Below are strategies, tips, and more when playing multiplayer games as the Soviets.
 

How do I play multiplayer games on the Internet:

If you just want to play a head-to-head modem game, serial game, or genuine LAN game, just consult your manual. It is very thorough. You can also play on the internet through Red Alert's Westwood Chat program. I don't use it because you must have a static password/nickname and it just seems too generic to use. But to play the best multiplayer games, I suggest you play over Kali. Don't know what kali is? Basically it is a program that fools your computer into thinking it is on a large IPX network via the Internet. Imagine being able to play hundreds of games with thousands of people at any time! Best of all, kali is a one time fee of $20! They give you an unlock code that allows you to play for an unlimited amount of time. The shareware version has a 15 minute limit. Any game, including Red Alert, that allows multiplayer games over an IPX network will work with Kali. If you like playing multiplayer games and don't have a local network at home, I strongly recommend you download kali. The version below is for Windows 95.

The following rules hold true to any multiplayer game as far as I am concerned. I've been playing multiplayer games through the internet, head-to-head, and through local BBS tournamnets for some time now. I really don't like rules but I know what people online find annoying, aggravating, frustrating, etc.

• Don't play over the internet with a modem that is slower then 28.8! 

*Noone likes to play a slow, jerky, lagged game.* 
• Play the game until the end!

*Noone likes to play a game for 45 minutes only to have their opponent quit.* 
• If you are playing through Kali, make sure it is registered!

*You'd have to be a moron to think you can get a full game in under 15 minutes (especially a game of Red Alert).* 
• Don't be a poor loser.

*Come on kiddies, noone can really cheat(usually). If you lose, figure out how to improve.*
• Don't be a poor winner.

*Some people like to hear what they can do to be better, but don't get cocky. I'm sure you don't win all your games.*
• Don't talk the whole time, and when you do talk, talk like a mature person.

*Most games let you talk during play, don't do it constantly, its annoying and slows down game play. When talking in a chat room or during the game, please don't constantly say fuck, shit, etc.*

Fighting Over Land/Air;

General Offense: When you begin you will only have an MCV (mobile construction unit), unless you started with more then one unit. Usually you will want to deploy the MCVas fast as you can where it lays. Its a good idea to look at each map before you play it so you know where the abundant gemstones and ore deposits are. You should get a barracks up before your Ore Refinery so that you can train Infantry and Rocket Soldiers while the Refinery builds. Send one or two Infantry men into each of the corners of the map. These will be your "scouts" as I call them. After your Ore Refinery is built, you should build a War Factory. I'll tell you right now, one of the keys to winning is tanks, and lots of them. The general order in which you build is up to you. If you want a set plan, see my "Tank Storm" strategy. For the most part, you should have at least three Ore Trucks getting ore. Four or five is more realistic. The reason is, you must have a constant flow of money to constantly be building tanks, structures, etc. You may find that two Ore Refineries will better suit your needs. Money will come in alittle faster and it initally comes with an Ore Trucks. Also, have at least two War Factories built to dispense tanks and Ore Trucks. Three War Factories is even better but no more then 3. With three War Factories, you will be able to get those Ore Trucks out fast. Speed is a crucial factor in multiplayer games. This is not the computer your playing. They don't attack randomly. When you are building tank remember this, do not build Mammoth Tanks! Why? They cost nearly twice as much take nearly twice as long to make, not too mention they are incredibly slow. When you have about 15 Heavy Tanks, group them together and send them off into a corner. I am presuming that you have found your enemies base by now with your scouts. Once you have two groups of tanks with 15 tanks each, tell each group to attack the base. Attack the base! Do not worry about the enemies tanks. It may sound foolish, but its amazing how much damage you can do by just driving past the enemies tanks and going straight for the crucial buildings (Construction yard, War Factories and Ore Refineries). Now of course, if there is a Tesla Coil(s)/Turrets attacking you or a wall of tanks you cannot get around, by all means attack them first. While attacking, don't forget to keep building tanks as he may attack right after you. If you feel lucky, a Tanya can sometimes slip in and destroy many enemy structures while your tanks are attacking. Your opponent won't notice a little dot coming into his city when 30 tanks are shooting him down. Missle Silo's can also be very helpful in destroying enemy structures (see A-Bomb weakness chart). Just another reason to build your structures far away from each other. Airports can be helpful, if anything, just for the Spy plane and Paratroopers. Look around alittle and you can usually drop the Paratroopers close to a Power Plant or such away from the enemies units or attacking structures. By the time he gets to you, you will have done a good amount of damage to that structure. If not destroying it, at least forcing him to repair it. Dont attack from the air if your enemy has a number of Rocket Soldiers or Sam Sites. If your enemy is light on the air defense, the Migs can do some serious damage in groups(at least four). Go for the Construction Yard first. As far as the Iron Curtain and Helicopters are concerned, don't build them. They will suck down your money and time, and as I said before, time is a crucial factor in a multiplayer game.

