Vindicator Rush against Empire of the Rising Sun

The Vindicator Rush is a rush strategy in Red Alert 3. It is extremely powerful against Empire of the Rising Sun. On the PC version this strategy has been patched and nerfed to make it counterable (power of the Vindicator has weakened, reload time has increased to 10 seconds and an Airfield cannot be build as fast as before; moreover the Mechu Tengu's AA attack has increased from 15 to 23), on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 version however this strategy has not been patched and thus miss the updates as seen below. The list below basically confirms what an unfair match-up Empire vs Allies becomes if the Allies player is exploiting the Airrush.

List of tweaks to Allies airunits on PC (and NOT on consoles):

Vindicators: Apollos: Cryocopters: Century Bombers: Airunits general
 * Allied Vindicator (unupgraded) reload time increased to 10s from 5s.
 * Allied Vindicator (upgraded) reload time increased to 7s from 3.5s.
 * The Vindicator should now do 50% less damage versus Empire of the Rising Sun Cores.
 * Allied Apollo speed reduced to 225 from 250.
 * Allied Apollo now twice as vulnerable to attack from units other than the Mig, Tengu, and other Apollos.
 * Allied Apollo Fighter heath increased to 300 from 250
 * Allied Apollo ammo reduced by 25%.
 * Allied Cryocopter health reduced to 650 from 750.
 * Allied Century Bomber reload time increased by 50%
 * Aircraft Return To Base speed boost reduced to 25% from 50%.
 * The Vindicator and Century Bomber will now properly receive the additional ammo if grounded when Advanced Aeronautics is purchased.
 * Allied Airfield now needs both a power plant AND a refinery before it can be build.

List of tweaks to Rising Sun (anti-)airunits on PC (and NOT on consoles):
 * Japan Defender-VX base defense unpack time halved.
 * Japan Defender-VX base defense transform cool-down time reduced to 2 seconds from 15.
 * Japan Power Plant cost reduced to 800 from 1000.
 * The Mecha Tengu's anti-air weapon damage has been increased from 15 to 23.
 * Japan Tengu vision range increased to 225 from 200.
 * Japan Point Defense Drones now have an expiration time of 2 minutes.

The above updates were never released on the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The list goes to show how much improvements were needed to make the Allies-Rising Sun match-up fair and enjoyable for both teams. It mainly shows upgrades to Rising Sun, and nerfings to Allies units. All these tweaks are missing on the console versions and going for the Vindicator rush (or any Allies airrush for that matter) will force the Rising Sun player into an uphill-struggle, right from the start! This rush can be considered an exploit.

Advice
It is adviced to simply avoid playing any Allies airrusher. Under a YouTube video a discussion has been going on which involves some top 100 RA3 players. Xx_Phantom52_xX, an avid Rising Sun user, said:


 * "Any decent allies player should beat RS on pretty much any map, thats what determines the top players from the rest - RS shouldnt ever beat allies 1v1. As for inf isle, against a top player, not likely.. But its possible with a﻿ mcv sell."

Earlier AndrewCastro, a regular Airrusher, said:


 * "...With rising sun on ps3 version it's impossible to beat a vidi rush cuz they were never nerfed. Only on PC were tangus are cheaper and﻿ are stronger and the vindes are slower."

These experiences from the top RA3 players combined with the nerfings and upgrades the consoles never received it is strongly adviced to simply avoid playing airrushers. Most of them even know about the differences between the PC and console versions, but will exploit it anyway.

Players who abuse/exploit this tactic

 * AndrewCastro
 * ikillyoo83
 * craigyR
 * DarkTorturer
 * erlinda R.
 * espanol1801
 * Kahit ano (dj)
 * Keyt D'Great
 * sanad111
 * Shadow23983
 * SloWy-01
 * Tommy--Wiseau
 * WORID-404
 * The-Wolf
 * Samir14100
 * PaLIsTiNi
 * Y-sn
 * Disturbed24567
 * Alliedbstard
 * CasketSeller
 * Donnie-Darto
 * ra3noobplayer
 * Dooski201
 * Toki-49
 * Stev0shine
 * Elmeyor