Unit Guide : The Soviets

This guide aims to give a short overview of the various soldiers, vehicles, ships, aircraft and ursine attackers employed by the glorious Soviet Union in Red Alert 3. It does not include units from the Uprising Expansion Pack, nor does it cover any in-depth strategies for multiplayer battles.

Glorious Soviet Infantry Units

From left to right: Battle Bear, Conscript, Flak Trooper, Battle Engineer, Tesla Trooper, Natasha. A battle Bunker can be seen nearby.

War Bear
Role: Anti-Infantry, Anti-Infiltration, Scouting
Cost: 225
Build Time: 2 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks
Amphibious

Weapon: Claws
Melee Attack. Insta-kills any infantry unit (exception: Tesla Troopers). Can not attack non-infantry units.
Alt. Ability: Growl
Stuns nearby infantry. The War Bear itself also can not move for a short moment after using this ability, but affected infantry remains stunned slightly longer than the bear.

Comments: War Bears, apart from their role as scouts and detectors, are a fearsome sight for infantry and can take out even careless commando units. Needless to say, they first have to get up close without getting shot, though.
War Bears are slower than Allied Attack Dogs but in return have better armor.
Sniffs out Spies.

Conscript
Role: Cannon Fodder, Anti-Garrison
Cost: 100
Build Time: 4 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks

Weapon: ADK-45 Assault Rifle
Decent against infantry, nigh-useless against anything else. Can not attack aircraft.
Alt. Ability: Molotov Cocktails (Toogle)
Switches from Assault Rifles to Molotov Cocktails. The Cocktails can clear out (and kill) any garrisoned units with two hits (including elite infantry and commandos). They also deal slightly more damage against vehicles than the assault rifle, but have a slow projectile speed, making attacks against moving targets difficult.

Comments: RA3's Zerglings. A single conscript is little more than an annoyance to enemy players, but the fact that they also are dirt cheap means that you can drown your enemy in hordes of these.
Thanks to the Molotov Cocktails, the Conscripts are the only infantry unit capable of clearing garrisoned buildings without practically commiting suicide (they stil can get shot in the face, naturally).
Alternatively, garrison conscripts inside structures, as this negates their very low hit points.

Flak Trooper
Role: Anti Aircraft, Anti-Armor
Cost: 300
Build Time: 5 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks

Weapon: Vorona Steelshot Flak Cannon
Highly effective against aircraft, decent against enemy armor and structures. Ineffective against infantry.
Alt. Ability: Landmines (Toogle)
Switches from Flak Cannons to Landmines. Landmines deal hight damage to enemy armor and structures but are limited to melee range. However, if the Flak Trooper is crushed by an enemy vehicle while heaving equipped landmines, the vehicle will suffer severe damage.

Comments: As their name implies, Flak Troopers are most effective against aircraft but also work good enough against vehicles and structures (albeit they are by far outmatched by the Tesla Trooper in the last two categories).
The Landmine ability is very useful to deter your enemy from trying to crush the Flak Trooper with his or her tanks, but also can be used to attack structures at point blank, as the landmines deal far more damage than the flak gun.
As with all anti-armor/anti-aircraft infantry units, garrisoning Flak Troopers inside neutral structures drastically increases their life expectancy.

Combat Engineer
Role: Engineering
Cost: 500
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks
Amphibious

Weapon: Pistol
Decent against infantry. Has a very low rate of fire. Can not attack aircraft.
Ability 1: Engineering
The primary ability of the engineer is context-sensitive, but generally involves capturing or fixing structures (see addendum) . The Engineer is always removed from play after using this ability.
Ability 2: Construct Battle Bunker
For 500$, the Engineer may construct a Battle Bunker, a small structure that can be garrisoned by up to five infantry unit (including enemy infantry!). This ability has a long cooldown.

Comments: While the Combat Engineer is armed (unlike Allied and Imperial Engineers), his gun's slow rate of fire means that it ideally should only see use against stray attack dogs/bears or enemy engineers, but not against actual combat units.
For information on the Battle Bunker, please see "Glorious Soviet Defense Structures".

Tesla Trooper
Role: Anti-Armor/ Anti-Infantry
Cost: 750
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks
Requires: Super Reactor

Weapon: Tesla Gun
Has a slow rate of fire but is very effective against enemy armor and instakills enemy infantry (including commandoes). Can not attack aircraft.
Alt. Ability: EM Disruptor (Toogle)
Completely disables all enemy vehicles in the vicinity. However, the Tesla Trooper also becomes immobile while using this ability.

Comments: Literally the worst nightmare of many armor commanders, Tesla Troopers can only be crushed by Super-Heavy Vehicles (Apocalypse Tank, King Oni, Assault Carriers, MCV), are immune to the bite attack of Attack Dogs/Bears and can turn an entire tank batallion into sitting ducks. The only downside of this unit lies in its relatively slow speed and rate of fire, the latter of which makes it vulnerable against swarms of enemy infantry or anti-infantry vehicles such as the Mecha Tengu.
Given the fact that Tesla Troopers are effective against both vehicles and infantry (except Shinobi, who can instakill them), rushing with a group of Tesla and Flak Troopers is a widely employed strategy of Soviet Commanders.
As a final note, Tesla Troopers may "charge" Tesla Coils - while this fully occupies the Trooper, the Tesla Coil enjoys an increased rate of fire.


