What do you need to build an AA gun in Red Alert 1

[travisdead1]

Typing that same question into google gives me 3 different histories of the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ anti-aircraft gun.

I know the history. I know what they are. I don't give a ♥♥♥♥ what the Soviets did in place of them.

As Allied, how can I get that as something I can build in my base, opposed to keeping 6 rocket soldiers around eve4rything?

[VirgoCompany]

I think you need to get a Tech Center or a Radar Dome built.

[Chubzdoomer]

Originally posted by VirgoCompany:

I think you need to get a Tech Center or a Radar Dome built.

Yeah, I just did a test and looks like you need a Radar Dome.

[ambosen]

1.Construction yard
2. Ore refinery.
3.Powerplant.
4. Barracks.
5. Radar Dome.

Once all those are built you'll be able to build AA guns. I personally recommend getting a war factory and Naval yard built, too. Destroyers have pretty good anti air range, and on a lot of maps you can position them around your base to intercept aircraft short of your buildings.

It'll be in the defenses tab. I should warn you though that I played through the original Red alert and only got to see an AA gun fire at a Soviet MiG or Yak once.
They at least in the original game were weirdly short ranged in comparison to Soviet SAMS or even the Allied destroyers and rocket soldiers.

I haven't gotten that far into the remastered version yet, so I don't know if that's been fixed.

[travisdead1]

Thanks much guys

[Z2k1]

Originally posted by ambosen:

1.Construction yard
2. Ore refinery.
3.Powerplant.
4. Barracks.
5. Radar Dome.

Once all those are built you'll be able to build AA guns. I personally recommend getting a war factory and Naval yard built, too. Destroyers have pretty good anti air range, and on a lot of maps you can position them around your base to intercept aircraft short of your buildings.

It'll be in the defenses tab. I should warn you though that I played through the original Red alert and only got to see an AA gun fire at a Soviet MiG or Yak once.
They at least in the original game were weirdly short ranged in comparison to Soviet SAMS or even the Allied destroyers and rocket soldiers.

I haven't gotten that far into the remastered version yet, so I don't know if that's been fixed.

The range is short by design, the game's manual says as much. They have short ranges but hit hard, so anything flying over them is guaranteed to be heavily damaged, if not destroyed. If you remember the Flak Trooper from RA2, AA Guns have similar ranges but hit harder.

That said, it bears stressing that they require power to operate. If V2s manage to off your power plants, your AA is gone. So keep rocket troops around anyway.

[Cat]

Con Yard and Radar.

[delta]

Originally posted by ambosen:

They at least in the original game were weirdly short ranged in comparison to Soviet SAMS or even the Allied destroyers and rocket soldiers.

The range isn't that short. AA gun has 6 range, SAM site has 7.5. Rocket Soldier has 7.5, and Destroyer has 9. The AA gun also has twice the DPS of the SAM Site.

[Z2k1]

The problem with AA Guns is their value proposition. They consume power, and cost 600 each to build. The Advanced Power Plant can cost 500 credits and provides 200 power, while the AA gun itself costs 600 per unit. Each AA gun consumes 50 power, so 4 AA guns an be supported by one Advanced Power Plant, meaning an initial investment of 500 followed by a followup investment of 2,400 for the 4 AA guns. That's a total cost of 2,900. For just 100 credits more you'll have 10 Rocket soldiers, which are mobile and can be placed strategically in groups of 3-5 in the common flight paths of enemy aircraft.

That said, AA guns are a lot less vulnerable. It's all up to the player I guess.

[Magni]

Originally posted by Z2k1:

The problem with AA Guns is their value proposition. They consume power, and cost 600 each to build. The Advanced Power Plant can cost 500 credits and provides 200 power, while the AA gun itself costs 600 per unit. Each AA gun consumes 50 power, so 4 AA guns an be supported by one Advanced Power Plant, meaning an initial investment of 500 followed by a followup investment of 2,400 for the 4 AA guns. That's a total cost of 2,900. For just 100 credits more you'll have 10 Rocket soldiers, which are mobile and can be placed strategically in groups of 3-5 in the common flight paths of enemy aircraft.

That said, AA guns are a lot less vulnerable. It's all up to the player I guess.

Anyone relying on pure missile troopers for AA makes Yaks very happy in my experience. Especially if they bunch them up.

[Ffabbia]

I usually use batteries of both rocket soldiers and AA guns, with a cammo piillbox next to the rocket solders, and two medics to keep everyone healed..... yeah I'm that OCD about base defence, but given that most RA1 maps contain a crap-load of ore and it's hard to run out unless you're ridiculously careless, I can usually afford it; and it's worth it to counter those annoying air attacks.

[delta]

Originally posted by Z2k1:

The problem with AA Guns is their value proposition.

Yeah, that's true. That's why I almost always go for rocket soldiers.

[ambosen]

To clarify, I literally meant you wouldn't see them fire in the original game. Red Alert had a bug that caused them to occasionally not play the firing animation, or sometimes, even the sound to let you *know* they'd been firing at something. This lead a lot of players of the time to assume they were literally completely useless.

Especially since aircraft heavy assaults weren't a very common Soviet player tactic in multiplayer when a Soviet player can relatively easily and at less expense amass large amounts of heavy tanks pretty much as soon as the war factory's built with both less base space and cost requirement.

[Nyerguds]

Originally posted by travisdead1:

Typing that same question into google gives me 3 different histories of the ♥♥♥♥ing anti-aircraft gun.

The game's main menu has a "Help" button.

It lands you on a page with a big "Get started with C&C Remastered" link.

Click that link, and one of the items on the topics list is "gameplay basics". Click that, scroll down a bit, and you'll find the game's tech trees.



In other words... hate to phrase it this way, but... RTFM :p

[James]

You'll want to have some rifle infantry or pillboxes near your AA guns too, when planes or helicopters are shot down there will be an enemy rifle infantry dropped from it, unless it is destroyed over a building.