Powerups

This page should correctly be named "[Powerups]"; it is wrong due to technical restrictions.

This section of rules(md).ini controls the content of crates, i.e. which bonuses they can provide, which amount of them, and what animation to play when triggered. For general crate rules, like their frequency of appearence, see [CrateRules].

Flags in Powerups are listed as Cratename=X,Y,Z,S, where

• Cratename is the name of the powerup (hardcoded)
• X is the chance¹ that this powerup will be triggered
• Y is the name of the animation to play (or <none>)
• Z defines whether the crate is available on water - if you set this to "yes" on the wrong crates, you risk Internal Errors; an example of this is the unit-crate, where you will get an IE if the crate tries to generate naval units on land or land units on water.
• S is a special parameter, different from crate to crate

Example

Armor=10,ARMOR,yes,1.5
Armor crates appear with a chance of 10/110¹, play ARMOR as an animation when triggered, do appear on water, and multiply your unit's Strength by 1.5 when it picks up the crate.

Explanation of [Powerups] flags, default YR values, availability

Flag name	Chance1	Animation	Water?	Special Parameter	Flag explanation	Works in game(s)
Armor	10	ARMOR	yes	1.5	Multiplier to unit Strength, controlled by Special Parameter In TS, this is a multiplier to incoming Damage instead. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up an Armor crate.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Firepower	10	FIREPOWR	yes	2.0	Multiplier to weapon Damage, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Firepower crate.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
HealBase	10	HEALALL	yes		Heal everything to full health	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Money	20	MONEY	yes	2000	Gives you the amount of Credits specified in Special Parameter	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Reveal	10	REVEAL	yes		Reveals entire map (sans Gap Generators, of course)	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Speed	10	SPEED	yes	1.2	Multiplier to unit Speed, controlled by Special Parameter. Uses the Money powerup if the receiving unit already has picked up a Speed crate.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Veteran	20	VETERAN	yes	1	Instant promotion by the number of levels set in Special Parameter	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Unit	20	<none>	no		Gives you one free VehicleType not marked CrateGoodie=no	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Invulnerability	0	ARMOR	yes	1.0	Renders your unit invulnerable for the number of minutes set by Special Parameter. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
IonStorm	0	<none>	yes		Generates a random Ion Storm. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Gas	0	<none>	yes	100	Releases a cloud of gas, damage controlled by Special Parameter. Check [Gas] and fix [GasCloudSys] before using this.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Tiberium	0	<none>	no		Creates a small patch of ore or Tiberium, depending on the game. Picks a random "maturity" of Tiberium/Ore patch as well as the amount.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Pod	0	<none>	no		Would have given you the Drop Pod Special in TS, but that feature was scrapped. In Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Cloak	0	CLOAK	yes		Gives everything within the CrateRadius the effect of Cloakable=yes	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Darkness	0	SHROUDX	yes		Shrouds the entire map, even if you have a SpySat Uplink. You need to sell each Building with SpySat=yes first before building another one to re-gain full map view.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Explosion	0	<none>	yes	500	Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in C4Warhead, damage controlled by Special Parameter.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
ICBM	0	CHEMISLE	yes		Gives you a free shot with the first super weapon in the SuperWeaponTypes list to have Action=Nuke.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Napalm	0	<none>	no	600	Creates an explosion using the warhead defined in FlameDamage, damage controlled by Special Parameter	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Squad	0	<none>	no		Spawns a squad of InfantryTypes. Red Alert 2, defaults to the action of the Money powerup.	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
ParaBomb	3 (RA)	PARABOX			Gives you one (1) loaded ParaBomb Superweapon	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
Sonar	3 (RA)	SONARBOX			Gives you one (1) loaded Sonar Pulse Superweapon	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR
TimeQuake	3 (RA)	TQUAKE			Creates a Time Quake	RA, TS/FS, RA2/YR

Works fine                 

Can be triggered, but logic doesn't work                 

Not available                 

¹Note: Due to Westwood's...err..."interesting" style of coding, the chances are not percentage values, but rather shares of the sum of all default shares, meaning:

• In RA2/YR, the chance is x/110
• In TS/FS, the chance is x/441
• In RA, the chance is x/146

where x is, in all cases, the chance-parameter.

Trivia

Calculating from this, our example, the Armor-crate, has a chance of

• 9.09% (10/110) to appear in RA2/YR, while 1% equals 1.1 shares.
• 7.48% (33/441) to appear in TS/FS, while 1% equals 4.41 shares.
• 6.85% (10/146) to appear in RA, while 1% equals 1.46 shares.

Obsolete Powerups in RA2/YR

Several Powerups do not work the way they were coded anymore. They are, however, not useless. Even though they do not create a specific, special effect when you pick them up, they do play the specified animation. And animations can have Damage, can spawn Particles and even neutral infantry. Whatever you can do with an animation can be called by a crate. Several mods use this to have a crate spawning neutral Brutes, for example.

See also

• [CrateRules]
• CrateBeneath
• CrateBeneathIsMoney
• CarriesCrate
• Machine's thread about TS's Armor