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| “ | In light of the United States' military collapsing, the Pacific Front is attempting to take control of the Mercury Network Uplink in Hawaii. Not wanting such a potentially powerful weapon to fall in enemy hands, the Soviets aim to destroy it before its full power is reached. | ” |
| —Mission description |
Operation: Death From Above is the eighth Soviet Act One campaign mission.
Briefing[]
Interesting news, Comrade - our work on the Island of Devon has revealed strange occurrences going on. The Allies are not nearly as unified as we thought, and that base indeed was not to coordinate the remaining American forces as was advertised, but for the Europeans and Pacific forces to recover technology and assets that were still under American control. The propaganda is working, as even more Americans have joined our army lately - the problem here is that it won't take long for Moscow to be aware of the support you have among certain quarters. For now they are in the dark, and focusing on the war in Europe. Leave them - High Command wants you to complete your victory here. Thus, you were made a First Commander, and have Weapons Protocol again.
The reason you suffered a Mercury strike in Paris was not an accident. It seems the Pacific Front had somehow managed to wrest control of the American Mercury Network away from them. It doesn't seem complete though, and for the moment they do not have full power. Strikes are weak and sporadic, but that won't remain for long. The problem for the past few days was that we didn't know where the control station was. That changed earlier today, when we received news from our agents, indicating what we thought was the American Pacific Fleet HQ on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, upon closer analysis, seems to be a giant Pacific Front base. Specifically, the Network Uplink was pointed out, complete with some sort of shield protecting it. If the control over the Mercury system stays in their hands, the weapon might reach its devastating potential.
Objective 1: Destroy all Allied forces on the Niihau Island.
Objective 2 & 3: Defend the base until a Nuke Silo is built & destroy the Uplink.
Events[]
Arrival of the fleet[]
The US military outpost on Niihau Island was the foothold of Latin Confederation's action, and the General has a small fleet that was sufficient to destroy the island's facilities. He first shot down the incoming Rocketeers with Seawolves and quickly let Dreadnoughts hit the barrel. The detonation of the barrel caused a big bang, most of the units were destroyed in the explosion, and four Stallions parked nearby quickly flew away. Next, the General hit the remaining oil drums and let the Typhoon Attack Subs wipe out the remaining sea units.
Defend the companion[]
After Niihau Island was cleared, another commander’s main forces and MCV boarded the island, and the General also received more naval units and some Vultures. When the MCV was deployed, another commander would take 2 minutes and 35 seconds to build Ore Refinery. The bad thing was that Pacific Front launched a fierce offensive after learning the news, and even sent Aircraft Carriers. He quickly eliminated the more threatening units, including Aircraft Carrier and Dolphins, and then defeated those other naval units. The General deployed defenses in all directions and kept an eye on the enemy's aggression forces.
The other commander's construction process was: construction of the Field Bureau, which took 3 minutes and had to keep Ore Refinery; it took 2 minutes to build the War Factory and had to keep the Field Bureau; it took 4 minutes to build the Battle Lab and had to keep the War Factory; the last one was Tactical Nuke Silo, which was built in 5 minutes and 20 seconds and required the Battle Lab. The complicated construction process made this defensive war doomed, not to be simple.
Another commander would have to repair the key buildings by Engineers when they were damaged, and did not relax the defense on the island; the General basically eliminated the incoming Allied forces under his reasonable arrangements, and occasionally sent Vultures to kill the paratroopers. After the Tactical Nuke Silo was built, another commander handed over the use of the base to the General.
Destroy the Mercury Uplink[]
Even if the base was gained, the Allied offensive did not weaken, which meant that the General had to defend the base on his own. In addition to continuing to send out the fleet, the Allies also liked to let Voyagers carrying a large number of troops land from the north, the General decided to build some Tesla Coils in the north after saw that. At this time, the General acquired five Giant Squids, a marine creature invented by PsiCorps, which can slow down their movements while attacking enemy naval units. But even more annoying is that an island near the General's base was full of Zephyrs and various defense units, and Zephyrs attempted to launch long-range bombardments of his base through Zephyrobot. At this point, Nuke Missile was ready to go, and the General decisively turned it to those units assembling like ants.
The General found a resource-rich island in the southwest, and he decided to send some attack troops and Borillo carrying Engineers to there. When the defense there was disintegrated, Engineer captured Ore Refinery there, and the General then sent Zubrs to transport some War Miners to the island.
The enemy's offensive was slightly eased at this time, and the General decided to start an attack. Since the mission goal was simply to destroy the Mercury Uplink station, he ignored the main island and instead went directly from the north to the northeast corner.