The last thing many tank commanders see . . .


Natasha
Role: Commando/Sniper
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: Barracks
Requires: Battle Lab
Amphibious

Weapon 1: Dragunov Sniper Rifle
Long range attack. Instakills infantry units (except for Peacekeepers with Riot Shields). May hit multiple units along a straight line. Can not target aircraft
Weapon 2: Laser Targetter
Marks an enemy vehicle/ship/structure for an airstrike. After a short moment, a Badger Bomber will fly in and bomb the marked target, instantly destroying it regardless of its current hitpoints. The air strike is cancelled if Natasha moves during the targetting process.
Alt. Ability: Driver Snipe
Shoots the driver of the targetted vehicle, disabling it. The Vehicle may be captured by garissoning any infantry unit inside of it, albeit the original owner may do the same.

Comments: Natasha is equally deadly against infantry and armored enemies, albeit her relatively slow rate of fire makes her vulnerable to swarms of enemy infantry or anti-infantry vehicles.
While Natasha's anti-vehicle/structure attack takes a short-moment to work, it will always kill the targeted unit if finished succesfully, regardless of whether the target is an ore collector or a super weapon.
When facing numerous vehicles, consider garrisoning Natasha inside a neutral structure, as she (unlike Tanya) can bomb enemies from afar.
On max veterancy, Natasha's laser targetter outranges even advanced static defenses, allowing her to take apart enemy bases on her own.
Using Driver Snipe on enemy MCVs allows you to capture them and use the tech tree of the other factions. Alternatively, use it to disable key units such as artillery vehicles or heavy armor.



From Soviet Russia with love. And bullets. And bombs.

Glorious Soviet Vehicles (pt. 1)

From left to right: Terror Drone, Sickle, Bullfrog, Hammer Tank, V4 Rocket Launcher, Apocalypse Tank.

Terror Drone
Role: Harassment
Cost: 500
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory
Amphibious

Weapon 1: Disassembler (vs. Vehicles/Ship)
Latches on to the targetted vehicle/ship, continously damaging it until either the target is destroyed or the terror drone is removed. If the target is destroyed, the terror drone emerges unharmed and may choose the next target. The Terror Drone is killed if the infected target comes in contact with Repair Drones from either Production Buildings (Allies/Imperials) or Crusher Cranes (Soviets). Allied Multigunner IFVs garissoned by Engineers can also remove Terror Drones.
Weapon 2: Cutting Claws (vs. Infantry)
Melee Attack. Instakills most infantry units (exception: Tesla Troopers and Peacekeepers with Riot Shields)
Alt. Ability: Stasis Ray (Toogle)
Switches from Disassembler to the Stasis Ray. The Stasis Ray can immobilize enemy vehicles/ships as well as Tesla Troopers, but immobilized units may still fire their guns (unless this would require the vehicle to turn). Can not target aircraft.

Comments: Easily the most annoying unit in the game. AIs and human players alike will throw waves and waves of these rocket-fast robots against your ore harvesters in order to distract you and/or cripple your economy. They also are surprisingly effective against infantry (think of them as more expensive attack bears without growl).
Should you face a Soviet Player, consider walling in your ore mines and refinery (Terror Drones can't attack walls) and add one or two static defense structures.
The long-range Stasis Ray unsurprisingly is useful to catch fleeing enemies, but can also be used to nail down a vehicle already infected by another terror drown so as to hinder it from reaching its respective repair bay.
Terror Drones technically count as infantry - they can be loaded into Bullfrogs and are not healed by the repair drones of Crusher Cranes.
TO DO: Check if Terror Drones are healed by Allied Engineers' Medical Tents.


Sickle
Role: Anti-Infantry
Cost: 900
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory


Weapon: Machine Guns (x3)
Effective against infantry. Ineffective against vehicles/structures. Can not target aircraft.
Alt. Ability: Flea Jump
The Sickle jumps to the targetted location. Infantry units at the landing spots will be knocked down and suffer severe damage, potentially killing them. This also affects allied Units.

Comments: The Sickle is interesting due to the fact that it actually has three guns but can only use one of them per target, as each gun covers a 120° angle. Thus, only when the sickle is literally surrounded by enemies may all three guns fire at the same time.
The Flea Jump ability can not only be used to jump over walls, cliffs and narrow bodies of water, but also can literally cut down infantry, particularly when it comes to Anti-Armor infantry that would usually reduce the Sickle to scrap within seconds. Keep in mind that the jump takes roughly a second and try to anticipate where the enemy will be rather than where he is when choosing the target.
The Sickle is excellent at killing Commandoes, as its flea jump is just as lethal to them as it is to conventional infantry.
Finally, the flea jump also is useful to get damaged Sickles away from the front lines, but keep in mind that heavily damaged Sickles (as all other vehicles) move significantly slower than usual.

Bullfrog Transport
Role: Anti-Air, Transport
Cost: 900
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory
Amphibious

Weapon: Flak Cannon
Effective against aircraft. Can not target ground units
Alt. Ability: Man Cannon
Infantry Units (and Terror Drones) loaded into the Bullfrog can be launched to the targetted location and then will drop to the ground via parachutes, ignoring any ground obstacles. This is the only way to eject units once they have entered the bullfrog. Parachuting units can be targetted by enemy anti-aircraft weapons.

