Decoy Engineers, Germany

Decoy Engie Rush

Video is at 2x speed. This is how to use sneaky engineers. Remember that war is all about deception. There are many counters to this strategy so you must always have a plan B. In this case it was a tank defense. I didn't start to build because of recoil tanks.

I never see many players use dual tank groups. But, I do see them manipulating infantry and tanks. In this case I just substituted engineers for infantry. The ore refinery was undefended so this was easier than expected, but in case it's heavily guarded, capture any other building and start crawling from that one, maybe by using pillboxes or ore silos, anything that will create a threat.

DUAL TANKING

Recently I've been playing a lot of P4. IT has been for the sake of learning the art of DUAL TANKING. This tactic is a good tactic for players who haven't MASTERED THE ART OF 'Q' because it involves evading tank battles. Of course you have the disadvantage of losing a lot of your tanks as a result of splitting your forces, but it can earn you valuable time while you draw the tanks away after an assault.

DUAL TANKING is assigning TWO INDIVIDUAL groups of tanks. This tactic presents the following benefits:

1. Use one group of tanks as a decoy and the other as an attack force.
2. Manipulate your opponent's tanks by sending one tank group north and another south, after you split their defenses.
3. Confuse your opponent, send one group north to attack CY and another to attack the ORE.


One thing I forgot to say, this tactic requires complete dominance over the following hotkeys:

ctrl, shift, 1, 2, Q, W, E, R

Decoy and Attack

The recipe:

1. Start by cracking open with a tank group of about 6 tanks.

2. Label them group 1 and start stirring them in the center of the map.

3. Quickly (very quickly) select three tanks and label them group 2.

4. Pour your tank group over the opponent's base at the same time, one group attacking north and the other south.

Additional Observations

- Use the decoy tanks to help open up your opponent's defenses and let your ally come forward to attack.

HJK tutorial

The HJK, no one knows who made this map, it consists of 6 individual pods. Players battle for the middle ore while being protected by ridges on all sides. The map is good for 1v1s and many play 2v2s on it as well.

Main Strategies for competitive 1v1s

Russia -> Build
Ukraine -> Tank

Germany -> Tank

Russia

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +service, -service, +war, +advanced power, +Tesla, - Tesla (After the opponent retreats, sell this tesla.)

Germany

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +war, -barracks, +advance power, +4 war

General tips:

First off you should make an ore truck along with the service depot. Be prepared to take some hits if your opponent is tanking you. It's recommended that you close your gate with 2 or 3 tanks for armor support; don't face tanks with only infantry, tanks buy you time. At this time, you can scout the map with infantry or pile them near the opponent's base to put pressure on his defense, you're making a defense anyways so you may as well buy yourself time too. Try to deploy your MCV as early as possible. Not deploying makes you lose time, as if it were still building, so there is always a high priority on MCV deploying. Make a couple of silos to hold your ore. Adjust the strategy according to the opponent's reactions to your infantry. If he kills them and pushes more, reinforce your base. If he stockpiles near his base, then you can make an additional war factory instead of Tesla. After that, make sufficient units to protect your Ore Factories which you are supposed to crawl to the top left of the ore patches, including the middle one. After you've established a good base, stockpile v2s and ore. Use Teslas only if opponent is too aggressive.

MAP dynamics (Why Top Left is the most crucial)

"I've played games where my opponent is pretty even in tanking and building. What made the difference in the end was who could produce the most units and it turned out that it's the one who holds the most ore. When you expect the match to go on longer than a tank rush, then you should start to worry about finding and defending ore spots, especially the middle since it provides the most ore." -[AFO]THNDER

In this map, it's important to remember that ore trucks collect ore heading towards the top left corner of the ore patches. With this in mind, let's see how it affects your builds depending on your spot.

- In general, you're entrance should be well protected. Not so much exaggerating but enough to kill 4 or 5 tanks headed for your base.

