empire of the Rising Sun's versatile Mecha Tengu units.
[A Mecha Tengu spawns in front of the instructor tanks. The screen cuts to another part of the map showing four Mecha Tengu units killing a group of War Bears then transforming into the Jet Tengu and destroying a squadron of Vindicators.]
- Tsunami Tank: The Mecha Tengu is an amphibious hovering anti-infantry unit that can transform into the Jet Tengu, a flying air-superiority fighter. Not only does the transform ability affect how it navigates the battlefield, it also means the unit changes from having anti-ground weapons to anti-air weapons.
[Screen cuts back to the field instructor tanks and the blue Mecha Tengu controllable by the player.]
- Tsunami Tank: Select the Mecha Tengu and use its special ability.
[Upon transforming into the Jet Tengu]
- Tsunami Tank: Impressive, no? Now... order your Jet Tengu to destroy that misearble Cryocopter!
[A Cryocopter flies and uses the Shrink Beam on the Guardian Tank.]
- Tsunami Tank: Oh, and don't worry -- it is merely a training robot carefully disguised to look like a real vehicle.
[Upon destroying the Cryocopter.]
- Guardian Tank: No robots are gonna get past you, Commander! You should know, there are some units at your disposal whose primary ability either isn't a weapon at all, or will change depending on what you tell it to attack.
Primary Objective 2: Learn about Garrisoning[]
[Three Dolphins and a Combat Engineer appear.]
- Guardian Tank: For example, each faction has its own type of Engineer unit, like this swarthy fellow over here.
[The screen cuts over to another section of the battlefield, showing three Combat Engineers each capturing an Airbase, a Boot Camp and a Seaport.]
- Guardian Tank: Engineers are special units that can capture any enemy structure or neutral tech structure. Much like with moving or attacking, you can select your Engineer and right-click/press the A button/press the X button on a capturable structure. That'll make him go after it. Look there seems to be an Oil Derrick you can capture out in the water. Oil Derricks are neutral tech structures that provide additional income. Go get it!
[When the Combat Engineer is nearing the Oil Derrick.]
- Guardian Tank: Off he goes! Note that Engineers are amphibious, so they automatically switch to a keen aquatic form when they get to water. Not all units are amphibious of course. Notice you can issue capture commands into the fog of war. Assuming the structure is still there when you get to it.
[When the Combat Engineer captures the Oil Derrick.]
- Hammer Tank: Hey... Where did that Engineer go, anyway...? [The Guardian Tank and Tsunami Tank fire at the Hammer Tank.] Ow!
- Tsunami Tank: He went into the structure, you fool! And there he shall remain, forever! For that is the Way of the Engineer.
- Guardian Tank: You may have noticed that when you highlighted that enemy structure with your Engineer selected, your cursor changed to a garrison cursor. That garrison cursor indicates a structure you can enter. Your basic infantry can't garrison enemy structures or neutral tech structures like the Engineer can, but they can garrison civilian structures such as hotels and houses.
- Hammer Tank: Fear not, for civilians have long since abandoned such structures once they heard we were coming.
[The screen cuts over to another section of the battlefield, showing three Tankbusters being chased by three Peacekeepers, three Flak Troopers being chased by three Imperial Warriors and three Javelin Soldiers being chased by three Conscripts. The former groups of infantry garrison the structure while the pursuing groups of infantry fire at the building.]
- Guardian Tank: When infantry garrison these structures, they receive extra protection as the building they're in will take damage instead of the units themselves, should they come under fire. Garrisoning your units into civilian structures is a good tactic both from an offensive and defensive perspective. It helps to secure locations, force enemies to take an alternate path, or give your units more cover near your base should the enemy send a force to destroy you.
[The screen cuts back to the tank instructors, where a Century Bomber flies by and para-drops three Peacekeepers.]
- Guardian Tank: Now garrison that nearby structure by issuing a move order whilst having some Peacekeepers selected.
[When the Peacekeepers enter the house.]
- Guardian Tank: Good, they're in. And here comes trouble.
[Several Conscripts come towards the house, though they are attacked and killed.]
- Guardian Tank: As you can see, those enemy training robots fired upon the structure rather than directly at your Peacekeepers. Watch out, though, because each faction has ways of clearing out garrisoned structures.
[The screen cuts back to the prior infantry fighting scene, where the attacking infantry use their special abilities to switch weapon modes to clear out the garrisoned structures, as well as a pair of King Oni units attacking and destroying a fourth house.]