Comments: Besides of serving as the Soviets' Anti-Aircraft Vehicle, the Bullfrog is probably the most unusual infantry transport you'll ever see. It's ability to launch units from the Man Cannon allows your infantry to bypass cliffs, walls, sea straits, and the like. But remember: Once the units are inside the Bullfrog, there's no going back, and while landing, your infantry may be torn apart by enemy anti-air weapons.
The Sickle's Flea Jump abilities nicely synergizes with the Bullfrog's Man Cannon, as the combination allows you to land Sickles and Infantry/Terror Drones right inside the enemy base.
For fun times, use the bullfrog to launch engineers next to the enemy construction yard or terror drones next to the ore refineries and see how the enemy panics.

Glorious Soviet Vehicles (Pt. 2)

Hammer Tank
Role: Medium Anti-Armor
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory
Requires: Super Reactor

Weapon: Main Gun
Effective against enemy vehicles, ships and structures. Ineffective against infantry. Can not attack aircraft. Any weapons leached from other vehicle can only fire when the Main Gun is equipped.
Alt. Ability: Leech Beam (Toogle)
Switches from the Main Cannon to the Leech Beam. When attacking enemy vehicles, ships, or structures, the leech beam will slowly transfer health from the target to the Hammer Tank. If the target has some sort of weapon and is destroyed while the leach beam is applied to it, the Hammer Tank will gain said weapon as a secondary gun that is fired together with the Main Gun. The Weapons of static defense structures can not be stolen. Using the Leech Beam while already having a secondary weapon will replace the current weapon with that of the target if the latter is destroyed.

Comments: As a Main Battle Tank, the Hammer Tank has a weaker main gun and is slower than either the Allied Guardian Tank or the Imperial Tsunami Tank. In return, it enjoys higher armor.
The Leech ability can be used as a means to heal your Hammer Tanks (the target does not need to be destroyed in order to heal the tank) and in order to equip the Hammer Tank with unusual weapons. For instance, if a Riptide was destroyed was under the effect of the Leech Beam, the Tank in question would get the Riptide's Machine Gun, giving it some firepower against infantry. This also holds true for Tier 3 Units (i.e. Mirage Tanks) and even artillery units, so a lucky Hammer Tank can significantly increase its firepower by using the Leech Beam.
Keep in mind that, even if more than one Hammer Tanks are using their Leech Beams on a single target, only one of the Tanks will get the actual weapon (though the other wills also be repaired).
The Hammer Tank itself does not need to kill the target with the Leech Beam in order to gain its weapon - the target can be killed by other means so long as the Beam is locked on.
While it is, in theory, possible to use Leech Beam on your own units in order to give your Hammer Tanks more firepower, this procedure is extremely inefficient and should only be used if the target is on the verge of death and far away from any Repair Drones.


V4 Rocket Launcher
Role: Artillery
Cost: 1200
Build Time: 15 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory
Requires Super Reactor, Battle Lab

Weapon: V4 Molot Rocket (Single Rocket)
Ballistic Artillery Rocket. Particularly useful against structures, but also effective against anything else that it manages to hit. Deaks minor area-of-effect damage. Can not target aircraft.
Alt. Ability: Cluster Missile (Toogle)
Switches from a Single Missile to a Cluster Missile. The Cluster Missile works like a regular Missile but will explode into numerous smaller projectiles in mid air, dealing significant area-of-effect damage in the target location. Effective against densely packed masses of enemy units. Can not target aircraft.

Comments: Cheaper than the Allied Athena Cannon and the Imperial Wave-Force Artillery, this unit is often employed en-masse to crush any enemy resistance under a hail of rockets or cluster-rockets.
Of all artillery units, the V4 has the least chance of hitting moving targets (as its rockets do not track targets), but in return, its cluster bombs allow it to deal significantly more area of effect damage than its counterparts on the Allied and Imperial side. As such, it becomes rather hard not to hit anything if you cover a large areas with V4 Cluster Rocket fire.
Like all artillery units, V4s are fragile and have a minimum range, so keep them away from the front lines.


Apocalypse Tank
Role: Heavy Anti-Armor
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory
Requires: Super Reactor, Battle Lab

Weapon: 125 mm Cannon
Very effective against vehicles, ships and structures. Ineffective against infantry. Can not target aircraft.
Alt. Ability: Magnetic Harpoon (Toogle)
Switches from the 125 mm Cannon to the Magnetic Harpoon. When used on vehicles, the Magnetic Harpoon will draw the target into the giant crushers on the front of the tank, disabling them and rapidly tearing them apart. If used on structures, the tanks is drawn to the target instead, but will also disable (if it is a defensive structure) and rapidly destroy it. May also be used on Ships very close on the shore line in order to drag them unto land and to instantly destroy them (unless the ship is amphibious, in which case it lands right in the grinder). Can not target aircraft.

