General
- Can I play a console version of the C&C games with PC players and vice versa?
No, and they were never intended to be cross-platform playable. The console ports were done after the PC versions and never even received the bug fixes and balance changes that the PC versions did.
- I have an Xbox 360 version of a C&C game, can I play it on Xbox One or Xbox Series X|S?
Yes. You can even purchase it for those consoles on the modern-day Microsoft Store.
- When will EA release… ?
If they had plans to release something, it would already have been public and wide knowledge.
- Will Dune games become available for purchase again on Steam / GOG.com / Origin?
Not for the foreseeable future. Multiple parties tried to obtain the rights to the Dune RTS games, but the Herbert Estate has a stance of “if it’s old, it should stay old” (source for the actual quote), which turned out to be a selective principle given that the old Dune board game was authorized for reprints. There have been rumours that there is bad blood between the Herbert Estate and EA as Westwood’s legal successors, including but not limited to the way EA inherited the Dune license from Virgin’s American operations in the 1998 acquisition and used that to publish Emperor: Battle for Dune, but it’s all yet to be confirmed by any official sources.
- Will the Battle for Middle-earth games become available for purchase again on Steam / GOG.com / Origin?
Also not likely. EA willingly dropped the Lord of the Rings license in late 2010, and therefore voided their ability to sell the games or keep their servers up. Currently, the Lord of the Rings license for video games is almost exclusively held by WB Games in the non-mobile space, and they have been generally uncooperative about any title that isn’t their own latest product.
- I have CD/DVD versions of the games, can I redeem a digital copy?
You can’t do so on Steam, but you can on Origin. To do so, contact EA Help and supply them with photographs of the games you have as proof that you own them, then follow the instructions given by the support team.
C&C (Tiberian Dawn) / Covert Operations
- Why is Nod considered stronger than GDI?
Recon Bikes are capable of the level of harassment and hit-and-run tactics that GDI tier 1 units are not. Apaches are also considered a better alternative to Orcas.
- What is that strange crashed thing early in the GDI campaign?
This has confused the community for decades, some even thought it was the earliest sign of the Scrin. It’s a crashed helicopter cockpit.
C&C Red Alert / Counterstrike / The Aftermath
- I keep losing Tanya to dogs in the campaign, how do I stop this?
Tanya has a low sight range and doesn’t have guard mode (i.e. she can’t fire unless explicitly ordered to). Make very slow steps towards unrevealed areas of the map, or better yet use other units (if applicable) to scout instead of her. This will give you a bit more time to target dogs before they come too close. When in doubt, savescum.
C&C Sole Survivor
- Why hasn’t the game been re-released alongside the rest of the series?
The game’s servers were shut down on 1 January 2002. The game can only be played offline in deathmatch mode without as much as timer configuration, and was never intended to be played in LAN. The game is too incomplete to include in a paid re-release, and neither XWIS nor CnCNet have support for its multiplayer.
C&C Tiberian Sun / Firestorm
- Why is Nod considered underpowered?
Its units are, as a rule, less durable than their GDI counterparts and deal less damage. This is most obvious in the Titan vs. Tick Tank matchup, where even an entrenched Tick Tank will be outranged and outgunned by the Titan. They require a lot more micromanagement and different unit types compared to GDI to be properly used.
- Why doesn’t anybody play Firestorm in multiplayer?
Firestorm, instead of fixing the imbalances, deepened them. Nod Artillery, as the only real aspect Nod fared better than GDI at, was hardcoded(!!!) to be less precise (on TOP of the nerf it already had in patch 1.13), and to seal the deal, GDI got artillery of its own in the Juggernaut. Nod-specific additions (i.e. those not common to both factions) are the late-game Cyborg Reaper and a Mobile Stealth Generator (sarcastic golf clap). The cheapening of their aircraft and a +20 HP buff for Stealth Tanks is just too little to compensate. Meanwhile, GDI’s already devastating Disruptors became faster, Jump-Jet Infantry can detect stealth when flying, and the EMP cannon got a mobile version. If you’re sick of GDI mirrors, Firestorm makes you even sicker. And let’s not even get into how buildings still have paper-thin armour…
- Why are Orca Transports and Dropships so erratic?
