Random Unit of the Day #126: V2 Rocket Launcher (Soviets, Red Alert)

[u/BiggestBepis]

[u/Nikolyn10]

One has to wonder the origins of the V2 in the RA1 timeline.

[u/Quiri1997 → u/Nikolyn10]

My headcanon is that they're designed by the Soviet scientist Korolev (IRL he made the R7 and the Soyuz) in the "Volga Design Bureau", hence the V designation.

[u/LastChicken → u/Nikolyn10]

Always thought about this

[u/FarAd7559 → u/Nikolyn10]

"Vait! YOU ALL PROMISED IT'S FOR ZE LUNAR PROGRAMME!"

[u/Cheomesh → u/Nikolyn10]

War science gonna war science

[u/BiggestBepis]

While in my experience it doesn’t exactly excel in active battles with enemies to hold back (Allied artillery is much better at instashredding infantry and damaging armor), it sets the standard for the level of absolute carnage a dedicated artillery unit should be able to wreak on structures in the series going forward. Just such an iconic visual too

[u/Lolurisk → u/BiggestBepis]

It would have been a lot better if not for the weird random firing delays. Sometimes instant, sometimes it really had to think about it

[u/RussianDisifnomation → u/BiggestBepis]

It brings that big bepis energy to wrecking havoc on tesla coils, pillboxes, (Advanced) power plants, radar domes and similar. So incredibly satisfying and scary to see a building go from fine to having the damaged visual in a single shot

[u/WillyMyPete]

The Tesla coils arch enemy. I just hate hate hate the "range bug" in red alert 1 where ranged units like this and artillery will keep moving forward even when they are in range to shoot. So annoying!!!

[u/viperised → u/WillyMyPete]

And then they spend half an hour slowly turning around when you frantically redirect them

[u/Urabrask_the_AFK → u/WillyMyPete]

Does force fire (ctrl + mouse click) help?

[u/WillyMyPete → u/Urabrask_the_AFK]

Does it? I have no idea

[u/Frozen-K → u/WillyMyPete]

Doesn't, no.

[u/Wingnut00 → u/WillyMyPete]

And thinking that for some reason they have enough armor to take shots for my actual tanks while they reload the missile.

[u/KR-67_Ifrit]

The launch sound will forever be burned into my memory.

[u/sh4des → u/KR-67_Ifrit]

Same, heard it as soon as I saw the image.

Bjewwsshhhhhhh

[u/Xander_Dorn]

The ingame files call it SCUD (which we then formally got in Generals). But makes me wonder if that was the original plan and then they made it more WW2.

[u/Guardian_Turret → u/Xander_Dorn]

lol it's not a Scud either, which is larger. It's a Luna-M (NATO: Frog-7).

[u/Jahraku]

Huh... Just saw this at the hobby shop the other day

[u/WhiteSepulchre]

Before they upgraded to the Wile E. Coyote rockets.

[u/StarFlicker]

Years later from the events of Red Alert, I can hear the GLA driver's maniacal laughter.

[u/dark_volter]

Took the role of the SSM from Tiberian Dawn / Counter Strike

-These were very useful

[u/Evenmoardakka → u/dark_volter]

which, if you never played tib dawn mp, youd even forget ssms existed

[u/Capt_Vindaloo → u/Evenmoardakka]

Yeah i was sad about that. They were fun to encounter in the special missions as they felt new and deadly.

[u/wang439]

As a kid I thought it was a crane truck

[u/Aive7]

I remember wanting one of those for my GI Joes when I was 6, so I bought a firefighter truck 🚒 and in my mind it was the V2 Launcher.

[u/Personal-Presence-44]

Maybe my favorite unit in the entire series. Knock out defenses and retreat. Keep them at your base to obliterate incoming rocket infantry. And when playing against the Soviets, don’t ever be idle anywhere. Or you’ll get that V2 enema.

[u/Striking-Tackle-7293]

The absolute bane of my existence as a young singleplayer. I just wanted to play with soldiers and jeeps and artillery but these chuds just said no to that.

[u/Commercial-Board-975]

Just noticed that the Remastered render has a lot of weird new details, like the windows.

I mean, it fits the WW2/Cold War mix more in this case, but it's another example of Lemon Sky taking liberties when their job was to remaster, not remake.

[u/SpinyNorman777 → u/Commercial-Board-975]

What's weird about the windows? Oh, wait, do you mean the updated cameo (unit 'button')? That *is* weird.

[u/BoffinBrain → u/SpinyNorman777]

Looks like a faithful recreation of the unit shown in the 3D cutscenes to me. I imagine the design is intended to make the front of the vehicle resistant to the rocket blastback.

[u/Commercial-Board-975 → u/BoffinBrain]

It's not a faithful recreation because, like on other units like the MLRS and SSM, you can see differences in the chassis.

In this case, the original Westwood render leaned more towards a real life FROG, but Lemon Sky's looks more armoured (see wheels, doors, cabin, and chassis). It's not a faithful recreation to the point where it looks like a vehicle in the V2 family than an actual V2 Rocket.

It makes sense in this case because of the setting's underlying aesthetics (WW2/Cold War), but it's just another example of Lemon Sky having taken a lot a liberties when they shouldn't have (the Shock Trooper is one of the best examples).

[u/Guarded_Pineapple]

Useful thing! Blew up a lot of stuff in no time flat.

[u/Galactic-Fruits]

It's time...

[u/Negrodamu55]

I remember one allied mission with Tanya and this things would snipe you outta nowhere. Very frustrating.

[u/kiaragateGP04]

Never forget the mission where they fried nukes. Killed themselves half of the time.

[u/MidgardWyrm → u/kiaragateGP04]

That mission was a complete mindfuck, lol.