Comments: Arguably the strongest tank in the entire game. It beats both the Allied Mirage Tank and the Imperial King Oni in a One-on-One fight and generally makes short process with just about anything that isn't airborne or infantry.
The Harpoon Cannon essentially results in a free kill so long as the Apocalypse Tank is not destroyed by other enemies, as the Grinders completely disable any vehicle they touch. This makes the Apocalypse perfect for killing other Tier 3 Units, but can also be used to negate its very slow speed. It also is utterly devastating against enemy static defenses, as the Apocalypse's Grinders will disable them and crush them into scrap.
Ships are slightly more problematic - since the range of the Magnetic Harpoon is limited, only ships that are very close to the shore can be targetted. In return, those that are not amphibious will be drawn ashore and destroyed, and those that are amphibious will be drawn into the grinders and also destroyed.
Like all anti-armor vehicles, the Apocalypse can't do much against infantry other than trying to crush it - and given its slow speed, this sounds easier than it is. However, once the Apocalypse gains Maxium Veterancy, it's shots will deal splash damage (represented by small nuke clouds) and instakill any infantry short of Tesla Troopers.
Even if not promoted to veterancy, the Apocalypse can self-repair until up to 50% of its max health. Above that, either maximum veterancy or repair drones are required to fully repair the tank.
Being a Super-Heavy Tank, the Apocalypse can crush all infantry units and vehicles except MCVs, Allied Assault Destroyers and Imperial King Onis.
The only real downside of this Tank are its very slow speed and its inability to attack aircraft, making it vulnerable to enemy air-to-ground strikers and bombers.


"The instrument of doom" - Apocalypse Tank

Glorious Soviet Ships

From left to right: Stingray, Akula Submarine, and Dreadnought.


Stingray
Role: Amphibious Assault
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: Naval Yard
Amphibious

Weapon: Twin Tesla Coils
Effective against ground units and structures. Instakills infantry, including commandos. Can not target aircraft.

Alt. Ability: Tesla Surge
Charges the water around the Stingray with electricity, dealing damage to all enemy ships nearby. Can only be used while in water. Instakills infantry (including Commandoes) and Dolphins. Does not affect aircraft.

Comments: The Stingray is an amphibious ship that can dish out a surprising amount of damage with its Tesla Coils. It's main downside is its higher prise when compared to Allied Dolphins/Riptides or Imperial Yari Mini-Subs and the fact that it is somewhat lacking when it comes to armor.
While Stingrays can move on land, they are significantly faster at sea, where they also can use their Tesla Surge ability to deal severe damage to other Tier 1 Naval Units, particularly Dolphins. However, using the Tesla Surge leaves the Stingray itself disabled for some seconds.
Like its infantry counterpart, the Tesla Trooper, Stingrays can charge up Tesla Coils (the static defense structures, not the Stingrays' weapons) in order to increase their rate of fire.
Stingrays are excellent as escorts for Dreadnoughts, as they are especially effective against the light ships and Commandoes that tend to plague the artillery ships.


Akula Sub
Role: Naval Dominance
Cost: 1800
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: Naval Yard
Requires: Super Reactor

Weapon 1: Standard Torpedoes
Effective against enemy ships and amphibious units at sea. Can not target units on land and aircraft. Normal Torpedoes track their targets. Can only fire when surfaced.
Alt. Ability: Super Torpedoes (Toogle)
Launches two fast-moving super torpedoes that deal heavy damage to the first target they hit. The torpedoes are unguided and may hit allied Units. Has a minor cooldown. Can be used both while submergend or surfaced.

Comments: Silent and deadly, Akulas can do very nasty things to enemy Capital (read: Artillery) ships with their Super Torpedoes, but can also stand their ground with their regular torpedoes against other ship-hunters, given their thick armor.
Being submarines, Akulas are permanently submerged and will only surface to attack targets. While submerged, the Akula can only be hit by Torpedo Weapons, Allied Assault Destroyers and Heavy Static Defenses, namely Allied Spectrum Towers, Soviet Tesla Coils and Imperial Wave-Force Towers.
The process of surfacing and submerging takes roughly one second, during which the Akula can be attacked with regular weapons.
Be careful when using the Super Torpedoes - while they are much more lethal than Standard Torpedoes, they also are unguided and, with a bit of bad luck, may hit your own ships.
Keep in mind that the Akula can only attack other ships - it can not bombard enemy vehicles on the shore.


Dreadnought
Role: Artillery
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 30 sec.
Constructed in: Naval Yard
Requires: Battle Lab

Weapon 1: Ballistic Rockets
Bombards the target with a sequence of three long-range ballistic rockets. The rockets are unguided but move relatively quickly and deal area-of-effect damage. Devastating against enemy structures, effective against anything else the rockets manage to hit. Can not target aircraft.
Alt. Ability: Overload Reactor (Toogle)
Increases the Dreadnoughts movement speed and rate of fire, but will rapidly damage the dreadnought if left active. May destroy the Dreadnought if used carelessly.

