The Official Red Alert Awards 2021

Happy New Year! 

Here are the official Blog of Boo awards for Red Alert 2021. 

Best newcomer

Dynamic burst onto the Red Alert 1 CnCNet scene in 2021 after realising that Remastered is shit. He quickly rose through the ranks after receiving 100s of free lessons from the likes of myself and the legendary  bartsama on 1v1 play. Unsurprisingly he has become a formidable foe on 1v1 and is one of the very best ore map and standard map players in all of Red Alert. He transferred his pr0 remastered skills over to the proper version of the game with amazing success. Dynamic absolutely deserves the title of best newcomer. He is now also pretty good in 2v2 and might soon be Lordy or Oldpro level in that format of the game.

Congratulations to Dynamic on his much-coveted Award. Hopefully 2022 is an even more successful year on CnCNet and he is able to harness that massive ego of his into becoming a semi-good P4 2v2 player (maybe then he will be able to compete with OldPro).

Butler of the year

Behind every great player, is a loyal and devoted butler. The butler has some quasi-romantic affection for his master and will go to war for said master. A top player can rely on his butler to trash talk and troll the enemy in his absence and set up appropriate grudge matches. Alternative terms to butler include "weed carrier" and pocket holder". An obvious example would be Lordy who hardcore butlers for Beast. Lordy fears no1 on CnCNet and will even trash talk superior players such as Yuzgen because he knows he can get Bea5ty to come down from OP head office to come and sort the mess out if needed. 

Another good loyal butler is Muad Dib aka "The Mad Dog". Muad will bark and bite at every player on CnCNet with the exception of  his alpha daddy, NastyNate. Muad is well trained and a loyal servant to Nate and will never bark or bite at his master. A good doggy. NastyNate is the only player on CnCNet to never have had a bite off the mad dog. This is evidenced by Muad even going so far as to drop the world renowned "Dib" portion of his name in order to accommodate his shiny new butler player tag "NastyMuad".

There are also "mercenary butlers". These are players who haven't won over the affection of an individual master to serve, so instead will butler themselves around on twitch chat looking for someone's approval and a full time butler position. Such players include Philly, Butcher and Petersky. 

This year, however, given his meteoric rise to the top of the game, Dynamic's butler deserves the much sought after title of Butler of the Year. Dynamic's butler, the mighty super mega Budowouter has proven to be a butler of exemplary standard. Always faithful to his master, Budo has supported Dynamic in all aspects of the game since his move over to CnCNet. Budo can be seen 50+ hours a week butlering for Dynamic and they really make an admirable Batman & Robin type duo. Congratulations to Budw on this highly prized award.

Lifetime achievement/Best streamer award

A special achievment award goes to the Turkish Rambo, Mr Yuzgen. I was thinking about this and this man has probably played more games of Red Alert than anyone in history. He has averaged 10,000 games per year for over 2 decades. Only robskate and katsh probably come close for longevity and dedication. Yuzgen has volunteered his asshole to legions of aspiring pros and takes loss after loss like a true champ. The game would be in a far worse state without everyone's favourite cuddly Red Alert Turkish uncle. Farming Yuz has helped many a great player train and ascend to the next level. 

Moreover, Yuzgen voluntarily streams himself getting pumped for 8 hours live on Twitch every night. This entertains dozens of players, and ensures there is regular pr0 Red Alert gaming content being streamed. For this reason, the Turkish George Clooney deserves the title of streamer of the year.

Now onto the main awards, player of the year

BRONZE

This goes to Jacob. Amazing performances in LCS series vs the likes of R3sistant and Faust. Jacob also won several 1v1 tournaments and the inaugural Red Alert Royal Rumble. Jacob deserves the award for 3rd place based on these performances. I'm not saying he is a better player than eg Ford, however he achieved more in competitive play in 2021 than our favourite "retired😉" Canadian friend.

SILVER

This is pretty quick and straight forward. Faust pumped everyone else and proved he is the 2nd best active player in the world in 2021. 

GOLD

Bea5ty crushed Faust in their 1v1 match, proving himself to be the best active player in the world in 2021 and as a result, receives the award for Player of the Year. 