The official 1.13 patch tried to fix their locomotor so they wouldn’t be able to land on water, but caused an unintended side-effect of breaking said locomotor entirely. They seek for a landing spot too quickly, while in effect following the nearest friendly unit. When that happens, the only way to stop it is to shoot the aircraft down. HyperPatch v0.3 fixes this, but this requires both units’ rules changed so that they have the Carryall value set to 0. Most campaign missions have strictly configured triggers so that this wouldn’t happen in the first place, but some triggers “slipped”, such as the one in the GDI mission at Vega’s Dam, more specifically related to the Dropship assigned to drop reinforcements at an outpost right in front of the said dam.
- I want to play Firestorm’s World Domination Tour mode, how do I access it?
Neither XWIS (as Westwood Online’s semi-official successor) nor CnCNet have the necessary code for it. Until the day comes that someone manages to reverse-engineer a way to host a server with it, it will remain inaccessible.
- What is the meaning of Firestorm’s Nod ending – what is the relation of Kane and CABAL’s remains?
This was answered by Joe Kucan himself in our Dev Detector #3: “My recollection is that CABAL was meant to supplant Kane as the primary voice of the Brotherhood in future games. The notion was, I think, that CABAL was principally a collection of human bio-masses and synapses and that once the body of an incapacitated Kane was introduced to that system, Kane’s strong will took dominance over the entirety of CABAL and would continue to influence the Brotherhood from there. It was my impression that the producers were trying to transition from Kane to CABAL, but I’m really not certain.“
C&C Red Alert 2 / Yuri’s Revenge
- Why is Iraq the most popular country pick?
Two reasons: Desolators and Rhino Tanks. Desolators are the most useful and versatile Soviet country bonus, and Rhino Tanks are the best tier 1 tank in the game in terms of damage and armour, winning all tank duels and allowing for the best tank rushes even after YR patch 1.001 made them slightly slower to build.
- Why is Yuri’s faction in YR considered overpowered?
The faction has a few units which fare a lot better than their immediate counterparts. The most obvious offender is the Boomer, which is a submarine available with as little as a Psychic Radar, and can sneak to an enemy base before they have a proper navy, much less prepare against airborne projectiles, and wreak havoc; while Dreadnoughts and Aircraft Carriers require a Battle Lab. Moreover, the Magnetron is quite potent while having the same prerequisite discrepancy among artillery units. Garrisoned Initiates have an indefensible rate of fire. Slave Miners are more efficient harvesters than Chrono or War Miners. However, despite all this, the community has not been able to fully rebalance the faction by modding, as the faction as a whole is quite fragile without those units.
- Is it true that RA2 was censored after 9/11?
The game itself was never changed in any way after patch 1.006 dropped on 7 June 2001, 3 months before the attack – but, the key art for reprints and budget releases was changed to no longer feature destroyed cities in the background (this also coincided with the retirement of big boxes with flaps in the North American market, resulting also in the elimination of easy-to-misinterpret artwork on the inside of the original prints). This also affected Yuri’s Revenge that was originally scheduled to release about a week after the attack occurred, and its cover was changed in the same way, leading to about a month’s worth of release delay.
- I want to play RA2’s World Domination Tour mode, how do I access it?
Neither XWIS (as Westwood Online’s semi-official successor) nor CnCNet have the necessary code for it. Until the day comes that someone manages to reverse-engineer a way to host a server with it, it will remain inaccessible.
- Are there tunnels like those from Tiberian Sun?
Yes. They are fully functional and graphically complete, they are just not used in any of the official maps. If you place them in your own map in FinalAlert, tunnels will work the same as in Tiberian Sun.
C&C Renegade
- How do I stop escorted NPCs from running headlessly into a bunch of enemies?
Unfortunately, you can’t. Make the most of your weapons to eliminate the enemies before they deal too much damage.
C&C Generals / Zero Hour
- What are “pro rules”?
A common set of rules in Zero Hour multiplayer, ironically only among lower-level players. These include: no superweapons (except Superweapon General, who is permitted one Particle Cannon), no Aurora/Alpha Bombers, no Tactical Nuke upgrade for MiGs, Combat Cycles can’t have Terrorist drivers.