Comments: The sea-born cousin of the land-based V4 Rocket Launcher, the Dreadnougt is larger but also significantly better armored. In return, it is the slowest of the three Artillery Ships in the game, being outrun by both Allied Aircraft Carries and Imperial Shogun Battleships (at least when not using its special ability).
Like all artillery units, the Dreadnought has a minimum range and can not attack enemies to close to it. Unlike most other artillery units, however, Dreadnoughts can fire on the move.
While the rockets of the dreadnought move as fast as one would expect from a rocket, they are unguided and thus are unlikely to hit fast-moving units. However, if said units (and their commander) are locked in combat, the chance of actually hitting something with the rockets that is not a building is drastically increased, simply because the enemy player is to busy for evading said rockets. Alternatively, you may want to use the Terror Drones Static Beam to pin down targets for bombardment.
The Dreadnoughts special ability is a bit tricky to use - one the one hand, its increased rate of fire and movement speed is handy for either drowning its target in rockets or making a run for it, but on the other hand, the continued use of this ability will eat through the Dreadnought's hull at alarming speed. Should drydocks be availiable for capture, it is mandatory to get at least one, as this will mitigate the damage and allow the ship to repair itself while not using the ability.
As a rare trait, the Dreadnought Captains are so loyal to the Soviet Cause that they can not be bribed by Allied Spies. However, its slow speed makes Dreadnoughts extremely vulnerable to enemy commandoes.

Glorious Soviet Aircraft

From left to right: Twinblade, MiG Fighter, Kirov Airship

Twinblade
Role: Air-to-Ground Gunship, Transport
Cost: 1200
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: Airfield


Weapon 1: Twin Machine Guns
Effective against infantry, ineffective against vehicles. Can not target aircraft.
Weapon 2: Rockets Pods
Bombards ground targets with a shower of rockets. Effective against vehicles, ineffective against infantry. Can not target aircraft. Needs to reload for a few seconds after every fired volley.
Alt. Ability: Transport
Twinblades may either carry up to five infantry units (including Terror Drones) or a single ground vehicle or ampibious ship. They can not carry Heavy units, such as Allied Assault Destroyers, I or MCVs of either faction. To load a unit into the Twinblade, select the unit and right-click the Twinblade.

Comments: Highly versatile, Twinblades can carry your troops around the field and rain death on your enemies at the same time, but are lightly armored only.
When using the Twinblade as a transport, keep in mind that, if the Twinblade is destroyed, the same holds true for all units it transported. When transporting vehicles, enemy players also can see the vehicle in question and will usually prefer to shoot down Twinblades carrying key units such as the V4 Rocket Launcher.
As a transport, Twinblades are especially useful for carrying the notoriously slow Apocalypse Tanks across the countryside.
As the Twinblade's rocket pods have a cooldown after every volley, timing is of the essence when attacking ground targets with Anti-Air abilities. As such, consider using hit-and-run-tactics. Against infantry, however, the regular Machine Gun will do the job, albeit hordes of anti-air infantry will still shoot down the Twinblades quicker than the latter can mow them down.
While the Twinblade's Rocket Volleys are somewhat effective against buildings, it is generally not effective to attack a base guarded by static anti-air structures, as the latter usually can withstand a volley or three.
For fun times, load five combat engineers or five terror drones into a Twinblade and drop them in the enemy base.


The Twinblade defying gravity, one Apocalypse Tank at a time.


MiG Fighter
Role: Air Superiority Fighter
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 10 sec.
Constructed in: Airfield


Weapon: Air-to-Air Rockets
Can only target aircraft. Deals minor radial damage. MiGs only have a limited supply of rockets and must return to their home Airfield to re-arm.
Alt. Ability: Return to Base
Forces the MiG to return to its home Airfield and increases its movement speed while doing so.

Comments: Fast and agile, MiGs are the bane of all enemy bombers. While they lose to the Allied Apollo Fighters in a one-on-one fight, the fact that the MiG's rockets radial damage means that they are more effective against clustered groups of enemy aircraft as well as larger aircraft such as Allied Century Bombers of Soviet Kirovs. They also are devastating against the Imperial Jet Tengu, as the latter generally rely on their numeral superiority to win a fight, but this very trait is countered by the MiGs radial damage.
The Return to Base ability can be used to save the MiG from unwinnable battles or to race it back to your base if the latter is under attack from aircraft or simply. If the MiGs ammo is depleted and it is ordered to attack, it will automatically use this abilities and subsequently attack the issued target after reloading.
Keep in mind that Soviet Airfields do not come with Repair Drones as Allied Airbases do. Because of this, MiGs will be rearmed but not repaired while on their home airfield. Consider building a crusher crane next to your Airfields in order to keep your MiGs repaired. Also notice that a signle airbase can only support up to four MiGs, but the MiGs don't have to share the space with Twinblades or Kirovs.

Kirov
Role: Heavy Bomber
Cost: 2500
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: Airfield
Requires: Battle Lab

Weapon: 800 kg bombs
Drops bombs on ground targets, dealing severe area-of-effect damage. The Kirov must be directly above the target to drop bombs. Can not target aircraft. May affect allied units.
Alt. Ability: Gastroburners (Toogle)
Increases the Kirovs movement speed but also damages it while active.

Comments: Universally loved by Soviet players and loathed by all others, the Kirov essentially is a fat airship that drops bombs the size of a small car on whatever happens to be under it.
The Kirov has one obvious weakness: It is painfully slow, even more so than the Soviet Apocalypse Tank. In return, its so heavily armored that only continued and concentrated Anti-Air Fire has a chance to bring one down. To illustrate: An Allied Apollo Fighter will usually run out of ammo before being even remotely close to bringing one of these floating behemoths down.
Like the Apocalypse Tank, the Kirov is capable of repairing itself up to 50% of its total base health.
If you manage to bring a group of two to three Kirovs to the enemy main base without the enemy noticing or having absurd amounts of anti-aircraft defense inside of its base, said base will cease to exist within a matter of seconds. As such, it is often advisiable not to take the most obvious routes for Kirvos, as this makes them vulnerable to enemy Air-to-Air fighters.
The Gastroburners can be used to speed up the Kirov, but will also rapidly damage it. As such, they should be used in Emergency situations only, i.e. when trying to get out of range of massive static anti-air defenses.
Should the Kirov be shot down, it's wreck will crash to the ground and deal massive damage to anything that happens to be under it, including your own units.



