Other Strategies to Kill the Enemy With...
Back to my Red Alert Page Other ways to defend yourself...
Last Updated 5/2297
Riflemen-
Riflemen get ignored plenty of times for offense strategies. One riflemen
cannot do much alone, but a giant crowd of them can take down any unit
and any structure. Even a simple group of 5 rifelemen can do plenty of
damage if used correctly. Riflemen can withstand a lot of attacks
from tanks and turrets before they die. And many people are under the impression
that riflemen have no chance against tanks. Wrong! If you get a large number
of rilfemen tanks will be no match (unless they squish your forces). Their
concentrated fire works great against vehicles and structures. Most people
don't concern themselves against enemy riflemen. This will give your riflemen
an advantage since they are underestimated. Since Riflemen are so cheap,
use them to lure in the enemy. If your opponent has rocketmen set up use
riflemen to kill them. When tankrushing bring some riflemen along to take
out those pesky rocketmen.
At the beginning of a game the Riflemen are one of the most crucial units. Immediatly after you get a barracks, start pumping these guys out and sending them to the far corners of the map. Most likely the riflemen you send out will die but you'll have a good idea of what the map looks like and you'll probably find out where all the enemy bases are.
Rocketmen- These are useful infantry. In a large number, rocketmen can be quite devestating. Their rockets are very effective against vehicles and structures. If there is a pillbox or a flamethrower in your way, have the rocketmen blow it up. They'll attack those base defenses beyond their firing range. Also, they're the best air defense unit in the game.
Grenade Infantry- These guys are quite useful. They are a cross from the wartime fodder riflemen and the more expensive slow rocketmen. Grenaders can pack a punch with other infantry and structures. Grenaders seem ineffective against vehicles. Don't mix these guys in with a group of infantry. When these guys die they tend to combust messily and will effectivly blow up, possibly taking out your infantry army. A cool trick you can do with a grenader is to tell him to attack somewhere and when he winds up, change the target to anywhere on the screen. Your grenader will all of a sudden be a super pitcher and hurl the grenade across the screen. Just imagine attacking people with a hundred grenaders a whole screen away! (This also works with Rocketmen as well)
Medics- I hardly use these guys. Its quite useful to have some medics in a large infantry army to heal the wounded automatically. Its also a good idea to send a medic with a tanya so you can heal the tanya if she runs into any trouble.
Engineers- These units' primary purpose in offense is to capture buildings. There are two ways to do it. One, you could damage a structure so much that its in the red. Then slip in one engineer and you've got the structure (send in another to fix up the structure). This can be handy if the enemy has started making its second base and has a lone cy out there in the middle of nowhere with no or poor defenses. Taking the cy will be great benefit for you, and do thank the other player for him 'giving' you his base. :) Also, when attacking your opponent's main base(s), damage the structure thats the farthest out and take it over. Immediatly following, place pillboxes/flamethrowers around the structure and throughout your enemy's base. You'll kill him that way. The other way you can take over a building is to get five engineers (more or less) and tell them to all hop into your favorite enemy's structure. Sell the structure or add it to your collection, you'll be hurting the enemy either way. If used properly, engineers could well be the deadliest units in Red Alert.
Spys- Spys are a lot of fun to play with. With the exception of a few units and if your opponent doesn't let his units force fire on you, the enemy will not hurt your spys. Therefore, spys are the best scouts. Besides simple exploring, Spys have much better uses. They can infiltrate buildings and find crucial information. But what if the enemy knows I infiltrated him? you say. Then he'll be wanting to get rid of your spy. The only way to do that is for your opponent to sell the building that your spy is in. A pretty high cost. Each building you infiltrate gives you different informations. Lets say you infiltrate a...
Barracks- You see what units the enemy is producing. (Oh no, he's making a bunch of riflemen! He's going to KILL me! haha! infiltrating the barracks is pretty stupid and useless.)
Subpen- You get a Sonar Pulse. When you use a sonar pulse you get to see all the soviet subs. However, you can find out the same information by waving your 'move' cursor throughout the water. Anyways, your opponent can build the subpen away from the shore easily. This is useless as well.
Airfield- You get to see what air units your opponent is building and see what is on the airpad. This isn't that useful.
War Factory- You get to see what tanks/MCVs/vehicles your opponent is making. If someone got a spy into my war factory all they would see would be be building tanks nonstop with an occasional MCV and V-8 rocket. This isn't useless but not that useful either.
Construction Yard- Gee, what building is he making now? haha! This'll inform you on what structures your opponent is making. This is useful to know if he's going to try a base takeover strategy.
