- Soviet Infantry - Confidential briefing from Premier Romanov, Leader of the United Soviet Empire: The troops in the Soviet Army are so loyal to their Premier that it brings tears to my eyes. They are the most deady killers too, Comrade, as you can easily see:

Conscript There is little opportunity to improve troops which have been conscripted from our peasant class. But I have ordered new uniforms for them when they are sent to arctic battlefield conditions. It was the least I could do for our simple yet noble cannon fodder.

Flak Trooper You can imagine my sadness when I discovered that the officer in charge of Flak Trooper training was requisitioning substandard equipment and pocketing the difference. Imagine requiring Radar technology to build a simple flak launcher - and a defective one at that, since while it made plenty of smoke when elite, it actually did less damage! Well, this officer will have several years to reflect on his crimes in one of our colder republics, I can assure you. Our new improved Flak Trooper now has a more effective AA gun. His anti-ground shell is more effective against all targets, especially against enemy infantry. He can see a little further as well. You would expect to pay more for such a Trooper, would you not? Well you underestimate your Premier, comrade... Flak Trooper training cost has been reduced to $250, and he can be trained immediately after building a Barracks (Radar no longer needed). And, he shares the arctic uniform worn by our Conscript.

Soviet Engineer No changes have been made to the capable Soviet Engineer. I am sad to say there are simply not enough rubles in the treasury to overhaul his training program. Even I, your Premier, must accept severe austerity measures during these trying times. I have limited myself to only 4 glasses of vodka after my evening meal - from the look on your face I see you doubt me, Comrade, but I tell you it is true!

Soviet Attack Dog Our Attack Dog has long been valuable to us as a scout. Now he is better! He can see a little further and can run even faster. Plus, he can be promoted and become even more valuable to you. Just be aware that an Allied enemy who captures our Barracks will be able to train our superior Dogs along with his own.

Tesla Trooper When reviewing the Tesla Trooper, I asked, what sort of metal suit can dogs chew through? At my insistence, his suit was upgraded, so no longer can these brave protectors of the Motherland fall victim to Allied mongrels. Other improvements see the Trooper himself made a little stronger and his weapon made measurably more powerful, with increased range. The electric arcs of each and every Tesla Trooper will travel over walls, even those who are not yet elite. My engineers could not produce these improvements without cost, Comrade. In order to train this improved Tesla Trooper, you must first build Soviet Radar in addition to the Soviet Barracks.

Crazy Ivan While useful for hanging bombs on our own men, this lunatic was simply too fragile to use in battle. This has changed. Ivan now wears sturdy armor and is stronger - enemy tanks beware! He can see farther, move faster, self-heals, and cannot be crushed. He can place a far greater number of bombs in less time. He also gains experience and can be promoted. Additionally, significant changes to his explosives have been made, so pay close attention. His bombs now do more damage. A single bomb will destroy any unit and any building, with the exception of Superweapon buildings and Construction Yards. An even more significant change has to do with the bomb's fuse. Formerly, it took 30 seconds for one of Ivan's bombs to detonate. This time has been reduced to only 7 seconds! Keep this in mind if you are loading Flak Tracks with 'Bombscripts' - they need to enter the Flak Track (or other transport) without dawdling. I expect all our soldiers to fight when faced with the enemy, but as you are no doubt aware, Ivan simply goes along for the ride when in an open-topped transport (Battle Fortress or Stalin's Fist). This laziness is unacceptable! I have ordered that Crazy Ivan, when in such a transport, to hurl his bundles of dynamite at any enemy within range. While his thrown bombs create a much, much weaker explosion than bombs that are planted, they will still blow enemy infantry to bits and may turn the tide in other battles as well. Ivan's throwing accuracy is poor, so be wary of being near his target. To avoid this danger, you may wish to place only elite Ivans in open-topped transports, since their aim will be true. Times given for the elapsed time of placed bomb explosions assume a game speed of 3 (medium) with the game running at 15 frames/second. Actual elapsed time is dependent on game speed setting and processor speed.