If you are not a Soviet Tank Commander and see this view when looking upwards, your life expectancy has just reduced to about three seconds.

Glorious Soviet Support Vehicles

From left to right: Ore Collector, Ore Collector with Reactive Armor, Sputnik Exploration Vehicle and a MCV. A deployed Sputnik Outpost can be seen nearby.

Ore Collector
Role: Economy
Cost: 1400
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: Ore Refinery, War Factory, Sea Port
Amphibious

Weapon: None
Alt. Ability: Reactive Armor (Toogle)
Covers the ore collector with thick armor plates. Drastically reduces all incoming damage and makes the vehicle immune against terror drones, but also slows it down and makes it impossible for it to transport ore.

Comments: Fun Fact: These sturdy machines transport ore from ore mines to the (hopefully) nearby refineries. Each refinerie, when built, comes with one free ore collector. Constructing additional ore collectors in the War Factory or Sea Port usually is unnecessary, as the refineries themselves can also construct them.
The Reactive Armor is useful to protect your collectors during enemy raids, giving the vehicle enough armor to endure enemy fire until your forces have driven the enemy off. When properly timed, it can also be used to mitigate the attacks of the Allied Vindicator Bombers. Naturally, the use of the Reactive Armor should be a temporary only, as the ore collector can not follow its regular duties while it is active.

Sputnik
Role: Expansion
Cost: 1200
Build Time: 20 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory, Sea Port
Amphibious

Weapon: None
Alt. Ability: Unpack
Unpacks the Sputnik into an Outpost structure, giving the player a control zone around it in which buildings can be placed. This process can not be reversed.

Comments: Sputniks have but one purpose: Creating outposts, ideally near ore mines. Other than that, they are literally useless.
Unlike the Allied Prospector that can both collect ore and unpack into a Command Hub, the Sputnik can not collect ore. In return, it takes far less time than the prospector to deploy.
The Sputnik is unarmed and barely armored - always escort it with other units!

MCV
Role: Semi-mobile key structure
Cost: 5000
Build Time: 60 sec.
Constructed in: War Factory, Naval Yard
Amphibious

Weapon: None
Alt. Ability: Unpack
Unpacks the MCV into a construction yard, giving the player a zone of control in which buildings can be placed. If necessary, the Construction Yard can return to its MCV state, but the control zone (not the buildings inside!) is lost in the process.

Comments: MCVs are the mobile form of Construction Yards. Unless your original construction yard has been destroyed, there is very little reason to produce further MCVs, as Sputniks effectively do the same job faster and for a fraction of the MCVs' cost.
Being super-heavy vehicles, MCVs are very slow but can crush all other ground units safe for Allied Assault Destroyers, Soviet Apocalypse Tanks, Imperial King Onis and other MCVs. They also enjoy very thick armor.
You should only pack up your MCV in emergency situation, i.e. if your base is under heavy attack but there still is a reasonable chance for you to save the MCV.
Keep in mind that MCVs do not count as Construction Yards - so if your one is packed up into an MCV, you do not only lose the ability to construct buildings in your main base, but also can't use Top Secret Protocols such as "Toxic Corrosion".

Glorious Soviet Structures

Reactor
Cost: 800
Build Time: 10 sec.

Comments: Your basic source of power. The Soviet Reactor is smaller than the Allied and Imperial equivalents. They usually are used in the early game only, as the Super Reactor provides more power for a smaller price and even doubles as a Tech building.
If your structures consume more power than you produce, all construction times are increased by 50% and static defense structures such as Tesla Coils are completely disabled. Thus, it is always a good idea to have slightly more power than you actually need, in case one of your Reactors or Super Reactors is destroyed.

Ore Refinery
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 20 sec.

Comments: Turns the ore carried over from ore mines by ore collectors into 'ore-ibly nice money for you. Okay, okay, I'll stop with the puns.
Each Ore Refinery comes with one free Ore Collector. While not a production building per se, the special ability of an ore refinery allows it to construct additional ore prospectors, albeit this should only be done if the original one happens to have been destroyed.
While ore mines will eventually run out of ore, this doesn't mean that they are entirely empty - farming them will still yield minimal amounts of income.

Crusher Crane
Cost: 1500
Build Time: 15 sec.


Comments: The Crushing Crance has three functions:
1. It gives you an additional construction tab, allowing you to create multiple structures at the same time. The more crusher cranes you have, the more structures you can build at the same time, given that you have the required funds. It also creates its own little control zone, allowing you to widen the boundaries of your base.
2. It produces repair drones that repair nearby vehicles, ship, and aircraft, as well as removing Terror Drones from infested units. As no other Soviet building does this, having at least one Crusher Crane is practically mandatory. In particular, it is very advisable to have a crusher crane near your Airfield so the MiGs that return there to resuppy with missiles also get repaired.
3. Units that are sent 'inside' the crusher crane are destroyed and a part of their production cost is returned to the player. Needless to say, this should only be done if you actually need the money.

