Tactical Annihilation: Commanding The Apocalypse

Two days passed as Jake settled into his new home, but after gaining all he could from this outpost, mainly knowledge and making a trade to one of the other managers mainly for control of Kyree's base and other holdings they managed to acquire a vehicle, one capable of transporting all 10 of them at once.

Not sporty by any means but certainly looked like something from a zombie apocalypse as it was a short bus with armor plating and a wedge scoop like a snow plow mounted on the front.

Jake agreed so long as the bus had a full tank of gas and on the morning of the 3rd day since arriving in this world and the start of the 3rd day since coming to the outpost Jake and his men set forth out of #7 when news of this reached the remaining managers ears they both breathed out a sign of relief.

the outpost was split 50/50 between then each gaining more power without need to come to blow against the other.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After leaving the outpost, Jake and his men returned to the city ruins where he used to "live"

Standing there before his old apartment build he felt nostalgic, as this city was where he had lived for decades, granted that was in the other world but all the same.

System what was the requirements for deploying the MCV?

[You will need an open flat piece of land, preferably nearby minerals or resources for easy transportation to increase your credits.]

In all the Red Alert games, mining was the basic way of getting Credits, as ore trucks would collect and deliver the ores to refinery's where they were be turned into Credits the player could use.

Now it seemed the ore trucks could collect any ore or resource type beyond the gold and gems seen in the game.

Thinking of minerals or resources near his city, Jake could only think of one place, there was a mine roughly 50km's from the city but the mine itself had been stated to be small in scale so it wasn't really developed much as the investment wouldn't be worth it in the end.

Excited to see if this held true in this world, Jake and the rest loaded up the bus once more, before setting off north to see if the mine existed in this world too.

What they came to was a perfect location, a small series of mini mountains formed the location of the mine, which had a couple of holes in the rock face as entrances while outside there was what was left of a chainlink fence and wooden building that had once been the mining camp.

This would be a perfect deployment spot.

[Are you sure you want to deploy the MCV here, Master?]

Just as he was about to agree a question entered his mind.

If I build a second MCV can I establish a sub-base?

[Yes, but the core required to build an MCV must be provided by Master.]

Core? whats that?

There was never a requirement like that in any of the games, not even their expansion packs.

[An MCV with a core can be directly controlled by master, without the core an MCV is just a simple tank and cannot form another base.]

Ok so how do I get a core then?

[Killing mutant beasts, there is a certain chance of acquiring a core just like finding soul gems but with a lower possibility.]

Great so a drop chance probably an insanely impossible chance as well unless we kill some supreme being or beast I bet.

Turning his attention back to the sole MCV he had.

Having deployed an MCV thousands of times in the game this was the first time in real life.

"Deploy the MCV"

With his say so, a heavy-duty tank the size of a semi-truck appeared before then operating like a transformer, converting itself from it's truck form as it unfolded into a Construction Yard that spanned an area of 500m2!

The construction yard looked like the one from RA1 with a single massive cement garage with what looked like a dockloader crane outside it, while off to the side was an attached L shaped glass windowed office building two stories in height.

this construction yard was basic compared to the ones that would appear in later games but it was still many times better than anything else they had access to at this time, short of heading off to live in one of the Fortress Cities where their freedom would be restricted or possibly even taken from them by those in power at higher tier's in their cultivation.

[Master, now that a base has been establish I will relay the relevant information that has been unlocked.]

According to the system this MCV was the only one it had available for me all others would need to be created through deployment and cores, however this construction yard was not faction specific, since the construction menu listed both Allied and Soviet build being available for construction.

If it existed in the RA universe the system support could produce it at a cost.

Rubbing his hands together, Jake got to work as all other players did in the beginning.

First Selecting to build a Power Plant

But he was shocked to see the cost.

A single power plant would cost him 600 credits, that's twice the cost of one in the game system you rip-off!

Well whatever without power the MCV deployed by the system is useless, so even with his credits being limited he selected to build a power plant.

Since even if he wanted to he could not afford the 4,000 credit cost of the ore refinery at least not right now he couldnt.

a refinery would be the fastest way to earn credits but until he could build one beast hunting and zombie culling would be the primary sources of income, maybe killing some more humans but only if they cross them, since becoming an enemy of humanity would be risky at this point since they had access to the 7th and possibly 8th tiers from what the system said before.

unlike with RA2 the MCV could not be repacked from a construction yard, so after creating the first Power plant and placing it.

