| Mission | Walkthrough | Gallery | Changelog |
| “ | With Yuri's help the Soviets have managed to save two Topol-M with their MIDAS warheads intact from Gelendzhik and are preparing to deploy them. The Allies activate their still unstable next generation Chronosphere device in a desperate attack to prevent the ICBMs from launching. | ” |
| —Mission description |
Operation: Road to Nowhere is the ninth Soviet Act One campaign mission.
Briefing[]
Comrade, you're being borrowed back to the European theater. No doubt you've heard the war there has gone less well than planned, and while we have made significant gains, it's stalled down. Most of Germany is ours, but the cost in lives was staggeringly high. Worse, our combined armies have stalled right outside the Black Forest lab of SteinsTech - the Euro Alliance's military research team. Topping that, most of our MIDAS bombs were already destroyed and High Command told us nothing! Only now 'Comrade' Yuri made us aware that he has concealed two MIDAS warheads, and erased the memory of that from most people's heads to prevent an intel leak to the Allies. And yet, their spies found the last two warheads before we did! Yuri said he was waiting until the Mercury Network was disabled, but we only learned about it when the Eiffel Tower was struck with a beam of light. He claimed being wary of Allied methods to covertly attack us with the Chronosphere from the last war, and then we got news today that the Allies have activated an unstable next-gen version they've been building!
High Command has requested you protect these last two warheads - they also seem to be eager to fire them on the SteinsTech Lab in Black Forest, where Germany's Siegfried is working on the device. Allied forces are pouring through the unstable Chronosphere, and will be upon you shortly. Once this is over, it would be best if you get back to America as fast as possible. Something is off. Whatever Yuri is planning, we don't want you being near it. Now, you happen to be a few miles from a large Gulag. Our associates have started smuggling our families to America, just in case..We might all meet there one day.
Objective 1: Defend Topol-Ms from Allied chrono assault.
Events[]
Initial assault[]
The General encountered a strange thing before he gained the battlefield control: the Allies sent an Aircraft Carrier to a village while testing their unstable Chronosphere. This was equivalent to giving the General a signal to prepare for the battle. Soon, a Stalin's Fist was sent to support him, and his assistant reminded him to protect a helibunker in his camp, which was connected to a subterranean supply bunker, so it was a guarantee of stable resources.
Despite a base of sizable local garrison is located nearby, it was quickly neutralized by the Allied chrono assault and the vast majority of buildings were captured and dismantled by Engineers. The Allies initially sent some Cavalier Tanks and Archon AMCs to the outpost, but they were all controlled by the PsiCorps Troopers who had been there. But the Allies then stepped up the offensive: they sent a Voyager Transport filled with infantry directly to the outpost, sent Zephyrs to bombard the General's vehicle remotely, and sent another Aircraft Carrier in his outpost. With the arrival of a group of Tesla Troopers, the Voyager was destroyed before it was able to dispatch the infantry. The General then sent Rhino Tanks to pursue the Zephyrs directly and took control of the Aircraft Carrier.
To better protect Topol-M and his vehicles, the General built some Repair Drones using Stalin's Fist and sent two of them to the two Topol-Ms. The Allies then sent Harriers and Mirage Tanks, and also sent several Zephyrs to the east, and continued to chronoshift the type of troops they just used. At the same time, the General got three Tesla Cruisers, which was the first time he used this kind of tank. He sent the Tesla Cruisers to the front and let Tesla Troopers go to destroy the Zephyrs attempting to attackfrom behind. The Allies sent some Black Eagles from the south, and the General decided to build some Tigr APCs to strengthen his anti-air power.
Allies always sent troops near the frozen lake before, but this time they suddenly chronoshifted four Cavalier Tanks inside the outpost, but this did not disrupt the General's position. After receiving the resources from the underground supply bunker, he completed another round of defense. But the Allies also intend to take tougher action: they sent Prism Tanks that can kill infantry and destroy buildings remotely.
