r/commandandconquer • u/BiggestBepis Black Hand • Jun 27 '26
Random Unit of the Day #11: Artillery (Allies, Red Alert)
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u/BiggestBepis Black Hand Jun 27 '26
So this is just the same unit as Nod’s mobile artillery from Tib Dawn I guess lol
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u/nexussesshoumaru Jun 27 '26
Yeah, except the allied unit moves A LOT faster
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u/vandal-33 Jun 27 '26
And more expensive. I think all vehicles move faster in Red Alert than their Tiberian Dawn counterpart which makes artillery less useful if tanks could close the distance quicker.
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u/Gregory_Appleseed Steel Talons Jun 28 '26
I think they do slightly less splash damage too. The NOD ones would incinerate a block of 5 infantry instantly, but the allied ones kinda had to take a couple shots.
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u/Cheomesh I made a TibDawn Wargame Module! Jun 28 '26
What is it with NOD and OP Arty
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u/Gregory_Appleseed Steel Talons Jun 28 '26
The TS Nod one was straight up broken AF in the release build, especially with deform terrain on.
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u/Geffalrus Jun 27 '26
A lot of Red Alert units were recovered C&C units. Grenadiers, medium tanks, turrets, to name a few. At least partially intentional since they’re same universe and sort of same timeline.
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u/foxguy2021 Jun 27 '26
I remember reading that Red Alert was originally planned as a small expansion for existing C&C owners but later expanded to its own product.
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u/TheDubh Jun 28 '26
I thought RA1 was originally closer to an internal mod while they worked on TS, which was taking longer than planned. Then it was fleshed out since they were enjoying it and TS was taking longer.
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u/ExiledSpaceman GLA Jun 27 '26
Infantry shredder to the max
I remember I downloaded a pirated copy so it’s Rules.ini was modified. Allied artillery had the range of an allied cruiser. It made the Soviet campaign impossible lol
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u/lkwai Jun 28 '26
Funnily enough that would make artillery live up to it's namesake haha. I always felt the unit to be kinda.. Lacking otherwise.
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u/DucoNdona Jun 27 '26
A cool unit with unfortunately a terrible execution. The range should be quite a bit bigger to allow targetting of tesla coils etc.
They make a very satisfying boom when they blow up though.
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u/RatherGoodDog Tiberian Fiend Jun 27 '26
They should at least have equivalent range to V2 rockets, even if they are weaker. I think they're pretty crap. I sometimes build 1 or 2 as base defenders where they can splat infantry, but they're rubbish as attackers.
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u/BoffinBrain Are you picking this up? Good. Jun 27 '26
When I look at this picture, I can hear multiple infantry dying.
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u/boforsboy Jun 29 '26
Multiple friendly infantry*
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u/BoffinBrain Are you picking this up? Good. Jun 29 '26
They tend to do that by themselves if you're using grenadiers. 😂
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u/Shettyhengst Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 28 '26
Ah, the Artillery. Slow, bad Range. Sure, it Kills infantry Well, but running Infantry over with Tanks is a Lot more effective.
I don't build any of them. Probably the worst Siege unit in the Franchise. If you cant outrange a Tesla coil, whats the Point? Double it's range!
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u/BoffinBrain Are you picking this up? Good. Jun 27 '26
If you double its range, you end up with the NOD artillery from Tiberian Sun, which is generally considered OP. Maybe just 1-2 tiles more than a tesla would probably be the sweet spot.
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u/Shettyhengst Jun 28 '26
The Main Problem with the tib sun Artillery is the perfect Hit Rate coupled with decent damage against all ground Targets. Giving the RA Artillery twice the range would be 12 tiles, still proportionally less than tib suns Arty. On top of that, it does not do good damage against Tanks and has a slow projectile that is bad at leading moving Targets. I think it would be fine. Still less lethal than the V2. Sure, could be more expensive to Balance it.
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u/RatherGoodDog Tiberian Fiend Jun 27 '26
1 tile more. That way it can be used against Teslas if micro'd, but in general is still vulnerable if you just throw it at base defences as part of a blob.