Barracks
Cost: 500
Build Time: 10 sec.
Can only be constructed on land

Comments: Constructs War Bears, Conscripts, Flak Troopers, Battle Engineers, Tesla Troopers, and Natasha. If you go for an infantry-heavy build, you may want to construct multiple barracks.

War Factory
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 20 sec.
Can only be constructed on land

Comments: Constructs Terror Drones, Sickles, Bullfrogs, Hammer Tanks, V4 Rocket Launchers, and Apocalypse Tanks, as well as Ore Collectors, Sputniks, and MCVs. Does not come with repair drones, so vehicles nearby unsurprisingly will not be repaired.

Naval Yard
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 20 sec.
Can only be constructed on water

Comments: Constructs Stingrays, Bullfrogs, Akulas , and Dreadnoughts, as well as Ore Collectors, Sputniks, and MCVs. Does not come with repair drones.

Super Reactor
Cost: 2000
Build Time: 20 sec.


Comments: The Super Reactor generates about five times the amount of energy of a regular reactor for a little more than twice the price. It also needs much more place, of course. Still, Soviet players tend to prefer relying on Super Reactors rather than regular reactors in the later game for economic reasons.
The Super Reactor also serves as a Tech building - it is required for building Airfields, Battle Labs,Tesla Coils, and the Iron Curtain, as well as for the construction of Tesla Troopers, Hammer Tanks and Akula Submarines.
WARNING: If the Super Reactor is destroyed, it will violently explode and destroy or at least severly damage all nearby units and structures. Do not plant Super Reactors next to each other, or near other key buildings. On the other hand, do not plant them on the other end of your base either, as they are integral for your energy and required as tech buildings.

This is EXACTLY what happens if you build Super Reactors to close together.

Airfield
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 30 sec.
Requires: Super Reactor

Comments: Constructs Twinblades, MiG Fighters, and Kirovs. Each Airfield has four landing pads for MiG fighters, where they can restock with missiles. The Airfield can not construct additional MiGs if all landing pads are occupied. MiGs can be given a new home Airfield by right-clicking on it.
The Airfield does not come with repair drones, so you may want to build a crusher crane nearby to keep the MiGs repaired.
The Airfield itself requires a Super Reactor to be built, but the units constructed in the Airfield do not (albeit Kirovs still require a Battle Lab).

Battle Lab
Cost: 3000
Build Time: 60 sec.
Requires: Super Reactor

Comments: The Battle Lab is required for construction Soviet Tier 3 Units, namely V4 Rocket Launchers, Apocalypse Tanks, Kirovs, and Dreadnoughts. It is also required for building the Soviet Super Weapon, the Vacuum Imploder.
Other than serving as a Tech Building, this structure has no purpose.

Outpost
Cost: (See Sputnik)
Build Time: ~ 10 sec.

Comments: The Outpost is created by deploying a Sputnik vehicle. It basically serves as a mini-construction yard, giving the player a control zone in which buildings can be build in. It does not, however, give the enemy an additional construction tab - a trait only held by construction yards and crusher cranes.
Outposts are usually deployed near unclaimed ore mines to secure them and to build ore refineries nearby. However, they also can be used to establish proxy bases near the enemy or to set up defensive structures in strategic locations.
Don't forget that, once deployed, the outpost can not be turned back into a Sputnik.

Construction Yard
Cost: - (See MCV)
Build Time: ~ 1 sec, (See MCV).

Comments: The Heart of your base. The construction yard establishes a large control zone around itself in which buildings can be placed. Unsurprisingy, it also is required for construction buildings in the first place, albeit both Crusher Cranes and Outposts can also construct buildings independently from your Construction Yard once deployed.
Interestingly, the Construction Yard also generates a little bit of energy, allowing the player to create a barracks before a power plant and to utlize early rush strategies.
Finally, the Construction Yard is required for using Secret Protocols. If the Construction Yard is destroyed or packed up, Secret Protocols can not be used and Passive Secret Protocols (i.e. Terror Drone Surprise) will be disabled, until a new Construction Yard is availiable.

Glorious Soviet Defense Structures and Superweapons

Fortress Wall
Cost: 10 (per piece)
Build Time: 5 sec.
Can be placed on land only

Comments: Walls are not exactly effective at keeping out enemy vehicles and tanks for longer periods of time, but are nonetheless useful to keep Allied Spy, Soviet Terror Drones and Imperial Shinobi out of your base. However, Walls can be crushed by super-heavy vehicles, namely the Allied Assault Destroyer, the Soviet Apocalypse Tank, the Imperial King Oni and MCVs of either faction.

Battle Bunker
Cost: 500
Build Time: ~ 5 sec.
Can be placed on land only

Comments: The Battle Bunker is created by using the Combat Engineers' alternate ability. It serves as a garrisonable structure for up to five infantry units. However, both your and enemy troops can garrison the bunker if it is empty, and the bunker can not be sold while garissoned by enemy troops.
Considering its relative cheap price, Battle Bunkers are surprisingly sturdy and can allow infantry units to take on vehicles and elite infantry that would otherwise crush or instakill them.