He used the system to summon another squad of soldiers instantly to protect it and the construction yard.

Meanwhile Alpha and his men were to head out in the short bus to begin hunting the mutant beasts in the area to gather up credits.

According to the map there should be ample tier 1 and a collection of tier 2 beasts in this area so we should be able to easily acquire 5,000 credits along with a source of food at the same time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Alpha's group quickly arrived at the first hunting ground.

Soon they discovered that the 1st tier beasts they were to face was a group of chickens, mutaed to become twice their normal size but even still they could only be called chickens.

They were not strong and within moments dozens of them fell to the soldiers blades while a small number of them were actually captured instead.

The natural order had somewhat remained as the numbers of the 1st tier could overwhelm and invading 2nd tier, while the 3rd tier typically ignored the 1st tier or only killed what they needed to sustenance without destabilizing the ecosystem.

This was the reason why low tear beasts had not become extinct even 100 years after the launch of the apocalypse when mutations and infections were becoming more and more common compared to previous centuries.

There must've been a poultry farm nearby at some point and after mutation these chickens became 1st tier beasts, in total there were around 200 of these beasts here.

Thanks to their firearms Alpha squad could easily cull their numbers, and after securing more than half as corpses and another 10 as captives they returned to the base.

When they returned Jake was surprised to see their prey, but thanks to his system these beasts could become their livestock, using precious Credits he created a series of concrete walls before the live beasts were pushed into the enclosure, while chickens could fly at least a little being birds the stacking of concrete walls allowed for a height at which even if they took flight they could not escape.

Again different from the game when creating a wall Jake could also add stairs or even a door/gate to the wall allowing his men to climb atop the wall or pass through it and into the chicken coop.

Of the other beasts a few were dismantled and cooked up using the facilities in the construction yard, while the remainder were 'recycled' by the system after confirming none of them had soul gems.

Thanks to the reward for killing the beast which ranged from as little as 50 credits up to the highest of 100 depending on their individual power level and rank within the first tier, along with the recycling reward, the overall reward should be overwhelming considering his previous credit bankruptcy.

But when he pulled up his system he was dismayed to find the total amount was only just over 10,000 credits.

System support what is going on why did I only get half the credits?

[Master the Commanders level was only 1 previous which changed when your soldiers killed half the hunted total of the 1st tier beasts your Level increased to 2, and the valuation of 1st tier beasts was halved as a result. Couple that with the replenishment costs of the soldiers ammunition, this is all that's left.]

Wait level? Was there a level for the command in Red Alert?

I know the 2nd game had listed ranks after completing missions but that was just a way of judging your overall score on the campaign.

not anything that gave you benefits of any kind.

[This is a setting of the system . The higher the hosts commander level, the higher the authority and benefits. Currently the hosts level is 2, unlocking a new ability to gain any of your units ability for one hour per day.]

So let me get this straight my strength is the same as Alpha's because of my Level 1 Commander authority, and now I can use his ability as well? well not that RA1 soldiers had abilities but perhaps when I can create other units that means I can do a GI defense setup, or even mind control like the yuri clones.

His eyes lit up with the potential.

Wouldnt I become invincible with this power?

Began to log the collected spoils in the construction yard with a few of his men, while Alpha once more set out in search for more prey.

Luckily the Construction yards garage could serve as a warehouse in the meantime will silos or other building could be created.

Looking it up in the system the construction times were likewise different from the game the Powerplant took half an hour before it could be deployed while the Ore Refinery would take 2 luckily there was other work to be done in the mean time, so the hours passed by quickly till the ore refinery was ready to be deployed.

Upon his selection the building rose up out of the ground as if the concrete had a mind of it's own just like in the game, once the building was finished an ore truck appeared at the loading bay waiting to collect.

By the end of the day several buildings had been erected on this barren plot of land which to his chargin Jake needed to construct both the allied and soviet barracks in order to access both factions troops to produce, this was fine for now since most building were the same between the factions in RA1 but later each faction had unique buildings which meant his overall costs would then skyrocket as he'd need at least one of everything per base.

The base itself was now composed of the construction yard, a pair of power plants, one soviet concrete barracks, one allied tent barracks, a kennel that was just a dog house and lastly if you can call it that, was the chicken coop building.

This was just the beginning, while the soviet barracks could house 50 soldiers their ranks were sure to increase, and once he leveled up again access to the War Factory would give access to tanks and other armoured units.