Top Left: You have the build advantage. You are closer to the top left most patch of the ore.
Top Right: A good spot for tanking. If the game lasts slonger than about 8 minutes, then your trucks will need a new spot to harvest ore from soon. Consider inflicting damage to your opponent while looking for the next best spot to harvest ore.
Bottom Left: An excellent corner for building. If you are playing a 1v1 and you get this spot, your opponent is in the Top Right spot. This means that you have more than enough time to set up a defense for a tank rush and completely halt it. Also, you can crawl your build to the Top Left corner of the map.
Bottom Right: This spot is also preferred by builders, for it's south advantage. It's the furthest spot away from the Top Left gem patch in the middle. After you set up an anti-rush build, your next goal should be to stockpile some sort of unit (Heavy Tank, V2s, Mammoth Tank) while at the same time harvesting as much ore that is closest to your opponent. This strategy is called resource absorption, where you harvest all the ore and convert it to units at the same rate you harvest it.

HJK tutorial

The HJK was originally created by DefMike* it consists of 6 individual pods. Players battle for the middle ore while being protected by ridges on all sides. The map is good for 1v1s and many play 2v2s on it as well.

Main Strategies for competitive 1v1s

Russia -> Build
Ukraine -> Tank
Germany -> Tank

Russia

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +service, -service, +war, +advanced power, +Tesla, - Tesla (After the opponent retreats, sell this tesla.)

Germany

Build order: +power, +barracks, +ore, +war, +war, -barracks, +advance power, +4 war

General tips:

First off you should make an ore truck along with the service depot. Be prepared to take some hits if your opponent is tanking you. It's recommended that you close your gate with 2 or 3 tanks for armor support; don't face tanks with only infantry, tanks buy you time. At this time, you can scout the map with infantry or pile them near the opponent's base to put pressure on his defense, you're making a defense anyways so you may as well buy yourself time too. Try to deploy your MCV as early as possible. Not deploying makes you lose time, as if it were still building, so there is always a high priority on MCV deploying.

Make a couple of silos to hold your ore. Adjust the straegy accordding to the opponent's reactions to your infantry. If he kills them and pushes more, reinforce your base. If he stockpiles near his base, then you can make an additional war factory instead of Tesla. After that, make sufficient units to protect your Ore Factories which you are supposed to crawl to the top left of the ore patches, including the middle one. After you've established a good base, stockpile v2s and ore. Use Teslas only if opponent is too aggressive.

MAP dynamics (Why Top Left is the most crucial)

"I've played games where my opponent is pretty even in tanking and building. What made the difference in the end was who could produce the most units and it turned out that it's the one who holds the most ore. When you expect the match to go on longer than a tank rush, then you should start to worry about finding and defending ore spots, especially the middle since it provides the most ore." -[AFO]THNDER

In this map, it's important to remember that ore trucks collect ore heading towards the top left corner of the ore patches. With this in mind, let's see how it affects your builds depending on your spot.

- In general, you're entrance should be well protected. Not so much exaggerating but enough to kill 4 or 5 tanks headed for your base.

Top Left: You have the build advantage. You are closer to the top left most patch of the ore.
Top Right: A good spot for tanking. If the game lasts slonger than about 8 minutes, then your trucks will need a new spot to harvest ore from soon. Consider inflicting damage to your opponent while looking for the next best spot to harvest ore.

Bottom Left: An excellent corner for building. If you are playing a 1v1 and you get this spot, your opponent is in the Top Right spot. This means that you have more than enough time to set up a defense for a tank rush and completely halt it. Also, you can crawl your build to the Top Left corner of the map.

Bottom Right: This spot is also preferred by builders, for it's south advantage. It's the furthest spot away from the Top Left gem patch in the middle. After you set up an anti-rush build, your next goal should be to stockpile some sort of unit (Heavy Tank, V2s, Mammoth Tank) while at the same time harvesting as much ore that is closest to your opponent. This strategy is called resource absorption, where you harvest all the ore and convert it to units at the same rate you harvest it.

*Thanks for info bart

How to Deactivate TAB Key?

TAB or the tabulator-key has two un-useful uses in RedAlert: First of all to close and reopen your sidebar (units and structure production, radar map), which can be useful while spec-ing a game and enjoy so greater overview - but then u don't have the stats, production and kill rates. 