A very special interview with the FOUNDER and CREATOR of CnCNet: The Almighty Myg

For a period in the mid 2000s, Red Alert was on its knees. There was a splinter of players on Kali and Tunngle, among other servers. The game was in terminal decline and it was completely dying out. It was literally on life support. Fortunately there was one man who had a vision. Myg wanted people to be able to play the classic games online which he loved as a child. He wanted this to be free and open for all in a growing democratic community. Without Myg's vision, hard work and selfless input it's a fact that none of us would be playing this game today. Myg literally saved classic C&C titles including Red Alert from extinction. One could argue that for this very reason Myg is the most important person in the last 2 decades of our game. Hence follows a very insightful, in-depth interview in which we learn about the early days of CnCNet and the influence of key individuals in making Red Alert what it is today. I think you will thoroughly enjoy reading this!

[Myg answers in bold]

1) In which year was CnCNet formed and what gave you the idea/motivation?

CnCNet was formed probably in the late 00s. It was online systems like Mplayer/Kali/TEN/HEAT.NET which inspired me to make it. I was too young to make sense of those online systems of my youth so I missed out and wanted to make up for it.

2) Who helped you in the early days and what was the feeling like when you got the first game running?

At the start it was me and "Nyerguds" who played around with many different ways to play online and then "Godly Cheese", "Tore", "Netrunner" and "Pichorra" came along after we started the official program. "Tore" provided hosting for the project. I also kept in contact with planetcnc to make sure people were aware of how our project was going. The first revision was supported and updated by "Irony". The second revision was done by "hifi" which was the biggest step we took. The project then moved on to "FunkyFresh" who laid the foundations for the current day client and backend. It was a feeling of elation and pride when we got it to work the first time. Most of my design theories were just that; theories, so to see it work in reality was a very relieving experience.

3) Did CnCNet initially focus on Tiberian Dawn exclusively? When did Red Alert get added?

Yes, CnCNet was a baby of Tiberian Dawn and not intended for RA or other games at the time. Red Alert was added when "hifi" took the reigns.

4) What was the ultimate goal of creating CnCNet?

My ultimate goal of CnCNet was to have 6 player Tiberian Dawn games online with playable experiences.

5) Which other platforms did you play C&C games on prior to creating CnCNet?

I would mess around with WOL sometimes but first we tried TCP/COM which used the serial port functionality in the games to play.  Then we tried VPN systems like Hamachi or OpenVPN with a mixture of a chat client for front-end (which I still think is a good idea to this day, if not insecure).

6) You are best known as a Tiberian Dawn player would that be correct? Who do you recall as being the best player you ever faced?

Yes, my only reputation in the games would be Tiberian Dawn, though it has been so long people have forgotten me and I have forgotten how to play. Back in my day "Lovehandles" was my greatest adversary, we had a respectful rivalry and would try to avoid playing eachother.

7) Can you tell us a little about yourself and what are your hobbies outside of the C&C universe?

I can say a little... I have a hobby of nostalgia; making communities dedicated to games I like or games of my youth that I wish to preserve or allow others to re-experience.

8) How active do you remain as part of CnCNet in 2021? 

I currently only have a role as a discord moderator. In this community it is all about programming talent, free time and passion. With those things you can raise up to the top and direct the project as you wish. You only get respect here with those things.

9) What are you most proud of with the success of CnCNet and what are your hopes for the future and its longevity?

I am most proud of the fact that I actually started something that grew into an amazing platform it is today. I cherish the people I have met and the friends I have made over the years. My hopes were partly fulfilled when EA came back to remaster C&C. I had hoped that EA would take the reigns of C&C and remove the burden for the CnCNet staff. Don't get me wrong, CnCNet is amazing but it requires dedicated volunteers with free time and money and that is a very scarce resource. I just wanted people at CnCNet have to do less work and still enjoy the games. Its longevity is quite certain at this point since EA open sourced Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert: So some of our dreams have come true and it is thanks to EA and those who worked with them.

10) Is there anyone you would like to give a shout out/thanks to or any other final comments? 

Shout outs: "Nyerguds", "Godly Cheese", "Tore", "Netrunner", "Pichorra", "Irony", "hifi", "FunkyFresh", "ehy", the CnCNet developers/modders and the CnCNet discord staff and anyone else my spotty memory can't remember.

A huge thanks to Myg for the interview. Please let know in private if you would like to be interviewed next. Regards. 