Desolator - Iraq's Special Unit  The Iraqi Desolator is a wonderfully excellent unit that has gotten even better. His cannon shot is now effective against radiation-immune infantry and units. This change was made to counter Yuri's new rad-immune Slaves. It also means that Desolators can now kill traitorous Desolators loyal to other factions. And, should a Desolator become elite, he will gain the ability to shoot his cannon over walls - and his elite cannon will also damage buildings! All is not good news, I am afraid to say. The Desolator's radiation poisoning weapon will no longer affect missiles that are in the process of launching. For example, this means the traitor Yuri need not fear that his Boomers will be sunk by their own cruise missiles.

Terrorist - Cuba's Special Unit  Two problems have always plagued the Terrorist: He is too easily killed before he reaches his target, and killing one means killing an entire group. No longer! For the first time, a Terrorist rush is possible. It is important to understand the very different way that today's Terrorist operates. He still explodes when killed, damaging and/or destroying units and buildings in his vicinity... but that explosion will not destroy his brothers standing nearby. When he sets off the explosion himself it is a different story. When a Terrorist attacks, the resulting explosion will destroy his brothers within the blast radius. This behavior lets the player select a large group of Terrorists, enter waypoint mode, and send them on a course to attack multiple targets. Once the first target is destroyed, surviving Terrorists will continue on to attack the next target. Many other enhancements have been made. The Terrorist is now stronger, faster, self-heals, immune to mind-control, and Attack Dogs will not touch him. All these improvements make him a much better unit so his cost has been increased modestly to $250. Finally the Terrorist lives up to his name, making Cuba a valuable and worthy ally of the Motherland. Graphical enhancement: Nearby vehicles will rock from the force of a Terrorist's explosion.

Spy The Allies think they are so clever with their little Spies creeping around. And now they have improved them! This is a situation I could not stand for. I sent Zofia to personally obtain the information necessary to produce the new Allied Spy, and as usual, she has not failed to satisfy - get it? "Not failed to satisfy" - Ho! Ho! Ho! Enough levity, we have serious business here. You too, as a Soviet commander, will now be able to train this improved Spy. He is immune to mind-control (much to Yuri's consternation), and will not appear on enemy radar. Use him wisely. I am saddened to inform you that somehow Yuri has developed the ability to train this sort of Spy as well. What is worse, he has given his Virus floozy the ability to see through a Spy's disguise. Instruct your agents to keep clear of her. New effect: A Spy will make use of unused voice sounds when ordered to infiltrate a building.

Boris It was clear to me that Boris's effectiveness is linked to the speed that his MiGs can get to their target, and how long it takes them to return for a strike on the next target. This has been implemented with several changes. First, Boris's laser targeting system can be reset more frequently in less time - should he need to abandon targeting in order to defend himself, he can re-acquire the target right away - often before the planes even leave the theater. Unfortunately a side effect of this more efficient laser targeting system is that its range is shorter. It will still outrange a Telsa Coil or a Prism Tower - but not if that Telsa Coil is overcharged or if that Prism Tower is part of a network. If Boris is elite, his laser targeting range will increase a bit, at which point he can deal with this problem. But do not despair of his reduced range, because the buildings Boris targets will no longer glow a garish red, and are less likely to alert the enemy of what Boris is up to. As for the MiGs themselves, they now are lightning fast. So fast in fact, that enemy AA is completely incapable of targeting them at all! They will deliver their missiles before our enemies know what hit them. And as for their effectiveness: No matter what the target, these fighters will destroy it in a single strike, guaranteed! When Boris is elite, he calls special Stealth MiGs, which keeps them from appearing on enemy radar in the first place. Boris's gun gets a boost too, I am sure you will find it to be more effective. What is more, he is not only immune to mind-control, he now is also immune to the mind-blast weapons of Yuri and his Psi Corps. Today he truly deserves the title, 'The Pride of Mother Russia'. Note: Boris uses the ordinary targeting cursor for airstrikes rather than the special airstrike cursor. This allows the player to see whether or not Boris is within range of his target before committing him to the attack. New effect: Boris's creation voice is randomized among several possibilities (several are unused sounds).

Comrade, you can see from the above that the Soviet future is bright indeed! But as the Americans say, 'you ain't seen nothing yet'. The improvements to Soviet armor are even more impressive. Let's continue the briefing, covering the Soviet Vehicles this time.