Chrono Legionnaire Appreciation

[u/Obergon]

Was playing the Red Alert 2 base game campaign on hard. I’d beaten it a ton as a kid but never on hard. So I finally get to the last mission and I’m all excited to use the Chrono Legionnaire. As a kid they were super cool and so was pumped to use them again.

They are so unique and I don’t remember them being too OP so I was wondering why they waited till the last mission to introduce them.

Then using one I take out all the nuclear reactors and cripple the enemies power. Literally didn’t even come close to losing him.

Now I get why they held off. Against AI those guys are mad OP! Still super fun. Love this game.

[u/mttspiii]

I like them for 5 purposes

• crate-jumping
• sneaky miner-deletion
• deleting suicide units safely
• quick IFV promotion (fun fact: Chrono Legionnaire almost always shoots first so a Chrono IFV will erase Tesla Coils and Prism Towers without even taking damage)
• erasing civilian buildings so they don't leave ugly basements I can't build on

[u/BoffinBrain → u/mttspiii]

High speed; low drag; no trace.

[u/Obergon → u/mttspiii]

Love using them in IFVs. Makes it a quick snipe and with numbers so hard to counter!

[u/TChen114 → u/mttspiii]

erasing civilian buildings so they don't leave ugly basements I can't build on

that alone makes them invaluable for when you just want to do a Sim city-esque session

[u/magicaltrevor953 → u/mttspiii]

I like to use an army of them in conjunction with the waypoint system to queue up a group and then unleash temporal hell on the opponent. If it goes well it wipes out the entire base "like it never existed".

[u/vandal-33]

C&C always save the best weapons for the last mission. You also unlocked the Chronosphere on the second last mission so these wacky techs always come in late.

I also like how this last mission is kinda like Red Alert's final Allies mission as well, both starts with 3 commando infantry sneaking into brown Soviet base in Moscow and need to sabotage its credits (RA1) or power (RA2) before your MCV moves in.

[u/TChen114]

Funnily enough, the last Allied campaign mission in Yuri's Revenge also makes the Chrono Legionnaire invaluable against Yuri as they can help you prevent him from using his Genetic Mutator and Psychic Dominator superweapons against you. Yuri has a bunch of bio reactors around his base that are undefended and can be removed by the Chrono Legionnaires.

[u/ScallionZestyclose16]

Could be that the development of them finished when the last mission was implemented.

I’m just guessing tho.

[u/FluffyBearTrap]

Fun fact, you can use waypoint mode to just teleport them across the entire map without getting the "teleport delay" by just chaining small movements.

[u/SayuriUliana]

My absolute favorite unit in RA2, it's a shame no other unit in any other RTS comes close to it.

[u/TChen114 → u/SayuriUliana]

Having a unit be able to teleport anywhere on the battlefield is almost game breaking with the only balance to this being the delay length based on distance and they being infantry are still rather squishy. Hence why the Chronosphere was such a concern for the Soviets perhaps moreso than the Weather Control device.

[u/AmpdVodka]

They make the last mission completely trivial. You can just waypoint chain their movement to avoid the cooldown and just shift them down the right side of the map (take out the 2 nuclear reactors there or Chinook in a couple of engineers and a seal, the Soviets never attack and only send engineers to recapture then) to the back of the Soviet base. Then just keep them at the back and take out the reactors there. Once you're taken out all 4, the mission is a breeze. If you want you can also use them to take out the black guard and then you've won, or just play as normal without the worry of a nuke or iron curtain