Some Red Alert Literature every player would be wise to check out

 There is actually loads of phenomenal Red Alert content out there. I'm going to provide a short list of some valuable pages scattered around the Internet to make it easier for casual players to find:

[Click link/description to be taken to page] 

Milo's Guide to Competitive Red Alert 1 (Considered to be the RA Bible and essential reading for all players)

Ford's blog. One of the best players of the modern era has written dozens of articles providing valuable insight and knowledge.

http://ra.afraid.org/ a very useful 25 year old website containing 100s of maps, stats etc

http://www.igl.net/red/ case's ladder. Old ranking system from the first era of the game with database and head to head scores of past legends

http://ratimes.weebly.com/ Finnish legend At0m1's insightful blog from the 2010s

There are many many more websites and video sites out there. However these are 5 of the best and should hopefully be very useful for aspiring players and pros alike looking to expand their knowledge or interest in the game. 

Thanks for reading. Subscribe for more. 

Player Focus Series: Jacob

This is an interview I know a lot of you would have been looking forward to. Jacob came out of nowhere the last few years and has rapidly risen up the ranks of Red Alert online to become one of the best players in the world.  He had some amazing series in LCS with Faust and R3sistant and proved his status as a top 5 player and a challenge for just about anyone. He is also now a burgeoning RA YouTuber, check out his videos and support him by subscribing via the embedded video below:

Jacob is best known for his amazing Germany tank production and pillbox/turret spam but he is a creative well rounded player who is adapting his game and will only get even stronger with time.

So without further a do here is an interview with the Californian Commando, Jacob:

[answers in bold] 

1) Tell us a little about yourself and when did you start playing Red Alert online? 

I'm 20 years old from California. I started playing the game back in 2012 on first decade that I got as a gift during christmas. I mainly played Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert 1, and Command and Conquer Generals but I really enjoyed Red Alert 1 the most. I only played the missions and skirmish. Then I discovered cncnet in 2017 which I only played skirmish until 2018 where I started playing some kotg games with bart.

2) Do you play any other games online apart from Red Alert? Or any other interesting hobbies outside of gaming?

I also enjoy playing Warcraft 3 online. I do not really play many online games.

3) What is your favourite map and why?

I would definitely say V3-Ribbon-Isle because of the tank battles and you can use cruisers and turrets very well on the map. I also enjoy Keep off the Grass because of being able to use many tactics on it.

4) What is the most memorable game(s) you ever played?

I would have to say the game that I played with Dutchy vs Faust and Butcher on 4c niklas where I had 10 grenadiers put in transport boats and I quickly sent them into faust's base and naded his power which was a very quick game. I also had many great ladder games I remembered playing vs Bart and Maddux on ladder and also the LCS tourneys were great.

5) Who has been your greatest rival(s) in your time playing online?

I don't really have any rivals but I would have to say that Ford is one of the toughest opponents that I played and I remember losing many games vs him.

6) You chose to represent the NM stable for Clan Wars, what made you choose NM despite offers from the other teams (apart from crush yelling at you not to play for OP lol)?

NM  is a great team, good at all maps and which has a lot of good tankers and also hezb who is a really good builder and tanker. I am friends with everyone in NM and also NM is very good at teamwork.

7) What do you consider to be the strongest and weakest parts of your game? 

I would definitely say that production and tanking as germany is my strongest and my weakest is building as soviets.

8) Are there any changes you would make to Red Alert or CnCNet?

Not really, but it would be cool if they allowed the game to have more than 8 players in a game.

9) What advice would you give to aspiring players who wish to improve?

Try to always focus on scouting and knowing what your opponent is doing. Also try to always make sure that your side bar is always being used for building and/or training units even when controlling units during battles.

10) Any final comments or shoutouts?

Thanks Crush for the interview, also I would like to say thanks to the creators of cncnet for making a great free client to be able to play Red Alert 1 Online.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more! 

Why Ribbon fell out of favour (Referencing Milo234) *FORGOTTEN MONEY SECRETS IN RED ALERT*

 

It's pretty simple. Look at the picture. Trucks act 100x better if your gems/ore are to the RIGHT of your ORE REFINERY. If your gems/ore are on the LEFT then your trucks go haywire (programming bug from original game - probably fixable). You will lose time consistently having to manually move your trucks, meanwhile your opponent has a nice easy life and can focus on combat and scouting/guarding/attacking. This is why the "old" ribbon has become known as a terribly unfair map. This is also a truth on other similar maps and is even worse on ore maps. Liquid sucks and is unfair for this reason.