And secondly, to drive players, who start to practice Q mad mad mad as hell. Because of its location directly next to the Q-key and the 1-number-key for grouping-together, your chances are pretty high to accidentally press it. Then your sidebar vanishs, which will result in delay of new tank production and raging distress. This not only happens to so-called newbies, but as well to more experienced players, under stressful Q-situations. In normal RA-settings u cannot change that key, so solutions to deal with the issue are rare: Either u deal with it and focus on exact clicking, or u dismantle the button manually - therefore several youtube-guides already exist. Both options lack of ezziness and ad-hoc problem-solving. Therefore the Red Alert Guides proudly present the step-by-step way to deactivate that bitch of a hotkey: 

1. Type in lobby-chat: /run redalert.ini

This order will open an alternative Hotkey-editor. U will find all named hotkeys (from the general settings) in mid of the data, with accorded numbers. Those numbers represent - in an international uniform manner - your keys. 

Search for: KeySidebarUp and -Down, which let u scroll the sidebar by hotkey. But there is NO button for Sidebar in general. 

2. Don´t be silly, make a safety copy-paste of the whole data! 

Who knows, what will happen, or what miss-typing will occur. Safety first! Hehe... 

3. ADD a new line: KeySidebarToggle

KeySidebarToggle is the name for the key, dealing with your sidebar. Usually it´s automatically your TAB key. To deactivate TAB, u need to re-order the hotkey by a customized number. So firstly, imagine a key u wanna address as new TAB.

https://www.cambiaresearch.com/articles/15/javascript-char-codes-key-codes <-- On this site, for example, u can do research, which key and so which number u wanna give your Sidebar-Hotkey. In my example i will use =190, which stands for the dot-key. But u can customize it to your wishes. Now the fun part. Add directly under "KeySidebarDown=78" a new line:

<--- new line: + KeySidebarToggle=190

(note: =78 may differ, depends on your settings, but it´s unimportant for this case.)

4. Save new Key-Option:

To save these new settings, first close all RedAlert-Sides - except the redalert.ini-texteditor. Then save the .ini-file with the new Toggle - not "save under", just "save". Now u can reopen RA and reopen this editor like under 1. and see, if your change is saved correctly. 

5. Test it in a skirmish-game.

--

Two Comments: 

Somebody may find this a cheat, but I ensure, that the whole adding-KeySidebarToggle is funkyfresh affirmed - he gave me this hint in first place. So a big thanks to U, Funky.

Other ones may find this as a Holy Grail of RA-Hotkeys, going down to its DNA andsososo. But it is not. Lol. Of course I tested numerous changes with my beloved testing-partner, like: Can u add a 5th bookmark with adding a line KeyBookmark5=. Does not work! The reason may be, that this .ini-file goes back to original-hotkey-settings, which had limited options. 

How to use: Artillery

Artillery Rendering

Did you know that the Artillery unit is the most effective unit at killing infantry and structures? That's because it's cannon is the second biggest caliber in the game! (First place is allied Cruiser)

Many people don't choose to use the Artillery as an offensive unit because of it's 4 major drawbacks:

1. It has horrible health stats.
2. It has horrible range.
3. It's slow. (to turn)
4. It can't move and shoot.

It makes sense that an artillery unit has these 4 major drawbacks however. Since it's basically a mobile cannon, it would be very heavy. It would also have a high recoil so that explains why it can't move and shoot. A cannon can easily be jammed, sometimes it even jams itself so that explains the low health. The one thing we can't explain is the lack of range! Real artillery is super accurate at long distances. This is the only thing that doesn't fit the unit.

British Artillery WWI

As mentioned earlier many people don't use Artillery in assaults but prefer to spread them around their base, guarded by a couple of Rocket men.

If you were to use the Artillery as an offensive unit, here are some tips to make your attack as effective as possible:

1. Since Artillery are easily killed you need to find a way to clear the enemies defenses. So the first tip is to destroy defensive units and structures. Normally a good tank rush can help you accomplish this. Keep the Artillery right behind your tanks, while the tanks distract and kill defenses order your Artillery to open fire at the War Factories or the closest structure available.

2. Since Artillery are slow to turn, reduce the amount of turns they need to take. So tip number is to try to make them travel in a straight line to their target. This means that your tank rush should not be executed until your Artillery give the signal that they are ready to move in.

3. You can rush infantry swarms with 2 or 3 Artillery and kill them all. So tip number three is to destroy infantry with Artillery instead of using infantry or tanks. Preserve your units as much as possible until you strike.