General Defense: Read General Offense for tips on your initial start. After your scouts go out searching, make a few more infantry and set them up in guard mode around your base acting as a sort of perimeter. This will help keep enemy scouts out. Also, training some Rocket Soldiers and spreading throughout your base will help if your enemy decides to attack in the air. Don't Build Sam Sites! They are a waste of time and money. A group of Rocket Soldiers spread throughout your base will provide much better air cover and will let you spend time building more important structures. Rocket Soldiers can also do a good amount of damage to attacking tanks when spread out, unlike the Sam Sites which cannot attack land at all. The first threat of attack is from footmen. Your perimeter troops in guard mode should keep enemy troops from getting in. The second threat is most likely from tanks. Rocket Soldiers (spread throughout base), Heavy Tanks, and Tesla Coils are all good methods of defense against attacking tanks. It is best to find all the paths that enemy can use to get into your base and eliminate the chance of them getting through. Levels like "A Path Beyond" have bridges that allow enemies to get to your base. Destroying these bridges will force your enemy to use other paths and therefore making it easier on you to defend. A Tesla Coil by itself is not a good defense. Three tanks can make it past one unguarded Telsa Coil. This is why you should put a group of Heavy Tanks next to your Tesla Coil. It will make it more difficult for tanks to get through. If you don't have time or the money to make a Tesla Coil(s), Heavy Tanks by themselves will be enough to stop the attacking enemy if in numbers and in a line/wall formation, not allowing the enemy by without fighting. The third threat is from the air. I've said it before and I'll say it again, spreading Rocket Soldiers throughout your base will turn enemy air units into scrap metal. I've watched enemy after enemy try to attack me from the air even though my Rocket Soldiers are there. Its funny to see five Migs fly into your base, and see one leave. Make sure there is enough soldiers around though, if not, they may destroy your structure(s) before you can destroy them. Some of the other threats are from Tanya's and Engineers. To guard your base from a Tanya attack, it helps to constantly be watching your Radar. If she does get through, try to shoot her with your Riflemen or run her over. A Tesla Coil will usually eliminate the threat of a Tanya if it is in defensive range of your structures. A common strategy I use is to attack with tanks from one side and slip a Tanya in through the other. To protect against this, don't send all your tanks to attack, but rather keep one tank on the other side. But the easiest way to kill a Tanya is to kill her before she has a chance to do damage in your base. Again, the wall of tanks will keep her out. If she does try to get through, she will be shot or run over. Engineers are easier to kill than Tanya's since they cannot shoot. Just have some Rifle Infantry spread throughout your base to protect against Engineers. One of the common Allied strategies to to put a Tanya and/or Engineer in an APC and send it over. An APC is very difficult to destroy since it is so fast. One sure fire method is to build a Tesla Coil. The Tesla Coil will destroy it easily, but the troops inside will jump out. The Tesla Coil once again should take care of the troops. If you do not have a Tesla Coil, just make sure the APC doesn't get into your base. Have your tanks attack the APC as soon as you see it and prepare your Riflmen to attack as soon as the troops inside come out. This should cover most enemy threats. Other attacking units could attack by sea, but this is covered in my "Fighting Over Sea" section.

