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| “ | Attacking from all sides, the Soviets launch a naval assault on San Francisco to cripple the U.S. navy. The PsiCorps division has requested the complete elimination of the city's anti-aircraft defenses in order to proceed with their work on Alcatraz Island. | ” |
| —Mission description |
Operation: Golden Gate is the second Soviet Act One campaign mission.
Contents
Briefing
Regards Comrade, on your last success! We had not anticipated that the city would fall that easily, and it was largely due to your efforts. With that, the High Command has decided to shift our gears slightly, and we are in a naval role this time. Soviet forces are attacking into San Francisco, but work needs to be done again before the main forces land. While the American Pacific Fleet is extremely powerful, thankfully they are far away from the shores of the homeland. However, the Americans are not entirely toothless at sea here - the California State Fleet and the U.S. Coast Guard are out in full force. Command needs these forces swept out or they will endanger the landing. Along with that, the Grand Cannons protecting the shorelines need to be taken out, as they are too much of a threat even to our Kuznetsov Dreadnoughts. Nothing can endanger the Soviet Fleet, as the Far East fleet is not nearly as large as the Western based ones. To lose ships here will hurt a lot more than in New York City.
Once shore emplacements and ships are out, take a small landing party and head inland. Counsel suggests that you should not be overzealous in destroying the American base with your Kuznetsovs - there is no MCV with your landing force. In addition, we have a special request from Chief Adviser Yuri, the leader of our PsiCorps division. He wishes that you take out the air defenses on Alcatraz Island. They have work they need to do there, and will paradrop in. Normally he would not entrust this operation to anyone, but he believes in you.
Objective 1: Destroy the Allied navy and Grand Cannons.
Objective 2: Eliminate the Allied anti-aircraft defenses on Alcatraz.
Objective 3: Finish off Allied forces.
Events
Arrival of the General's assault fleet was signaled with the destruction of the Golden Gate bridge by a Kirov Airship, which was shortly shot down by Allied Aegis Cruisers. This flotilla was a combination of Seawolves, Typhoon submarines and Dreadnoughts with enough ammunition to bombard both the coastal defenses and the Allied bases. The remaining forces would later be mopped up by ground forces coming from both extremes of the Allied perimeter (top left and bottom right corners) as well as landings via Borillos and Zübr transports which the General held direct control.
The Soviet fleet's passage across the Golden Gate river was all but a peaceful one, especially with the California State Fleet and Coast Guard everywhere and occasionally reinforced. Almost half of what was supposed to be the Dreadnoughts escort was sunk in ship-to-ship battles, while the Grand Cannons were shot down in 'focused' fire, as most of the V4 rockets were destroyed by the rockets of nearby IFVs stationed by.
San Francisco landing
The landings started shortly afterwards, but ground resistance appeared to have been much far fiercer than its naval one. Both 'ground teams' were forced to hold their position as the Dreadnoughts bombarded both defenses ceaselessly, while the remaining ships rushed toward the Naval Shipyards between both main lands and Alcatraz and destroyed them. Despite Soviet losses, the Allies weren't able to deploy further Allied vessels, by then, and thus were ordered to rejoin the Dreadnoughts to protect them. The Soviet ground forces were only able to advance once most of the defenses were bombarded to oblivion. The timely arrival of an engineering team allowed the Soviets to capture one of the Allied bases and assemble enough forces to neuter the disadvantage of an unavailable Soviet base.
Securing the Alcatraz Island
Alcatraz Island, guarded by Allied anti-aircraft defenses
The actual issue came with Alcatraz itself, especially as its anti-air defenses were so much comprised of Patriot Missile Batteries as Aeroblaze AA vehicles whose laser cannons could make short work of Dreadnought missiles, and were at an enough safe distance from a direct attack via Seawolves. A small advantage was only found in exploiting the island's defenses' dependence on the city's power grid, which was quickly shut down with the destruction of its power plants. The Aeroblazes would be dealt with moments later, as well as much of the American resistance, only under through intense firepower. As Alcatraz was secured, PsiCorps moved in for its mission, with the General receiving praise from Yuri himself.
Aftermath
| “ | Yuri has commended you for your success. One of the ruined bases contains records of correspondence indicating that the American President is in Texas. This is a rare opportunity to sever the head of the eagle. You have been given the honour to strike. | ” |
| —Battlefield report |
The capture of San Francisco proved of incredible importance for the Soviet forces, much beyond territory control – one of the destroyed American base's records indicated President Dugan had evacuated D.C. and was secret in San Antonio, Texas. And given American resistance was being much fiercer than expected, the Union determined another moral crumbling strike had to be delivered, and thus the Soviet General would be given this particular honor.
As for Alcatraz, PsiCorps would eventually turn it into a test bed for an experimental technology of theirs, called the Terranova Virus. It'd eventually be used by Yuri in his resurgence.
Difficulty changes
Casual
- Starting credits: 25000
- The enemy attack is the weakest among all difficulties.
- Less Pillboxes and Patriot Missile Sites will be stationed at Allied base.
- Reinforcements the player receives at each stage is the strongest among all difficulties.
- Enemy navy, garrison and patrol forces are the least among all difficulties.
- 3 Repair Drones will accompany the Soviet navy.
- All Abrams Tanks in the enemy base are removed.
Normal
- Starting credits: 15000
- The enemy attack is stronger compared to Casual.
- Enemy navy, garrison and patrol forces are stronger than on Casual.
- Enemy will gain control of the Tech Airfield on Alcatraz Island after the player destroyed Allied navy and all Grand Cannons, and will use it to paradrop forces should the player's army enters certain areas.
- 2 Repair Drones will accompany the Soviet navy.
- The enemy will start producing units after the destruction of the navy.
- Voyagers carrying enemy forces will arrive at regular interval after capturing two of the Allied Barracks, War Factories or Ore Refineries.
Mental
- Starting credits: 10000
- The enemy attack is the strongest among all difficulties, and includes Riot Troopers.
- Enemy navy, garrison and patrol forces are the strongest among all difficulties. In addition, the enemy navy contains Enterprise Aircraft Carriers.
- Reinforcements the player receives at each stage is the weakest among all difficulties.
- Enemy will gain control of the Tech Airfield on Alcatraz Island after the player destroyed Allied navy and all Grand Cannons, and will use it to paradrop forces should the player's army enters certain areas.
- 1 Repair Drone will accompany the Soviet navy.
- The enemy will start producing units after the destruction of the navy.
- Even more Voyagers carrying enemy forces will arrive at regular interval after capturing two of the Allied Barracks, War Factories or Ore Refineries.
Easter egg
- There are 2 mansions on this map (1 near the top left corner and 1 near the bottom right corner). Destroying the mansions will award the player with money crates.
- Located at the top right corner of the map is an island with a lifeguard tower on it. If the player garrisons the tower with infantry, they will be rewarded with a money crate. A naval/amphibious unit is needed to pick the crate up.
Trivia
- This mission uses the part of the terrain from Time Lapse, the first Allied mission in Yuri's Revenge, and the same first objective from Time Shift, the first Soviet mission in the same game, both of which takes place in San Francisco.
- PsiCorps taking Alcatraz Island is also a reference to said mission, which reveals that Yuri constructed a Psychic Dominator on the island during the Soviet invasion of San Francisco.
 Allied  Soviet  Epsilon  Foehn |
| Missions in italics are not currently available and will be released in future updates |