The General sent a large fleet to go through a long and narrow strait, but found that there was also well-fortified, but under the quantitative advantage, the defense there was no match for the General's fleet. Then his fleet was getting closer to the northeast corner and discovering some Patriot missiles and other defenses. The General decisively let a large number of Dreadnoughts destroy them, but he also found that the enemy began to send annoying Aircraft Carriers to his base again, but fortunately his base has been fully defended.
The General directed the fleet to slowly advance, destroying Patriot missiles, Prism Towers, Aeroblazes and various naval units along the way. In this time he found that the enemy was constantly sending Stormchildren to attack his fleet, making it smaller and smaller. At this time, the General decided to make a quick fix. He sent Vultures to reveal the vision of Mercury Uplink, and let Dreadnoughts directly destroy the satellite station that had been disturbing him for long after the basic defense was removed.
Aftermath[]
| “ | The Mercury satellites are now stranded in space, harmless hunks of metal. Given time and opportunity, we could have utilized them to reinforce our own military satellite network, still in development, but what's done is done. We have nothing to fear for now. | ” |
| —Battlefield report |
With the destruction of the uplink, the Mercury satellite now become a useless, harmless metallic contraption stranded in space, although the General thought that seizing control of the satellite for the Soviet cause would prove to be useful. Regardless, American scientists in the General's protection informed him that the Mercury satellite is no longer a threat, so the General has nothing to fear for now.
Meanwhile, the war in Europe is not going well for the Soviets, forcing them to use their MIDAS ICBMs to turn the tide by obliterating the reconstructed Chronosphere and the SteinsTech lab.
Difficulty changes[]
Casual[]
- Starting credits: 50000
- Enemy AI's attack intensity is the lowest.
- Removed some enemy defenses.
- Added two Repair Drones and three Typhoon Attack Subs to the player's initial forces.
- Removed enemy's Rocketeer attack during the Niihau Island sweeping phase.
- Two extra Repair Drones will be given when the player gets the second reinforcement during the island defense phase.
- Enemy Mercury Strike cooldown: 12 minutes
- Enemy Hunter-Seeker cooldown: 11 minutes
- Enemy Airborne and Bloodhounds cooldown: 8 minutes
- During the skirmish phase, the enemy will not deploy Zephyrobots at the player's base.
- 9 Giant Squids are added to the naval reinforcements after taking over the base for a while.
Normal[]
- Starting credits: 35000
- Enemy AI's attack intensity is medium.
- Removed enemy's Rocketeer attack during the Niihau Island sweeping phase.
- Four Navy SEALs will emerge from the Barracks after the player launches the attack on Niihau Island, with additional SEALs ambushing the player.
- During the island defend phase, the Allies will deploy a defense team on the small island on the upper right.
- Enemy Mercury Strike cooldown: 6 minutes
- Enemy Hunter-Seeker cooldown: 11 minutes
- Enemy Airborne and Bloodhounds cooldown: 8 minutes
- 5 Giant Squids are added to the naval reinforcements after taking over the base for a while.
Mental[]
- Starting credits: 30000
- Enemy AI's attack intensity is the highest.
- Four Navy SEALs will emerge from the Barracks after the player launches the attack on Niihau Island, with additional SEALs ambushing the player.
- When the Barracks on Niihau Island is destroyed, four Warhawks will enter the map from the top right to attack.
- Enemy Mercury Strike cooldown: 6 minutes
- Enemy Hunter-Seeker cooldown: 5 minutes 30 seconds
- Removed two Repair Drones from the second reinforcement in island defense phase.
- During the island defend phase, the Allies will deploy a defense team on the small island on the upper right, with more Zephyr Artilleries than on Normal.
- Zephyr Artilleries deployed in this area are significantly increased.
- The enemy will automatically replenish when naval defenses near the Mercury Network Uplink are lost.
- Added a Gap Generator to the Mercury Network Uplink area.
- A Tech Military Docks is owned by the American-equipment base, a Tech Maintenance Facility, a Tech Machine Shop and a Tech Hospital are owned by the Pacific Front forces.
Easter egg[]
- In the southwest corner of the map, there is a small island with a single Patriot Missile on it. If this is destroyed, a Cargo Plane will arrive and paradrop 2 Repair Drones for the player.
- In the south of Niihau island, there is a hut located on a tiny island. Garrisoning the hut will yield a veterancy crate.
Trivia[]
- This mission is based on and a role reversal of Deep Sea, the seventh Allied mission in the original Red Alert 2. Instead of the Soviets attempting to eliminate the Allied Pacific Fleet in the original game, they have to ensure the destruction of the Mercury Uplink.
- The Mercury Uplink in this mission is surprisingly resilient, being able to withstand a direct strike from the Tactical Nuke. This is probably to prevent the player from bypassing the need to engage the Allies directly while en route to the objective and finishing this mission quickly. Though this is explained by the Force Shield texture seen around the Uplink building itself.