Fighting Over Sea;

General Sea Strategies: Please don't play as the Soviets on water levels. Why? Well, the Soviets have no offensive sea units. What they do have is a Submarine that must surface to do anything, and a Transport. Even if the sub is touched by an enemy, it must surface. The Allies and their Crusiers will usually win. Its not entirely hopeless. If you are fast, you can get a large group of subs and take out the enemies Naval Yard/Sub Pen before they have a chance to fight. Follow up with three or four transports filled with Heavy Tanks and you may do alright. Speed is an important fact in Sea fighting with the Soviets. With the discovery of the Crusier speed cheat and the Crusiers ability to force fire next to a sub, it is very tough to beat an Ally on water. Get Submarines and Transports quick, unload the transports near the enemies base, and take out the the Contruction Yard as your subs attack the Naval Yard. Good Luck!
 
 
 

Summary of General Tips:

Below is a list of what to definitly build and not build when playing a standard Multiplayer game.
 

If you have made a Missle Silo, the A-Bomb will be availble to you. It charges on its own, but takes awhile to get ready. Once it is ready, it is important to make sure the hit counts. If your enemy has a Gap Generator above his city, you may have to guess. The only way around it, is to send one or two suicide tanks in to scout for a susceptible area, or better yet, send a Spy Plane(if available) over his base to get a glimpse of it for about a second. Usually, you do not want to attack units with the A-Bomb! The only units that fall easily to the A-Bomb are Footmen and Submarines. Some buildings will be destroyed by the A-Bomb easily while others are hardly scratched. Below is the weakness chart for the most common structures:

So you want a concrete plan eh? I use the following strategy all the time online. It almost always works too. I have to admit, tank rushes are not fun, but when you have to win, you have to win. Below is the build order in which Ibuild my structures and train my units and info on what to do with it and why.

