Introduction to Command and Conquer Red Alert.

There is a big difference between playing the computer and a human player. The human player is much harder to beat. There are several ways you can play a human player instead of the old skirmish against the computer. You can play using a serial cable connecting 2 computers together. The most common way is to play over the internet. Westwood Studios have included on the Red Alert CD some software called Westwood Chat, if you install this on your computer you can play online. Goto the Westwood website, and register for the online tournaments and you will get your username and password to log into Westwood Chat.

Once in you have a choice of playing a tournament game which counts towards your rank, for example if you win your rank increases, if you lose it decreases. To see what rank you are at currently you need to look at the ranking ladders (one for Red Alert and one for Aftermath), this is where my rank on the index page was gained. The other choice is to play non-tournament games which are merely a skirmish against a human player for fun. The advantage of playing a non-tournament game is that can play a map you created yourself, or your opponent created. If your opponent created it, this is even better as once you are connected this map has downloaded onto your computer and will appear at the bottom of the map list Red Alert. You can tell the difference because the tournament games are highlighted in yellow. Tip: You can talk to your opponent during the game by pressing the F1 key and typing a message. The username I now use is "ratips", if you see me in Westwood Chat, say hi and let me know what you thought about my site.

I mentioned you can play maps you created. Well a lot of people don't seem to realise that also included on the Red Alert CD is a map editor. This is installed with Red Alert so it is probably on your computer right now. Goto your start menu and look in the Westwood Red Alert folder and you should find the map editor shortcut. This software is very simple and l'm sure you'll pick it up no problem.

Another thing that a lot of people don't know, or ignore is the shortcut keys, these are vitally important for speed during the game. They are detailed in the General Tips section of this site.

There are subtle differences between the different countries you can play in the game. Obviously there are the 2 main sides, Soviet and Allied, these are made up of individual countries each with it's own unique advantage as detailed below:

Allied England - 10% better armour
Allied Germany - 10% more powerful firepower
Allied France - 10% faster firing rate
Soviet Ukraine - 10% faster units
Soviet Russia - 10% cheaper units and buildings

The country differences are relatively small and will not make much of an impact in the game, the main choice is Soviets or Allies.

I hope l've mentioned a few things which you found useful, there should be a lot more in the rest of the site that will also make your games faster, more fun and more victorious! A good place to visit next is the General Tips page.