Artillery hiding behind Natural Defense

If you plan to use the Artillery as a defensive unit here are three tips that can maximize your defenses:

1. Hide them behind walls or turrets. Take advantage of the sturdiness of the turrets. This works especially well in tight spots (bottleneck). Pile Artillery behind the turrets and plan your next move while you reinforce the front lines.

2. Scatter Artillery around your base. Don't forget to place them in guard mode and have a few infantry scattered around too.

3. If you want to make a particular entrance less attractive for the enemy have Artillery open fire on the ground! The splash damage is so strong it can kill infantry 2 squares away! 

What does the Computer Player do right?

The computer player in RA

While the Computer player is mediocre at best, there are still some things the computer does right. Let's get started right away and let's remember we're talking about computer tactics.

You in RA

Massive Infantry

The Computer player is correct in spamming base with infantry, rocket soldiers, grenadiers, etc. and to top it all off they are all placed in 'Guard Mode'. That's right, pressing a simple key will prevent you from having to scroll back and make your infantry defend manually. Infantry also assist when the computer launches an attack. During the attack they destroy what is nearest to them that inflicts damage. Most of the time these are defensive structures and other times they are units. If neither are present, the Computer makes the infantry attack the nearest structure.

Automated Defensive Buildings

The Computer doesn't let anything get pass it's defenses with full health. The Computer player's Tesla coils, Flame towers, Turrest, Pillboxes will attack any unit (of course) and it will attack any structure that comes in range. This is something many players forget to do manually. It requires precision to select the defensive structure and it takes speed to select the target structure. So many times, players scroll through the map without attacking the opponent's structures that are in range of their Tesla coils, Flame towers, etc. Remember that the Computer player doesn't let anybody pass for free. You should always attack structures that are in range. It's a free kill.

Restless MIGs

So many times players make airfield packs and forget to use them. The computer player doesn't always pick the best target for MIGs, but a human player is capable of selecting the best target, a proper tactical target. MIGs are not specifically made to kill MCVs or ore refineries. Use them to attack ships, tanks, teslas and even SAM sites. PRO players keep MIGs on standby at all times by assigning them to groups 3 and 4 (groups 1 and 2 are reserved for tanks and infantry in respective oreder) because they know you can't possible defend your entire base with SAMs or Rocketmen, and they always come in handy as backup for tanks. The moment they see an unguarded power plant they make good use of their MIG packs. The computer might not be good at choosing a target very well, but at least it keeps it's MIGs active.

These are 3 things the computer does right in RA. Remember these tips and improve your RA game.

Are the Soviets Overpowered?

Soviets have better Tanks and Defensive Structures.

Let's face it, the Heavy Tank is the best tank out there. Dual Cannons mean double the damage of a medium tank and it can certainly take a beating. What's more is that the Tesla Coil, mother of all defensive structures, is also owned by the Soviets. If you pile 4 or 5 together, your opponent will need about 10 medium tanks to clear them and who knows how many light tanks, since they can be killed by one Tesla Zap.

3D Printed Mammoth Tank

They also boast the Mammoth Tank. The Mammoth tank rush is only stopped by a massive Tesla Coil chain. Which means that defending versus these behemoths is truly a challenge for the Allies. Flame towers have splash damage, which can burn surrounding infantry and kill them more effectively than single-target pillboxes.

The longest range ground unit also belongs to the Soviets, the V2. Two SCUD missiles from a V2 can easily clear a turret before the V2 takes any damage. So if you amass V2s and charge the enemy, chances are you WILL clear the structures you want to clear.

Is there anything else the Soviet Faction offers? Oh that's right, the best infantry unit, besides Tanya. If you were to pit the Soviet Grenadier vs. the Allied riflemen, your clear winner would be the Grenadier. It doesn't take a lot to produce them at maximum speed, a barrack and a kennel will do it. The reason you can't play Germany Vs. Russia in a 1v1 P4 is because of this unit. You would be rushed by grenadiers north, south and in the middle. 

So what makes the Allies playable?

While it's true that the longer the game lasts, the less of a chance you have at winning as the Allies, it must also be true that the shorter the game lasts, the greater chance you have at winning as the Allies. Even though Russia gets a 10% discount on structures and units, it's still not enough to produce tanks as fast as the Allied medium tank in the early game (that is, if you haven't gotten rushed by Grenadiers).

