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The Weather Controller is the Allies' superweapon, capable of manipulating weather patterns to unleash a destructive lightning storm on their enemies.
Official description[]
The Weather Controller is one of the Allies' most powerful weapons. The device has the unique ability to manipulate weather patterns in order to form storm clouds over any location on the battlefield. These storm clouds will unleash powerful bolts of lightning, disintegrating a large area into ash. Be aware that the lightning strikes are completely random, so hitting the exact targeted spot is not guaranteed.[1]
Overview[]
For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.
Superweapon | Description |
---|---|
Type: Offensive Superweapon Recharge Time: 10:00 (15:00 in Infantry Only) Creates a catastrophic lightning storm on the battlefield that significantly damages ground targets in the target area. |
General tips[]
- Superweapons are expensive and power hungry. In some circumstances (such as limited funds) it may be more beneficial to spend credits on other buildings or units.
- All players will be notified of the construction and activation of a superweapon via an EVA announcement, and every player can see the countdown of a superweapon. Unlike in Red Alert 2 however, the minimap will not show where a superweapon is located, nor the fog of war will be removed around the superweapon.
- Build a superweapon only when it is safe to do so. Building one in the wrong circumstances (such as insufficient funds or low power) can be costly.
- Place superweapons preferably at the back of the base, so enemy units will have to fight through your defenses to reach it.
- Surround a superweapon with walls to prevent a timer reset by sneaky spies.
- Superweapons do not guarantee victory. Apart from a long cooldown between activations, an experienced enemy player can destroy a superweapon before it is even activated.
- Enemies are able to recover quickly after a superweapon activation if they have a captured Tech Maintenance Center. Destruction of this tech building is vital to ensuring an enemy base stays crippled.
- In light of the above statement, be wary of certain support powers that can mitigate losses of a superweapon activation (such as European Alliance's Force Shield).
- A.I. opponents tend to build a superweapon in certain, predictable circumstances, such as the following:
- When the A.I. base suddenly has enough build space for one (usually after decimating a large portion of their base) if their base beforehand has occupied all the available space. This will often cause a low power situation, which can be used as an opportunity to finish them off.
- When a player has constructed the first superweapon in the match, A.I. opponents will surely build their own to retaliate afterwards.
Counters[]
- Arguably the best counter to a superweapon is to prevent the opposing player from building one in the first place.
- Destroying the enemy's Tier 3 access structure is the most direct option.
- Disrupt the enemy's economy, whether by eliminating ore miners or Tech Oil Derricks. Infiltrating the enemy's Ore Refinery is also another option. Note that this tactic is not effective against A.I. opponents due to their infinite money perk.
- Attentive players can occasionally tell if a superweapon is being constructed if the enemy player hasn't built a structure for a long time. If this is the case, eliminating other important structures may force the opponent to cancel the construction of said superweapon.
- Knocking out the power grid and/or the superweapon itself with anti-building capabilities are the most conventional countermeasures, whether in a direct assault or guerilla tactics. Examples include the following:
- The Allies' Barracuda bombers can drop their payload and return to base with few or no casualties. 4 of them can take down a superweapon in a heartbeat.
- If the superweapon is not defended by anti-infantry defenses, Tanya (if playing as United States) or Navy SEALs can plant C4 in the superweapon. The C4 detonation is enough to take it down in little time(1 C4 for Tanya, while 2 for SEAL).
- If the opposing base cannot be assaulted without taking significant casualties, delaying the countdown of a superweapon is another option. The methods for doing this are:
- Infiltrating the superweapon directly, resetting the countdown.
- Infiltrating power plants to shut down the entire enemy base. Since this causes most stationary defenses to become disabled, this is an excellent opportunity to eliminate the superweapon threat.
- The Foehn Revolt has the defining technology to completely block a superweapon from targeting a specific area, either through mobile Raccoons or the power-dependent Signal Inhibitor. Haihead subfaction has an additional way to do this through the Signal Jammer support power.
- In addition, the Foehn Revolt can also disable superweapons, halting their countdown. The Raccoon vehicle can do this indefinitely as long as its ECM jammer is locked on to the superweapon, whereas the Ramwagon stolen tech vehicle and the Haihead-exclusive support power Blackout Missile can perform the same for a short period of time.
- Once an offensive superweapon has activated, there is no way of stopping it. However, the best one can do as any faction is to order all units away from their base, averting extreme loss.
- As mentioned before, the European Alliance's Force Shield and the Soviets' Iron Curtain can render a few structures impervious to the offensive superweapon's onslaught, as long as they are used before the superweapon strikes; otherwise, the base may suffer low power, preventing these defensive measures from activating.
- The Maintenance support power can be used to recover from a superweapon strike much quicker.
AI behavior[]
Unlike in the original game, the AI will always build a Weather Controller first before building a Chronosphere.
Appearances[]
Act Two[]
The Weather Controller first appears in Stormbringer, developed by the local Pacific Front outpost. During the first part of the mission, it must be protected from an Epsilon assault consisting of brainwashed Russians. Once the Weather Controller becomes active, it will use the Lightning Storm to wipe out a Russian outpost on the southern island, creating space for the player's new MCV to warp in and build a base. In this mission, the Weather Controller is not yet fully functional and can only be manually used twice. The Weather Controller must survive throughout the mission.
- See: Stormbringer
The first fully functional Weather Controller appear in this mission. The first one is built in the Pacific Front outpost after the player reaches it, and must be defended from a Scorpion Cell attack until the Lightning Storm is ready. Afterwards, the loss of the Weather Controller no longer ends the mission in failure, although it is impossible to rebuild it. The second Weather Controller will be built by the Southern Cross regiment ally. However, if the middle Epsilon base's Construction Yard is destroyed ahead of building the Psychic Dominator nearest to the player's outpost, Southern Cross won't build its Weather Controller.
The Weather Controller becomes buildable in this mission.
Three Allied enemies will build three Weather Controllers, and two of them will focus on attacking the dark purple PsiCorps ally in the west, and the third one will attack the magenta HQ ally in the east. They will be retained for attacking Libra during the second phase of the mission.
In the second phase of the mission, the Allies will gradually build more Weather Controllers. Up to five Weather Controllers (including the player's) can be present at one time. Along with the second phase of Hamartia, this is the most number of Weather Controllers seen in one mission.
In the events of the two missions, the Weather Controllers become one of the Allies' attempts to destroy the Mental Omega Device, which is done by switching through a deep charge mode, which would greatly increase the Lightning Storm's duration (according to the internal code, this is infinite).
In Hamartia, the friendly-controlled Weather Controllers are scripted to be destroyed by Epsilon forces.
In Stage IV of Babel, these Weather Controllers are the main targets that must be destroyed by the player. if the player fails to destroy all Weather Controllers by the time they complete the deep charge mode, they will cast an infinite-lasting Lightning Storm that will inevitably destroy the Mental Omega Device.
Origins[]
- Due to the Allies losing most of their technology after failing the Antarctic battle, Weather Controller has been locked in The Remnant.
Special Ops[]
- In Parasomnia, a Weather Controller will be built at the end of the first phase of the mission, though this only mentioned by Allied intel and not directly seen.[2]
See also[]
External links[]
References[]
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