Deploy MCV- Deploy it as fast as you can wherever it is, unless you know ore and gemstones are faraway. Don't spend a lot of time worry about the exact spot, just get it opened!
Build Power Plant- Its the only thing to do, click it fast! Speed is an important factor!
Build 2nd Power Plant- Trust me. It only takes a second, protects against early Power Plant attacks, and gives you more time to build later.
Build Barracks- It doesn't take long and allows you to find the enemy and set up a perimeter quickly. As your next structure (Ore Refinery) is being built, train three Grenadiers and as each one comes out, send him into a shrowed corner to scout the area for the ememy. After the three are out searching, train seven more Infantry men, set them up in a perimeter around your base, and put them in guard mode by clicking on them all and hitting "g". Once the seven are guarding, make five or six Rocket Soldiers. Spread them evenly throughtout the interior of your base to defend against tanks who infiltrate your base and later against air units if your enemy decides to attack from the air. By now, your Ore Refinery should be finished. When time allows, you should build an engineer or two to fully repair any structure in case of an enemy tank rush (also see defending against a tank rush).
Build Ore Refinery- This should be building as you train your footmen. Once completed, place it as close to the ore/gemstones as you can. Instruct the Ore Truck to get any nearby gemstones first. 
Build Second Ore Refinery-In a multiplayer game, you need to be constantly building Tanks and structures. You cannot do this sucessfully without a constant flow of money. Two Ore Refineries will let you get more ore faster. Once it is built, place it near any other ore deposits. Again, Instruct the Ore Truck to get any nearby gemstones first.
Build War Factory- Getting your War Factory up before your Radar Dome will allow you to get Ore Trucks and Tanks fast. Once built, place it down quickly and begin to build an Ore Truck. This structure will put you over the top on power. You should make 4-6 Ore Trucks in total, depending on how close you are to ore and the size of the map. 
Build Second War Factory- Build another War Factory to allow you to make tanks and Ore Trucks faster. You should have built an Ore truck already and be finishing up on another. Make a total of 4-6 Ore Trucks, depending on how close you are to ore, and tell them to get nearby gemstones first.
Build Third War Factory(optional)-Its the icying on the cake. Three War Factory will let you pump out Heavy Tanks at a faster rate. Once you have 4-6 Ore Trucks getting ore, begin making Heavy Tanks at a consistent rate. You may not need three War Factories, especially in smaller maps.
Build Advance Power Plant- The War Factory you just built sucked up the last bit of juice you had, quickly build an Advance Power Plant. Once built, place it away from your other strucutres but do it quickly. Building this will allow you to build the Radar Dome without getting the low power message.
Build radar Dome- Once you have that gold coming, and tanks building, you should find out where the enemy is. Your scouts should have found the enemy by now, if not, hurry up and tell them to search a shrowed area. Don't worry if they die, their suicide scouts. Just try to get as good of a look at the enemy as you can. Once you find the enemy, set the location by hitting Ctrl+F9. Occasionally hit F9 to see what your enemy is doing. Be sure to watch the Radar for attacking units. Iuse the larger view of the map. It gives you a view of the whole game and not just a section.
Build Tech Center(optional)- Why? A Tanya has these funny things called C4 explosives which tend to blow up entire cities. Make a Tanya if you have time and try to sneak her into the enemy city. You may just want to save the money all together and build more tanks.
Build Tesla Coil(optional)-If you have time and money, go ahead and build a Tesla Coil. It will help against any Ally APC transport runs or small tanks attacks. Watch that power though!
Build Airport(optional)- Again, if you have time and money, build an Airport. Even if your enemy has a heavy air defense, you can at least make use of the Spy Plane and Paratroopers.

The main objective in this plan is to set up a constant supply of ore and then pump out Heavy Tanks. Note that when attacking, you should have at least 10 Heavy Tanks. Be sure to attack the Construction Yard and then Power Plants. This will slow the enemies building to a crawl forcing him to give up. Don't worry about the enemies tanks unless you can't get around them and be aware of any Tesla Coils. You can vary this plan if you want since this is only a suggestion. The only weaknesses I've seen in my plan are early attacks against critical structures and enemy attacks by sea. This is why it is important to take out the enemies Naval Yard if they have one. Allies have this tendency to attack with crusiers from out of nowhere destroying everything you've made. As long as your fast enough, the enemies city will turn into ash.
 
 
 

How to beat a tank rusher(Tank Stormer):

