| “ | This wealth is ours! | ” |
| —Ghost Miner |
Ore is the main resource in the Red Alert universe of the Command & Conquer series, including mods such as Mental Omega.
Overview[]
An ore field with an ore drill in the middle that generates more ore.
Ore is the primary means of earning money (or credits) in the battlefield. Ore is divided into 2 classifications; namely, Yellow Ore and Gems.
Yellow Ore is abundant, and more ore can be generated every 1 minute by an indestructible ore drill found in the middle of an ore field, essentially making Yellow Ore an infinite resource. Not all ore fields have an ore drill, however.
Ore can be gathered by special vehicles called Ore miners, or sometimes known as harvesters. Building more of these vehicles is critical to gain money quickly, whether by building them in War Factories or building an Ore Refinery, as each refinery comes with an ore miner. These Ore miners are:
Chrono Miner (gathers up to $500 worth of ore, $750 if gems)- Ultra Miner (gathers up to $1000 worth of ore, $1500 if gems)
War Miner (gathers up to $1000 worth of ore, $1500 if gems)- Ghost Miner (replaces Slave Miner from Yuri's Revenge; gathers up to $1000 worth of ore, $1500 if gems)
- Minermite (gathers up to $300 worth of ore, $450 if gems)
Once their ore storage is full, or ordered by their commander, the ore miner returns to the nearest Ore Refinery (if one exists) to dump the ore and process it immediately, turning ore to credits for the commander to use.
EVA will announce if an ore miner is being attacked by the enemy. Defend the miners and/or order them to return to base immediately; otherwise, the player's economy will be affected greatly in the long run.
If an ore miner containing an ore load is destroyed, the ore is lost and will not be released outside the vehicle.
Gems[]
Gems in the battlefield.
Gems (or uncommonly known as multi-colored jewels[1]) are more valuable than Yellow Ore, but rare in quantity. In fact, gems cannot be generated by ore drills in the battlefield, making them heavily contested by players.
When gathered, gems provide 1.5x the amount than Yellow Ore, so if a gem field is close to a player's base at the start of the game, gems should be mined first.
Strategy[]
Acquiring more ore[]
As mentioned before, building additional Ore miners is the best means to harvest ore quickly and to keep the money flowing. However, if there are too many Ore miners, they will have to wait near the Ore Refinery while each one dumps their ore load. This can be solved by building additional Ore Refineries.
Ideally, the placement of Ore Refineries should be as close to an ore field as possible. If the ore around the base is depleted, the most appropriate action is to expand territory, either by relocating the MCV (to save money) or building another MCV and deploy them to a Construction Yard adjacent to the nearest ore field. By doing this, a commander can place Ore Refineries closer to an otherwise distant ore field. Alternatively, if there is a Tech Base Expansion Post near an ore field, one can send an Engineer to capture it to gain territory (and gain the ability to build structures like Ore Refineries) without building an expensive MCV.
The Allies can build Ore Purifiers, economy-boosting structures that further refine the ore harvested to gain more credits than normal. In other words, income generated from ore mining is increased by 25%. For instance, a Chrono Miner can only deliver up to $500 worth of ore, but with an Ore Purifier, this increases to $625. The Allies can also deploy an Ultra Miner anywhere on the battlefield with the support power.
The Epsilon can build War Rigs, mobile Ore Refineries that can move underground to safely travel to any ore field. These structures are also able to defend themselves and repair nearby vehicles, making them a valuable support structure. However, only a maximum of two War Rigs can be built.
Disrupting enemy ore mining[]
Aside from Skirmish options, there is no way to directly impact the generation rate of ore from ore drills, as these are indestructible. While the ore can be destroyed by weapons that can create craters (like tanks), this is a very impractical strategy.
Instead, anti-vehicle units, including tanks and fighter jets like the Harrier can be ordered to attack enemy ore miners to disrupt enemy income. This tactic is known as miner harassment, and if successful, the enemy is forced to build more miners or else they will have no way to earn money through mining. However, this tactic is useless against A.I. opponents, since they have infinite money, so leaving a significant impact in their economy is not possible.
Alternatively, a player can choose to destroy Ore Refineries, rendering Ore miners useless until another Ore Refinery is built.
Options[]
In the Skirmish menu, the growth of ore can be modified as one of the many settings. The possible choices are: None, Minimal, Standard, or Double.