The fastest tank also belongs to the Allies. The light tank, while not considered the favorite, can be deadly if used for purposes other than tank battles, for example, base rushes. If you're running low on cash, you can make light tanks instead of medium tanks to increase your output. The light tank only requires 5 War Factories to be produced at maximum speed, while the Heavy Tank requires 7. In that time you can make about, 30 light tanks more than your opponent! Although the Light Tank has low attack and low defense, the secret of it's effectiveness lies in it's low production cost and high production rate, use it in numbers!

Light Tank rendering

The Allies boast the most powerful unit in the game, unfortunately it's a vessel. The Allied Cruiser can destroy Advanced Power Plants in one shot and it can do it from an extremely long range. The only defense the Soviets offer against this destroyer of bases is the Submarine. We all know what a drag it is to maneuver Submarines and sometimes...they even attack each other or themselves. Not to mention the Cruiser can easily wipe them out if place in guard mode (Default Hotkey: 'g'). The problem with the Cruiser is that it's quite expensive and slow-moving. This makes sense considering it has such high attack and long range, but it seems that players abuse this advantage by making 300 Cruisers. Piling them near your base will give you an impenetrable fortress, but you will only dominate that little part.

Prism Tank rendering

The Allies have superior technology to that of the Soviets. Why don't they have a better tank? Because this isn't RA2 (Prism Tank). The Allies know they don't NEED tanks to win. It just takes a GPS satellite and a Chronosphere. It's easy to chrono an MCV in enemy territory, the problem is defending it. The GPS satellite allows you to view the entire map, keep an eye on enemy movements, decide which are weak spots in the enemies defenses and it allows you to send Helis and cause an inferno of damage. Imagine how much better the best chess player in the world would be if he knew what his opponent was thinking? This is more like the route the Allies have chosen. They want to know what is the Soviets next move, and halt it using either a direct confrontation or a sneak attack from behind. Let them kill themselves.

Magnus Carlsen Out Q-ing opponent

Knowing that, while a Chronosphere might facilitate infiltration, it wouldn't be as effective without the GPS satellite. The Allies play smart and tactful, if you mimic these attributes, you can find yourself winning versus a Russian Army anytime.

Do you think it makes a big difference to play as the Allies or the Soviets?

What are your favorite tactics?

Comment Below.

Super PRO Strategy Revealed

[AFO] has closely been observing recent PRO matches and here are some of the conclusions we've come to:

a. Players are much more aggresive when using units. They push units forward and destroy everything in range, this takes about half a milli second (clicking on undefended wars and power plants with 20 v2s).

b. Engineer management has been much more effective. It's so difficult to run someone over their base when they've locked engineers behind silos or when they are simply scattered.

c. Rushes are much more effective. Rushing is normally a strategy to cripple the opponent permanently. However, recently there have been many PROS rushing to destroy War Factories and retreating. This is a really great tactical move because it allows you to stockpile tanks at a faster rate than your opponent, eventually outproducing him and therefore winning the game.

d. Air attacks are more easily thwarted. Players have noticed that while you're opponent may have a huge fleet of MIGs, it takes time to build. Early detection of an Air Assault is thwarted by players making millions of rocketmen while the other player makes MIGs. By the time you get your MIGs out, the opponent's air defense is solid. Now you have to maneuver MIGs, and that reduces your focus on the frontlines.

e. Early deploys are turning into deadly strategies. Late deploys or even Mid deploys are actually now seen as very passive strategies. This is what the post is about.

Let's continue to the new Super PRO Strategy. Which is a strategy for FRONT players.

We'll divide the strategy into 4 Stages:

1. First stage - Semi Early Deploy

2. Second stage - Riflemen Spam

3. Third Stage - 5 Tank Rush

4. Fourth Stage - 4 CY deploy, Tesla Defense

First Stage - Semi Early Deploy

Start with just enough space to deploy a small power, a barrack, another small power and finally an ore refinery.

Preserve as many units as possible, they will serve as defense in south. This strategy is well combined with a partner who launches Grenadiers. In this way, the opponent's riflemen count is significantly reduced.

