Today's player Focus Series comes with the Grand Uncle of TB [Tuberculosis/Tesla Builders?] clan, Mr Kicknass. For much of his 20+ year Red Alert career, this Grandmaster was known as a powerful soviet builder who would grind his opponents into submission on P4 2v2. More recently he has undertaken a personality transplant due to a midlife crisis (?) and become a renowned allied tanker. Kickn put the letters SGQ in the Red Alert alphabet and is now known as a Goliath on Qmaster-Max. He revolutionised the foot pedal and harmonica in Red Alert online play. You will now find Kickn working his feet like a ballet dancer on crack as he out-tanks everyone and anyone. So without further ado here is an interview with the muscle (certainly not the brains) of TB: [answers in bold]
1) Tell us a little about yourself...
I grew up in a rough neighbourhood in Sydney, Australia where I learned that respect is not given lightly. In general, I'm a pretty chill guy. I used to be married but I'll never make that mistake again LOL! I like to play video games and chase the chicks in my free time.
2) When did you start playing Red Alert?
I started around 1997/98 on Westwood Chat. I also introduced the game to my cousins and we would play on LAN. I actually used to make maps back in the day which we would play on. These tended to be large gem maps and we would make lots of units. Really fun days which I remember fondly.
3) Why Red Alert?
I fell in love with the strategy side of it. I guess it's kind of like chess. I always had a logical mind like that.
4) Which other games do you play?
I really like shooting games. So for example Counterstrike 1.0 to 1.6. I've also been a fan of Call of Duty since Modern Warfare 4.
4) Can you tell us a little about how the game has changed throughout the years and different servers?
Sure. So after playing with my cousins and on Westwood for a few years I eventually played at Gamespy and Kali in the 2000s which is where I became a high level player. I made friends with players such as Hitman [RIP] and NastyNate (who was then called FatherRavel) and I joined the HR (Hardcore R****s) clan. These were some really fun times with fond memories and we mostly played P4. P4 came to be popular around the early 2000s and that's pretty much what we played almost exclusively until the last few years.
Recently I've loved expanding my interest into trying new map types and mastering the tanking side of the game and I've been playing more of these game types the last couple of years. CnCNet has been amazing and brought a great competitive side to the game as the player base was a lot smaller during the Kali era.
5) Who is your biggest rival(s) during your time playing?
I'd have to say that during the Kali and Gamespy eras there was more respect. People tended to be friends with each other. Lordy has brought a large trolling element to the game but you know what - I love him for it! It's made the TA vs TB rivalry really fun and intense. Moreover, it makes beating Lordy and the rest of TA even sweeter, especially since losses to Lordy are extremely rare 😂 so that winning feeling is addictive.
6) Most memorable game?
Definitely winning the Global Pandemic 2v2 Tournament in the summer (May 2020) with my cuzzy, H3zb. There were 16 teams with the best RA players in the world playing and me and cuzzy took the title. We had some awesome matches along the way and had a hard fought victory against K0bra and Faust in the final. My proudest victory and it was all the better to share it with my cuz.
7) Who is your favourite RA YouTuber/streamer and why?
Definitely Lauta because it was great to be able to watch your games after playing and analyse your play. You could see what you did wrong and improve on your play. You could also see what others were doing wrong and devise tactics. It was mostly P4 games on Lauta's channel so I'd love for him to come back and start doing this on the maps we play currently.
8) Favourite map and why?
To be honest. As much as I love maps like Crush's Basement and Qmaster-Max, my favourite map will always be P4. It's the original pro map and it has the most memories for me as I grew up playing it and made many good friends in the community through it.
9) Is there anything you would like to say to the community?
Don't jump to conclusions. Don't assume others are cheating without investigating first. Innocent until proven guilty. Do not spread rumours or do things which can jeopardise someone's integrity. Show respect to each other because it's a small community and we all need to get along. There's a very small player base of pro players and it's very important for the game's survival that everyone respects each other and keeps CnCNet a fun, welcoming place to play. Otherwise people will leave and the game will die.
10) Are there any changes you would like to see regarding Red Alert/CnCNet?
2v2 ladder matches, have two random teams play another 2 random teams on famous maps like Crush basement or p4.
11) Any final comments?
Yep, like to thank everyone for reading, shoutout to my boys that i play RA with everyday. And EHY if you can just come back and pump a few Pro's that would be nice. Thanks for the interview.
Thanks for reading! Stay tuned for some more in this series! Don't forget to follow!