- What’s the deal with the game’s censorship in Germany and China?
In Germany, the base game was initially released uncensored (for collectors, seek the EAN-13 barcode 5030932033079 on the back of the packaging, you’re welcome). A mere month later, the game suddenly became a bit too topical as the United States invaded Iraq in real life, so the German BPjS (Bundesprüfstelle für jugendgefährdende Schriften – Federal Examination Office for Youth-Endangering Publications) placed it on its infamous index of games potentially harmful to the youth. This did not ban the game as such, but like other games on that index, it was unable to be advertised, reviewed in gaming magazines, or even placed on store shelves on the territory of the Federal Republic of Germany – the only way to purchase it would have been to specifically request it from retailers “under the desk”. Since this would have severely hurt the sales, EA quickly released a censored version (retitled as C&C Generäle), which restored the same practices as censored releases of pre-RA2 games: all human units were replaced with cyborgs, and the Terrorist unit was even replaced by a remote suicide drone, while all civilians in the campaign became invisible (and erroneously cut an in-game font that is now Times New Roman, on top of the already existing menu font that was last seen in the beta). Since these changes were cosmetic only, players who had this version had no issues playing online or sharing saved games and replays with international players. The game was removed from the index in 2013, as Victory Games may have considered a re-release of sorts (no way of being sure now), but the game remains in its current state for German users of Origin even. The Zero Hour expansion did get unedited graphics and voiceovers exit EA Germany’s premises (intentionally or not), which may even be found in unofficial uncut patch distributions to this day.
As for China, the state did not appreciate the fact that the player, controlling the Chinese army no less, had to destroy several prominent structures within mainland China in the game. For the first time ever, authorities purged the game from existence even in pirate shops – so prior to the expansion of broadband Internet and VPNs, it was impossible to obtain the game there.
C&C3 Tiberium Wars / Kane’s Wrath
- How come patched Tiberium Wars missions are harder than the original release version?
Changes to the balancing and even Harvester costs/deposits that came throughout the game’s 9 patches have caused a perceived increase in difficulty, which is most stressed in GDI Act III mission in Croatia. It was recently also discovered that AI-controlled Harvesters are sent to aggressively harvest from all Tiberium fields on the map, which is particularly tricky when playing against Nod’s stealthed Harvesters.
- Why is Kane’s Wrath so buggy compared to Tiberium Wars?
When EALA gave BreakAway Games a build to work upon, they did so with a version of the game that predates even the pre-release demo. Hence, all bugs and exploits that were fixed by 1.00 or during the patch support cycle returned. This was, however, a time before change-tracking practices and methods like Git were widely used.
- Why is the Black Hand considered overpowered in Kane’s Wrath?
Confessor Cabals are the most cost-efficient (anti-)scouts in the game – regularly they are built for $400 from the Hand of Nod, but you can get a full squad for $300 by selling a Shredder Turret (which was fixed in unofficial patches by having them draft an incomplete squad) and easily deny any other faction’s scouting attempts. Veteran Flame Tank rushes are a risky but very rewarding strategy. Purifying Flames and Charged Particle Beams are exceptionally strong upgrades.
- Why are the Steel Talons considered underpowered in Kane’s Wrath?
Steel Talons are the only faction that’s missing an EMP weapon (as the Armoury is removed from the techtree, Grenadiers can’t get EMP grenades), which is a considerable disadvantage when fighting epic units. Also, Titans are susceptible to kiting due to their relatively low range compared to other tier 1 units of its class.
- What’s the deal with ZOCOM’s experience issues in Kane’s Wrath?
Kane’s Wrath has a myriad of experience inconsistencies in the XMLs, as those values were inserted manually instead of calculated automatically like in the 2D C&C titles. When copying existing Tiberium Wars units, BreakAway Games made an incredible amount of errors, which particularly affected ZOCOM’s Predator Tanks, which are treated like Mammoth Tanks experience-wise, meaning they gain experience very slowly but give out a lot when destroyed. Unofficial patches fix this.
TIBERIUM (FPS)
- Why was the TIBERIUM FPS game cancelled?