Third Stage - 5 Tank Rush Some players go with 3, this might be too reckless. Charge through the opponent's base causing distraction. Draw all his units to the back of the base if possible. The most effective building to destroy is the Ore Refinery because usually the Construction Yard is well defended. If it is left undefended, kill it. If you see engineers everywhere, kill the ore truck.

Fourth Stage - 4 CY deploy, Tesla Defense This stage is not concrete. You may need to change to more CYs you may need to change to V2s, but this stage in particular is a response to a retaliation from the opponent. 4 CYs allow maximum speed Advanced Power Plants, with 5 or 6 you can have 4 Tesla Coils. After your 4th MCV and 4th Tesla Coil start making tanks. You need to return the attack as soon as the opponents forces evaporate. After your 4th Tesla Coil, keep making War Factories.

*Special Note: Ore is crucial! Make an ore truck and a silo after your 5th Heavy Tank. These are the guidelines to the new Super PRO strategy. You should customize them to fit your playing style. The best resolution is the smallest, as it allows for faster structure deployment. Leave comments and feedback for the other RA players to see.

Become a pro understanding Real-Time Strategy (RTS)

Real-Time Strategy is a subgenre of videos games that involve most of the following elements:

- The proper administration of units

- The proper administration of Structures

- The proper administration of an economy

- A map

The definition of REAL-TIME STRATEGY is as follows (Wikipedia: Real-time strategy):

"In an RTS, as in other wargames, the participants position and maneuver units and structures under their control to secure areas of the map and/or destroy their opponents' assets."

With this in mind, let's look at how it can improve your gameplay. But first let's look at the common gameplay of RTS games (Wikipedia: Real-time strategy):

"In a typical real-time strategy game, the screen is divided into a map area displaying the game world and terrain, units, and buildings, and an interface overlay containing command and production controls and often a "radar" or "minimap" overview of the entire map."

We can see that the winner of every RA game will always be the best tactician. It's not always the one who has the best 'Q' or the faster builder or the one who 'clicks' faster or even the one who rushes first. There are many other weapons in your arsenal that will help you win the game and thwart those other 'skills' such as diplomatic, informational, military, and economic resources.

You may win a game by harvesting all the ore on the map first, without resolving to attrition warfare (Military strategy in which a belligerent attempts to win a war by wearing down the enemy to the point of collapse through continuous losses in personnel and material, again Wikipedia) or you may win a game by knowing what strategy your opponent will do and countering it.

This idea is supported by two other concepts of RTS games, and they are Micromanagement and Macromanagement.

Let's look at definition from Wikipedia:

Micromanagement - "Micromanagement refers to when a player's attention is directed more toward the management and maintenance of his or her own individual units and resources."

Macromanagement - "Macromanagement refers to when a player's focus is directed more toward economic development and large-scale strategic maneuvering, allowing time to think and consider possible solutions."

In short, in the early stages of RA your attention is more oriented towards Micromanaging your economy and defense. Macromanagement comes in once you have established a secure resource income. At this point, you should be launching your pre-mediated strategy. These ideas support that it is the better tactician who will win because they are managing two hemispheres of RTS games, whereas some newcomers may only be Micromanaging.

The difference between tactics and strategy

From what is understood, strategy refer to the manipulation of a plethera of events, units, structures and an economy. Tactics focuses more on winning individual battles on the field.

Scenario 1: Placing a tesla will cost you alot of time. But it will defend your base from a 5 tank-rush (provided you have a minimum of 3 tanks). This is an example of Tactics.

Scenario 2: Selling your CY to produce 3 more heavy tanks during the last seconds of the game. This is a strategic move. It takes into consideration your economy.

It should be noted that both are necessary on the battlefield.

If you want to learn more visit the Wikipedia article: Real-time strategy.

Is it possible to apply these tactics in life? Maybe business tactics and strategy or how about school?

Sun Tzu's teachings about waging war

Sun Tzu was a chinese general who wrote a book titled "The art of war" 2, 400 years ago. This post makes reverence to this book in a RA context, whereby we may appreciate some of the teachings that the most powerful chinese general has for us. If you wish to learn more about the genius tactician feel free to Google his name.