Ore Refinery and Silos- This'll allow you to be well informed at your opponent's economy. This is quite useful so you can make your economy accuratly better then your enemy's. Also, it'll be useful to know when your opponent is having 'financial difficulties'. Then its a good time to attack.
Radar Dome- This makes spies worthwile. Invading your opponent's radar dome and you will see everything he sees (until he puts up GAP generators) and you'll see where all his units are. Also, you get to listen in on your opponent's conversations. This is excellent in team RA games. You'll know what they are planning, you'll see your opponent's defenses, and you can then give him lots of trouble.
Thiefs- A commonly overlooked unit, thiefs can cause a lot of trouble. Simply inflitrate an enemy ore refinery or silo. If you have to make a choice choose silos over ore refineries since more ore stays in the silios while the ore in the refinery gets processed. These units are great in case you run out of ore (or are having economy problems).
These guys are great, especially if you've run out of ore. If your opponent has all the ore and has $10,000 and you have around $1000, the game can switfly turn favor if you get fives into your opponent's ore refinery. This is what will happen:
First Thief: $5,000 for your opponent, $6,000 for you.
Second Thief: $2,500 for your opponent, $8,500 for you.
Third Thief: $1,250 for your opponent, $9,750 for you.
Fourth Thief: $625 for your opponent, $10,375 for you.
Fifth Thief: $313 for your opponent, $10,688 for you.
Now who has all the money? :)
Note: When attacking other infantry ignore the 'focus fire' rule. Let the infantry fire away on their own. You'll do more damage.
Infantry Rush- This is a good way to paralyze or kill your oppoenent at the beginning of the game. To do the Infantry Rush you must:
1. After deploying MCV, build powerplant. Then build BARRACKS, THEN ore refinery.
2. Make sure you and your opponent are close to each other and that there are no major obstacles between you two.
If these two requirements are not met its not an Infantry Rush you are doing but an Infantry Waste.
Immediatly getting your barracks, start making riflemen so they can find your opponent. While the riflemen are off playing adventurer start building your infantry army. Usually for every three rifle men I'll make a grenader and a rocketman. But don't build too long. You don't want your opponent to built up yet. Now send your army to your opponents base. If your opponent only has the small powerplant destroy it and the opponent will be paralyzed. After doing that (or that he has plenty of power plants) take out his construction yard. I'm amazed at what those little infantry can do when they are in numbers.
Tanyas- The deadliest unit in Red Alert? Its a safe bet. Tanyas are great units to use, especially in a stalemate war. Sneaking the tanya inside the enemy's base won't be easy, but here are a few ways you can do it...
Use a Mobile Gap Generator- Keep your tanya and the MGG close to each other and move unsuspiciously towards the enemy's base. (This works a lot better if your opponent happens to be Soviet)
Midde of Battle- Most people I know just slip in tanyas in the middle of a major battle. It sure is annoying to be focused on the battle, knowing that you are going to win, when you go back to your base to find its not there. Haha!
Use Several APCs/Chinooks- Many people idiodically stuff a tanya in a vehicle and send it to the enemy's base. The enemy is going to focus all of his/her attention on that vehicle, and most likely you'll be unsuccessful. Why not just build three or four APCs or Chinooks, even if they have nothing in them, and send them ALL at your enemy's base. Your enemy will think there is a tanya in ALL of the vehicles or if the enemy knows there is one enemy he will have to play a guessing game. 'Oops, wrong APC! DOH! ' Just make sure YOU don't forget which one the tanya is in.
Base Takeover Strategy (Barracks)- Want to get that tanya into the enemy's base? If only your barracks was inside the enemy's base... What you can do is make a barracks inside your enemy's base. Simple as that. Will the enemy let you do that? I doubt it. Do it anyway. Sure you could cronoshift a MCV into their base, but that's not as fun as doing this. If you have enough money and construction yards, keep on making barracks. Keep on making barracks in a line straight for the enemy's base. If they air attack your barracks, no problem. Barracks build quickly and you'll make three of them when your opponent air attacks one. Tanks can be a problem but hopefully you'll be building too quickly for the tanks to keep up. (If all else fails, make your tanks attack his to occupy his forces while your barracks keep on building.) Remember, you can build over ridges, rivers, trees, and more. When you finally get inside your enemy's base, just start pumping out the tanyas. (Note: Due to having 15+ barracks, you will make tanyas VERY quickly! :)
The best (and most successful) ways that I've gotten a tanya inside the enemy's base are found on this page.
Back to...
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
Tank Offense | Nontank Vehicles Offense | Water Offense | Air Offense | Other Ways to Defend Yourself |