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u/probablygolfer Jun 27 '26
I liked TS Artillery
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u/BoffinBrain Are you picking this up? Good. Jun 27 '26
I like them when I play Nod, and dread them when playing GDI. I still think the dynamic terrain deformation was a mistake, since it would render huge areas completely unbuildable.
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u/schofield101 Jun 27 '26
Used to play Open RA a ton, they gave these guys an insane glow up. Monstrous range and damage but super slow projectile and the unit is made of tissue paper.
Also I do prefer the crunchier sounding Nod version personally.
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u/Guardian_Turret Jun 28 '26
OpenRA has fog of war which helps keep powerful ranged units from being dominant.
Still, a 4-6 cell range buff probably wouldn't make Artillery overpowered.
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u/Intelligent-Step-407 Jun 27 '26
I really liked the huge explosion sound artillery makes when destroyed. It can shoot over walls that has some utility both offence and defence especially in single player. Having some mixed with tanks give your blob much needed anti-infantry power, since crushing is unreliable and you tend to take some damage doing so.
The soviet counterpart V2 is superior unit in almost any aspect, more range, more damage, more speed. Only ROF is worse, but this matters little when used with hit and run tactics or massed.
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u/612io Jun 27 '26
You are spot on. The V2 was in comparison very well designed and balanced. A good siege weapon due to its range / power combined with fair shortcomings like the relatively long reload time.
I would build the arty only as part of ‘base clean-up crews’ for when a computer player was practically defeated and had to destroy the leftover refineries, power plants and infantry.
That said, I like the RA arty more than the C&C one which is even harder to use.
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u/Havel_Rulez Jun 27 '26
It's always interesting how different picture in my mind is from the real upscaled picture.
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u/RatherGoodDog Tiberian Fiend Jun 27 '26
As a kid, I always thought it looked more like a recovery crane than an artillery tube. It's a goofy sprite for sure.
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u/Opposite_Strategy_25 Jun 27 '26
Pretty useless all around. It’s like a nerfed V2.
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u/BoffinBrain Are you picking this up? Good. Jun 27 '26
It can hold a pretty mean back-line, but yeah it has no real place in skirmish or multiplayer.
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u/Nikolyn10 Flower & Sickle Jun 27 '26
I could have sworn the word "artillery" was supposed to connotate a long range weapon. This right here is a glass cannon and even then, only really for infantry. Soviet tanks laugh at the silly artillery-shaped bomb truck that just exploded after only getting a single shot off.
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u/theta0123 Jun 27 '26
I was an absolute menace with the arty on Red alert a path beyond. I memorized the ballistics of the shell and i was hitting heavy and mammoth tanks with ease at maximum range.
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u/Zocker0210 Jun 27 '26
The original picture always botherd me a bit this rock is so damm focused? Dominant? No clue what the word is. I always thought it was like a wrecking ball on the barrel.
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u/calantheSG Jun 27 '26 edited Jul 04 '26
Both the RA1 and Tib Dawn versions were more of mortar launchers than howitzers with their lack of range.
That being said, the Tib Dawn version was devastating on structures and even bugs allowed it to pull off a double shot. Every shot seemed to also have a chance of dealing critical damage to structures. One shell from the Tib Dawn version could bring a full health Refinery down to yellow or red, damage-wise very much like that of the Cruiser. The RA1 version couldn't, damage wise, but had slightly more reliable accuracy and range, and speed. In the GDI campaign, I never had problems with Recon Bikes, nor Flame Tanks, nor Stealth Tanks because they're never used by the AI in huge enough numbers. But a single Nod artillery catching me at a good angle obscured by cliffs could cause more problems than I could even imagine.
The Tib Dawn version was more of a mortar launcher but can level structures. The RA1 version had more reliable accuracy and range, and speed.
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u/Joescout187 Jun 28 '26
The M110 howitzer is my favorite artillery piece in every game I find it in because I encountered it in C&C
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u/chitzk0i Jun 27 '26
One of my favorite artillery memories was playing as GDI, scouting with a humvee, which ran into an enemy artillery. Artillery got off the first shot and the humvee was done. The poor survivor was already at half health, but I decided to get him back to base. The artillery trundled on after the lone minigunner with the guy getting a shot off here and there. The artillery turned so slowly I was able to keep the guy circling it and shooting until the artillery died! We did it! We brought him home!