In his book Sun Tzu says: "Do not repeat the tactics which have gained you one victory, but let your methods be regulated by the infinite variety of circumstances."

Sun Tzu advises PROS to have a complete arsenal of strategies, but even more important, counter-strategies. However, in order for a counter strategy to be effective, you must first know the opponent's strategy. This can be easily detected by sending a scout tank to the opponent's base to reveal his strategy. The downside of the scout tank is that you lose one tank, the time to build it, and also something else. Because your opponent realizes you want to know his strategy, he or she might adjust it so you think it is what YOU THINK YOU SEE.

Scenario: My opponent sends scout tanks and reveals my strategy: Scissors. Opponent is encouraged to play a strategy better than Scissors: Rock. I take advantage of this information and change my strategy to something better than Rock: Paper.

Keep in mind that a scout tank is an advanced player strategy. How do you know if your an advanced player? When you can put tanks in one group and  infantry in another, coordinate infantry scouting, when you program structure deployment and it all becomes second nature to you this is how you know you're pro. This allows you to focus more on abstract elements of the game, like tactics. But first you need the basics.

Sun Tzu's Statue

In his book Sun Tzu says: "Military tactics are like unto water; for water in its natural course runs away from high places and hastens downwards. So in war, the way to avoid what is strong is to strike at what is weak."

Sun tzu advises PROS to strike always at the weak spot of a heavily armed opponent. This is also a calling to players who tend to leave a weak spot in their strategies. If you purposely leave a weak spot (set it as bait) make sure your counter strategy crushes the opponent completely, like water leaving nothing in its path, destroy everything (or at least leave the opponent completely crippled without power or ore). Water always takes the path with the least resistance, be like water.

Scenario: 1v1 p4. Germany vs. Russia, Germany leaves the ore completely undefended, opponent destroys ore. Germany made silos and placed them north of CY, so there is still a reserve of ore to make 6 or 7 more tanks. Meanwhile Germany had rushed russia completely destroying power plants, except for a power plant hidden north of CY.

Both players expected to lose either power or ore, but made extra reserves for each. While the opponent expects to have left you completely crippled, he will concentrate on eliminating all remaining units.

In his book Sun Tzu says: "Whether to concentrate or to divide your troops, must be decided by circumstances. Let your rapidity be that of the wind."

Sun Tzu advises pros to expose all weaknesses. Two PROS may be evenly matched in tanking and building, but what will decide the winner? He who can expose the weaknesses of the other. The one who can make a decision faster than the other and execute it like a Thunderbolt.

Scenario 1: 1v1 Stalled game on P4. Both players are accumulating V2s in the middle, air defenses are in place, MIGS are ready to be launched. After several tries to take south, the game continues to be stalled. Player 1 stops building. He goes to observe the opponent's base and notices that several Construction Yards would be difficult to replace because they are not close to a War Factory. Player 1 maneuvers migs to destroy those Construction Yards, then takes advantage of the time the opponent needs to replace the Construction Yards while he pushes south.

Scenario 2: 1v1 after a failed rush. Player 1 rushes back to the opponent's base to attack. He notices that he concentrates his defense towards the south of his base. Player 1 takes the 12 tanks he has and quickly labels 6 tanks as group '1' and another as group '2'. He directs the second group towards the north of the base, and the defending tanks follow leaving the south exposed. Player 1 pushes group '1' towards the back of the base while group '2' distracts the other tanks.

The faster your decisions are made on the battlefield the higher your chance of success. But that doesn't mean that you should be reckless. Taking some time to assess the situation can make you help a great decision, and it should be executed like Lightning.

You can see a video of Sun Tzu here:

Red Alert PRO code of conduct

Red Alert PRO code of conduct is a code that promotes healthy competition amongst players. Red Alert is an adrenaline release for true fans of the game. We don't see it as a waste of time because it satisfies our temporary need of competition and pride. Therefore, recognizing this, we established a code of conduct that will preserve the community's love and respect for the game.

1. If you host a game, maintain an active role as a host. Don't let players wait around too much for a game. If you are to be absent, don't leave without telling the people in your room how long you will be and for what reason.

2. Don't use cheats. If you use cheats, you're sole purpose is to satisfy your hunger of winning. You won't get any experience from winning by using cheats. It is also highly disapproved by most Red Alert players. The only time it would be acceptable is for exeperimental purposes, but even then it's difficult to get away with explaining this.