One strategy, as like my Tank Storm, is to rush the opponent early on with as many tanks as you can muster. This is not a very fun way to play since the actual game is over in minutes and the whole point of a strategy game is lost. Never-the-less, many online players will tank rush simply to add a win under their belt. The tank rush strategy is becoming an all too common method of attack, so common that I am devoting an entire section on how to defend against it. I am still working on my plan, but I have some strategies that will at least lessen the blow. The success in a tank rush lies in the fact that the attacking tanks usually go for your base rather then your units. This leaves you crippled and usually without a Construction Yard and other critical structures. One strategy that has worked for me many times is to train at least two engineers once you build your Barracks. Keep the engineers close enough to your base to run in and repair, but not so close as to leave them open to be run over. When the attacking tanks wear down your critical building(s) more then half way, tell the engineer to repair it. This will buy you some time, but you must also have tanks built to be constantly attacking the enemy. As long as your Engineers can buy you enough time to take the enemy out with your tanks, you should be ok. A tank rusher will commonly forget about building the long game goals such as 4-6 Ore Trucks, Radar Dome, Tech Center, etc. and go straight for 3 War Factories and lots of tanks. Use this to your advantage. If you can defeat the first rush of tanks, you should have enough time to repair, rebuild, and retaliate. One way to defeat a tank rusher is to cut off his life-line, ore. If you can cut off his funds, then he won't have any money to build, and since a tank rusher usually does not worry about a lot of Ore Trucks, he should be finished. In certain instances, the tanks will just keep coming. It seems the enemy is "cheating", but he has just set up a strong flow of Ore. As in my Tank Storm strategy, not only do you strive for a horde of tanks but you also set yourself up to have a constant flow of ore. Its very difficult to beat these types of tank rushers because they are constantly attacking on the offense. In games when you face these type of tank rushers, the Engineers usefullness may be limited. The tanks will destroy your buildings so fast that the Engineers' repairs won't last very long. Basically it comes down to stopping the attacking tanks before they can even get into your base. How? A wall of some sort. No, not a concrete wall (no, not a barbed wire wall either dufus), but rather a wall of tanks. In the Allies case, they can make a wall of turrets in no time, but unfortunatly the Soviets cannot do this. If you can stop the attacking tanks before they slip into your base, they will be forced to stop and fight. Again, you must constantly be building tanks to wear down the enemy. All to often, the most successfull way to beat a tank rusher is with more tanks. Many times, if you have a barracks up early enough and get the Engineers out quick, you will have time left to train Rocket Soldiers. Spreading them throughout your base, though a great air defense, will also do a good deal of damage against tanks. The tank rusher usually won't spend the time to go around running over all your little Rocket Soldiers. The whole time they are attacking your buildings you can be attacking them with your Rocket Soldiers. Fact is, no matter what you do, a zillion tanks will beat you. If you find yourself constantly on the defense, your probably finished. If the tank rusher takes out your Ore Trucks (many do), then your in deep trouble. Remeber, last ditch efforts do sometime work. If you know your going to lose, build as many tanks as you can, sell everything, and attack. You never know. 

Be sure to check out my Top Secret Section for the Ultimate Tank tactics!

If you have any strategies that you think are useful against a tank rusher, feel free to e-mail me.
 
 
 

How to beat an Engineer rush:

Don't laugh, its a serious threat. The idea is to rush your opponent as early in the game as you can with 4 or 5 Engineers in an APC. Unfortunatly the Allies are the only side with the ability to make APC's. A common situation is for the host of the game to be an Ally who has set the game up to start with 3 units. He automatically gets an APC while you get some tanks. The Ally will make a barracks very early, make 4 or 5 Engineers, and send them toward your base. By then, you may have a some Infantry and maybe even some tanks, but it doesn't matter. The Infantry would be good if the enemy was dumb enough to send the Engineers in on foot, but they arrive in an APC. The Infantry are run over or shot, and the tanks just keep missing. The APC rolls over to your Construction Yard and/or Power Plant and destroys it/them in a matter of seconds. Unfortunatly, the enemy usually kills any nearby Infantry leaving you helpless. The tanks are too slow to run you over the Engineers and they cannot shoot them worth a damn. What to do? I have come up with a few helpful tips. There is not a whole lot to be done. I consider an Engineer rush even less fair/fun then a tank rush. If you surround your base with tanks and/or you have a Tesla Coil, you will be able to stop an APC from getting into your base in the first place. But in the early start of the game, both a lot of tanks and/or a Telsa Coil are out of the question. What the hell is left? Against all my morals, concrete walls and Flame Towers are the best defense (I feel like an idiot even saying that). Actually, it works. If you have enough time to make a wall around your Construction Yard/Power Plants, the Engineers can just walk in and take your base. In addition, Flame Towers will usually kill all of the Engineers once they get out. Just make sure the Flame Tower(s) is(are) in range of all your critical buildings (which should be just about everything that early on in the game). Problem is, you usually never know if your playing a tank rusher or a Engineer rusher. If you prepare for an Engineer rush and the enemy attacks with a lot of tanks, your up the creek. Other then that, as far as I can think of, your out of luck. If you have to, state that there is to be no warfare for 5 minutes or such, but you must both agree.