After the arrival of Prism Tanks, they were destroyed by the General before they could attack. Sure enough, the intel immediately reminded him that the Allies had begun to send heavier equipment, such as Thor Gunship. Although the General had built a lot of Tigr APCs before, it was difficult to deal with them. At the same time, the General had received two Sentinels - advanced anti-air units that Russia bought from China before. With the help of Sentinels, Thor Gunships quickly crashed. But the situation did not improve, as the General found that the Euro Alliance's Charon Tank appeared here.
Charon Tanks can erase most unit by single hit, so the General decided to let the ordinary Rhino Tanks focus on them. As a result, he just destroyed the Charon Tanks and found the Pacific Front's monster tank, Battle Tortoise, which can crush most units. The General had to keep his troops at a distance from Battle Tortoise while it was moving. When Battle Tortoise was also destroyed, he was told that the MIDAS would be launched soon, with only 400 seconds left.
Countdown to destruction[]
Next, the Allies' tactics were exactly the same as before, and the General could handle this last five minutes of defense. When the last Charon Tank was destroyed, the internal operations of the Topol-M were all completed, and one of them fired a MIDAS warhead towards the west.
Aftermath[]
| “ | It is done - a MIDAS has been launched, and will wipe out the Black Forest base entirely. The Europeans are now in full retreat, struck with fear in their hearts. We are close to victory, Comrade, I can feel it. It won't take long now. | ” |
| —Battlefield report |
With the desperate European assault repelled and the MIDAS ICBMs successfully launched, it was only a matter of time before the Black Forest along with the Chronosphere and the SteinsTech lab were wiped off the map. Knowing that all is now lost, the Europeans are retreating in full force, and soon enough, the Soviet Union will be able to conquer all Europe... at least that's what the Kremlin are thinking now.
The General, however, was aware that the Allies won't be defeated that easily – his predictions eventually turned out to be true. Later, the General is called for a surprising mission to destroy a Psychic Beacon that has been causing problems for China.
Difficulty changes[]
Casual[]
- Starting credits: 30000
- Enemy will send the fewest offensive troops.
- The Helibunker can provide up to five replenishments, $15,000 in total.
- No Zephyr Artilleries, Blizzard Tanks and Charon Tanks will participate in the attack.
- The last Tesla Trooper paradrop is changed to two Desolators, more player's paradrop reinforcements are added.
- Each of the three passes near the player's place has a friendly force's Tesla Coil, and each is powered by a Tesla Trooper.
- 4 Wolfhounds, and an additional squad of Tesla Cruisers and Sentinels will be sent.
Normal[]
- Starting credits: 20000
- Enemy will send more offensive troops than on Casual.
- The Helibunker can provide up to four replenishments, $12,000 in total.
- Enemy will chronoshift Archon AMCs loaded with Snipers and chronoshift Battle Tortoises loaded with certain infantry to attack the player's infantry.
- The last Tesla Trooper paradrop is changed to two Desolators, more player's paradrop reinforcements are added.
- Each of the three passes near the player's place has a friendly force's Tesla Coil.
- 2 Wolfhounds, and an additional squad of Tesla Cruisers and Sentinels will be sent.
Mental[]
- Starting credits: 10000
- Enemy will teleport the highest number of attacking troops.
- The Helibunker can provide up to three replenishments, $9000 in total.
- Enemy will chronoshift more Archon AMCs loaded with Snipers compared to Normal, and chronoshift Battle Tortoises loaded with certain infantry to attack the player's forces.
- Removed the Repair Crane in the base.
Easter egg[]
- In the middle of the battlefield, there is an abandoned Soviet base that contains an Old War Factory. If this War Factory is destroyed, an elite controllable Mammoth Tank will be revealed.
Trivia[]
- This mission is roughly similar to Chrono Defense, the seventh mission of the Soviet campaign in Red Alert 2 in mechanics, as both missions involve defending against Allied chrono assaults.
- In the opening cutscene, an Aircraft Carrier will be chronoshifted on land. This cannot happen in normal gameplay, since any naval units chronoshifted into land will be automatically destroyed.
- The Aircraft Carrier being chronoshifted into an out-of-place area is also a very likely reference to March of the Red Army, the fourth Soviet mission in C&C Red Alert 3 - though in that case, the Aircraft Carrier has been chronoshifted into a lake instead of on land.