3. Don't boast about pre-meditated victories. This is making reference to modified maps. Sometimes players join a room not knowing the modified values of the maps, putting them at a huge unknown disadvantage. Fighting on uneven ground is no fun for anyone. Yes, you may win the battle, but is it acceptable to boast about winning over a crippled army? Probably not.

4. Give a reason for leaving in the middle of the game. It is disrespectful not to because a game is a compromise between two players. Have respect for someone else's time by giving them an explanation of why you left in the middle of the game, even if you just type: "Sorry, emergency." Offer a rematch for a later time, but don't damage your reputation in such a childish way.

5. If you are requested to leave because you may cause lag, please do so. That's all we can say. 

[AFO] Allied Build orders

Use these [AFO] Allied Builds to increase your tacticaly abilities. 

Germany - +10% Attack 

Variation #1 - Full Tank Assault

Deploy

Small power

Barracks

Small power

Ore Refinery

War Factory

War Factory

War Factory

Advanced Power

War Factory

War Factory

Service Depot

Units:

Riflemen (x30)

Engineer (x2)

Medium Tanks (x15+)

Ore trucks (x2)

Notes:

Standard [AFO] Full Tank build. One of the key things ignored in this build is structure placement. The objective should be to reduce open areas where the enemy can rush through. In other words, a tight build is needed. Infantry should serve one of two purposes: 1. Rush with the tanks or 2. Protect southern most exposed structures. Medium tanks are preferred over light tanks because light tanks have too little defense. Ore refinery is most important building to defend if opponent rushes back.

Variation #2 - Light Tank Rush

Early Deploy

Small Power

Barracks

Ore Refinery

Sell Barracks

War Factory

War Factory

Small Power

Ore Refinery

Units:

Riflemen (x15)

Light tanks (x5)

Notes:

After your fifth Light Tank, rush your opponent. Head straight for Construction Yard and remember to squish engineers if they're around. Afterwards, kill all remaining power and retreat to your base. Guard your ore refinery, place silos of ore, and accumulate power. Your Construction Yard can be sold after you have sufficient power and ore. Be careful not to take too long. If your opponent manages to build one Tesla before you kill his Construction Yard, be careful because it could mean its over. You will be way behind in ore and tanks because that Tesl will zap your lights away like nothing.

Variation #3 - Allies Build

Deploy

Small Power

Barracks

Ore Refinery

War Factory

Service Depot

War Factory

Advanced Power

Radar Dome

Sell Radar Dome

Tech Center

Units:

Riflemen (x30)

Engineers (x1)

Ore Trucks (x2)

MCV (x3)

Notes:

A questionable build order for Germany. This strategy works on the principle of deception. Normally, when an opponent anticipates a rush from a German player he tends to build his defenses up to block the rush (ie. Rocket Soldiers, Teslas). While the opponent loses attack power from so many defensive elements, the strategy tries to actually crawl to the opponents base as Germany followed by a volley of medium tanks. By the time you reach the opponents base you will have revealed his well defended base, and while you pressure the attack with turrets and tanks, your partner should follow up with an attack of some sort. Turrets only need 4 CY to be built at max speed. This means that while your max speed building turrets, your opponent mght have 5 or 6 CY deployed and won't match your speed, if he is Soviets.

Variation #4 - Chronosphere Build

Deploy

Small Power

*Barracks

Ore Refinery

War Factory

Service Depot

Sell Service Depot

Advanced Power

Radar Dome

Sell Radar Dome

Tech Center

Sell Tech Center

Chronosphere

Units:

*Infantry (x30)

Ore Truck (x2)

MCV(x4)

Notes:

This is the most direct route to a chronosphere. The reason why the Radar Dome and Tech Center are sold is because of their high power consumption. Since they have been sold you will have no find the place where you wish to chrono using scouts. The Chronosphere should be deployed by the time you have 3 construction Yards. After the Chronosphere is deployed, make a Tech Center again. If you prefer to keep the Tech Center at first, you will lose considerable build time, but also be rewarded with a GPS Satellite.

*Barracks are necessary if you aren't landlocked by your opponent.