- Hammer Tank: The Allies and Empire can try rushing their Peacekeepers or Imperial Warriors into a garrisoned structure, while the Soviet Conscripts can use their Molotov Cocktails.
- Tsunami Tank: Of course, you could just blow the structures up if you cannot be bothered by such details.
[The screen cuts back to the tank instructors]
- Guardian Tank: Now, let's say you need to get your Peacekeepers out of the structure. Just select the structure and use the Evacuate command, just like using a special ability on a unit. Do this now.
[Upon evacuating the Peacekeepers, a Multigunner IFV appears.]
- Guardian Tank: Some of your units can also be garrisoned by your infantry. The Multigunner IFV is a unique Allied vehicle whose weapon takes on the characteristics of whichever infantry unit hops inside. Order one of your Peacekeepers into that IFV and watch what happens.
[Upon loading one Peacekeeper into the Multigunner IFV]
- Hammer Tank: ...If I may? Normaly the IFV's weapon works best against aircraft. But once you garrisoned your Peacekeeper into it, it changed to an anti-infantry weapon.
[The Multigunner IFV heads northwards, shoots and kills some Conscripts and then leaves the map. A Riptide ACV from the south bound of the battlefield and stops in front of the instructor tanks.]
- Hammer Tank: While the IFV can only contain one infantry unit at a time, other vehicles can hold more, and can transport your infantry around the battlefield. For example, the Riptide ACV is admittedly a good transport for getting infantry quickly and safely from one point to another, although infantry cannot fire out of it. Garrison your remaining infantry into the Riptide now.
[Upon loading the two Peacekeepers into the Riptide ACV]
- Hammer Tank: Now that they're garrisoned, let's move your Riptide across this lake and over to the shore on the other side. Look for the marker on the Radar. Riptides are a special type of unit in that they're amphibious, meaning they can traverse both land and water.
[Three Twinblades each carry one of the instructor tanks to the other side of the river. Three Riptide ACVs and three Stingrays appear from the south and north bound of the battlefield respectively and clash with each other in the river.]
- Hammer Tank: As my comrade said, not all units are amphibious, so it's good to make not of the ones that are. Some units behave differently on land and water. For instance, when your Riptide is on water, its torpedo tubes open to give it additional firepower.
[When the initial Riptide ACV reaches the island on the other side of the lake]
- Hammer Tank: All transports have the not-so-special ability to evacuate their passengers. Use the Evacuate ability now.
[Upon evacuating the Peacekeepers out of the Riptide ACV, the three units move out of the battlefield while Tanya appears from the other side of the island.]
Primary Objective 3: Learn about Contextual Attacks[]
- Tsunami Tank: Finally let us discuss contextual attacks. A contextual attack is what you get when your cursor changes to something other than a normal attack cursor. Select the Allied commando who has showed up so very unexpectedly.
[After selecting Tanya, several Conscript dummies appear from the west side of the island, some of them garrisoning the house while the remaining Conscripts stand around it.]
- Tsunami Tank: This "Agent Tanya" has different ways of attacking targets, depending on the type of target. When you order her to attack enemy infantry such as these lifelike robots, your cursor will be that of a normal attack cursor. However, when you highlight an enemy vehicle or structure, you get a demolition cursor. When ordered to demolish a target, Tanya will move very close to the target, set some charges and blow it up. This is an example of a contextual attack. Go ahead and dispose of those forces using the commando.
[After Tanya disposes the Soviet Conscript dummies, she moves off-screen at the west end of the island while a Spy appears from the east end of the island.]
- Guardian Tank: Other units, such as our Allied Spies like this one here, also have contextual attacks. Select the Spy, then use his contextual attack on one of those enemy training dummies.
[After the Spy "attacks" the dummy.]
- Guardian Tank: Hahaha, now who's the dummy, am I right? As you can see, the Spy's primary ability is to disguise himself as the enemy. Alternatively, if you highlight an enemy structure, you can try to infiltrate it to disrupt the enemy's base.
- Tsunami Tank: Infiltration has different effects depending on which type of structure is infiltrated. Experiment with all the possibilites. Incidentally, the Empire of the Rising Sun's Shinobi unit may also infiltrate structures. Only the tactless Soviets lack an infiltrator.
[The Tsuanmi Tank fires at the Hammer Tank.]
- Hammer Tank: Ooh... but why?
- Guardian Tank: C'mon, lads, we have to get through this. Commander, that's the end of this lesson. See you in the next one.
[The instructor tanks fire confetti and then disappear into the west bound of the island.]
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