The official reason stated was the game not living up to EA’s internal standards. As this can mean anything and nothing, one can only guess what the real cause was. However, when looking at what all is known about it, it was not really that unique as a game – it took the squad command idea from Star Wars: Republic Commando (2005, LucasArts) and had plot points that didn’t make it to Tiberium Wars as a flagship title.
C&C Red Alert 3 / Uprising
- Why were ore fields replaced with the ore node system?
RA3 tried several things to narrow the skill gap between new and skilled players, so they decided to remove the factor of micromanaging (and frequently losing) harvesters.
- How do I play the co-op campaigns in LAN?
Somehow, EALA didn’t plan for this, so the only way to officially play co-op campaigns was through GameSpy, and now C&C:Online when it bothers to work. There is a workaround to this – a group called TeknoGods released a tool to convert the campaign maps to a format that will make them available in multiplayer map selection lists.
- Why does Uprising not have multiplayer?
There was no official explanation, but even before the subtitle was chosen, it was referred to as “Red Alert 3: Campaign Expansion”. At the time, EALA was juggling several potential projects to follow RA3’s development, so it’s easy to assume it was a quick filler game to develop as they decide what to do next amid a global financial crisis and an aggressive release schedule imposed by the publisher.
C&C4 Tiberian Twilight
- Why was the game removed from Steam?
There was no official announcement nor reason given, but on 12 October 2021, Steam purchases of Tiberian Twilight were disabled (although the game remains in the libraries of prior owners). This is presumably related to a non-EA game, Konami’s eFootball 2022, stressing the list of worst-rated games on the Steam platform, of which Tiberian Twilight was “prominently” at #4, having peaked at #3 before eFootball 2022 was released. However, the game remains to be sold on Origin both separately and as part of The Ultimate Collection.
- I want to play the Night Moves campaign mission, how do I access it?
Since this was a pre-order bonus map, and there has not been a way to claim it since the 2013 official forum thread with individual requests, the only way you can access it is to find a player who has it assigned on their account from that time and play it with them in co-op. The mission ownership will not transfer to you, unfortunately.
C&C Generals 2
- Why was Generals 2 cancelled?
Several factors combined – the design team had a poor grasp of what made C&C/Generals distinct and popular, EA’s internal restriction at the time that required all teams to use in-house engines restricted them to the very non-FPS-unfriendly Frostbite engine, and internal EA turmoil amid leadership changes that caused them to cut many corners within the corporation, with higher-ups possibly even unaware of the state of the game. The cancellation of an RTS game in this high-profile a franchise and the fact that the community didn’t respond well to the free-to-play (read: microtransaction) system to begin with caused the industry at large to shy away from any attempts at making RTS games for the better part of a decade. For further information, refer to the documentary by GVMERS, in which yours truly provided script editing.
C&C Remastered Collection
- What’s the deal with the Turkey country bonus?
Ever since Red Alert first shipped in 1996, Turkey had a misconfigured country bonus, increasing the build time by 10% instead of reducing it. Few noticed this since the country was disabled in unmodded versions of the game (alongside Greece and Spain), but was enabled in the Remastered Collection. When the bonus was fixed in patch 745903 for the Remastered Collection, Turkey started winning practically all matches it was picked in. After the competitive community shouted in anger wherever they could, EA dropped a server-side patch (about half a year later!) removing Turkey’s country bonus altogether on the official server, but retaining it in singleplayer and LAN.
Dune II
- The controls are rudimentary, is there something I can use to remove the hassle?
Yes, and with several separate projects in fact. There’s Dune Dynasty (includes overhauled UI, skirmishes, brutal AI, fog of war), Dune Legacy (includes upscaler, campaign difficulties, skirmishes and multiplayer; last updated in 2016), and Dune II: The Maker (tries to be true to the original). All include improved controls more akin to those we’re used to in modern day.
Dune 2000
Emperor: Battle for Dune
- What engine does the game use?
Emperor: Battle for Dune uses Intelligent Games’ Xanadu engine, contrary to misinformation going around that it uses Westwood’s W3D engine (which was not even finished at the time). The engines’ internal structures and respective file formats are entirely different.
Battle for Middle-earth
Battle for Middle-earth II / Rise of the Witch-king