Sentry Gun
Cost: 800
Build Time: 20 sec.

Comments: Essentially an armored machine gun nest, the sentry gun mows down infantry and shreds through light vehicles, but requires numbers to stand against medium tanks and has very little chances against Tier 3 Tanks.
Fun Fact: Unless enemies are nearby or you select the sentry gun, the Conscript that mans the gun will be either sleeping or taking a sip from his molotiv cocktail (most units in the game have idle animations and special animations for being selected).

Flak Cannon
Cost: 800
Build Time: 20 sec.

Comments: Your all-purpose anti-air cannon. Flak cannons are reasonably sturdy and make short process with most aircraft, albeit groups of these turrets are necessary to bring down heavy Bombers such as the Allied Century Bomber or the Soviet Kirov Airship. Obviously enough, the Flak Cannon can only target air units, as well as infantry units parachuting downwards.

Tesla Coil
Cost: 1000
Build Time: 30 sec.
Requires: Super Reactor

Comments: The Soviets sure love their lightning.
Tesla Coils serve as advanced anti-ground defenses; they will instakills infantry units and destroy or strongly damage vehicles. However, they suffer from a very low rate of fire, which means that they can be overwhelmed by foes that swarm them.
As a remedy, either Tesla Troopers or Stingrays may charge up the Tesla Coil, increasing its rate of fire. However, the unit in question must stay focused on the coil - otherwise, its rate of fire will return to normal.
Tesla Coils can not attack aircraft.


A Tesla Trooper and a Stingray charge two Tesla Coils

Iron Curtain
Cost: 3000
Build Time: 30 sec.
Requires: Super Reactor

Comments: When used, the Iron Curtain temporarily envelops all allied units or structures inside of the targetted area in a field that makes them invulnerable to any form of damage.
Like the Chronosphere, the Iron Curtain kills all infantry units inside its area of effect once used, unless the units in question are inside of a vehicle. Science!
Depending on the situation, the Iron Curtain can be used either on defense or offense - you can curtain your bases' static defenses in order to repel an enemy attack, or you can curtain a group of Apocalypse Tanks that are conventiently parked right outside the enemy base. Finally, you can use it to kill enemy infantry (including Commandos), but this more than often should be considered a waste.
Remember that the curtain is only temporary - if you decide to rush right into the opposing force with your units, pull them back before the effect expires or all these enemy units that have been running away from you will suddenly run towards you instead.

Vacuum Imploder
Cost: 5000
Build Time: 60 sec.
Requires: Battle Lab

Comments: The Soviets' Super Weapon. Build it, wait until the long cooldown has expired, point it at the enemy base and see how the better part of it is first sucked into a vacuum only to be blown to kingdom come a few seconds later.
With the exception of Construction Yards and other Superweapons, few things can survive a direct hit by the Imploder, and those who do usually need but a good clap on the back before they fully collapse.
Once you start constructing the Imploder, your enemy will be notified and the location of the superweapon will be revealed to him or her. Make sure to have sufficient defenses around your new toy, as your enemy will understandably try to destroy with all availiable means.

Addendum: Combat Engineer Abilities

Engineer Abilities: The main ability of the combat enginer is context-sensitive, but whatever he does, he is removed from play after finishing his action.

Allied Structure: Instantly repairs the structure with no further cost to the player. Useful when your construction yard or other key structures of your base are on the verge of destruction.
Neutral Structure: Captures the structure. Neutrals structures include Oil Rigs, Observation posts , Garages, Airports, Hospitals and Veteran Academies, but not regular garisonable structures.
Hostile Structure: Captures the structure. However, this requires a short amount of time during which the engineer is defenseless. This includes formerly neutral structures captured by enemy engineers.
Bridge House: Repairs the Bridge should it have been destroyed. No effect if the bridge is still intact.

Acknowledgements

Most of the statistics for the costs and build times of units and structures presented in this guide are taken either from the great EVA Database C&C Wiki or from Carl's Guides.

The video regarding the (improper) use of Super Reactors has been made by umutweb.

[Ukroppen Offizier]

you can "cure" a terror droned vehicle if you hit it with any lightning attack

[Gordon]

if you have 20 Kirov then no amount of AA can take you down unless they are the japs with their commando unit on the field.

[mwperk0122]

Sputniks are very much so a waste of money though. Why spend 1200 on that when it can't even unpack afterwards. my mcv for free while still building other structures with crusher cranes.

[Anvbyss 🔜 Megaplex]

Thanks man

[The toaster]

sputik best unit in all off command and counqure figth me

[recce puff]

I think it's also worth a mention that Conscripts' molotovs kill peacekeepers in one hit if they have their shield up

[Burning Pyromaniac]

Also in upriseing the soviet "REAPER" can one shot any thing in game thats a vechile with the "PROTO-Jump"
It's also been shown to be able to ONE shot the shogun exe.

[Burning Pyromaniac]

Forgot to add "Spamable" to conscripts

[Abernathy]

You can use iron curtain on overreacting dreadnoughts, drastically increase their performance on battlefield without taking any damage from their special ability or from their enemies. 2 - 3 critical enemy structures would be going down until the curtain effect is off.

[⎝⎛ Kikematamitos ⎞⎠]

Fix the video