Red Alert and Tiberian series' timeline issues
This page gathers information about issues regarding the connection or non-connection of the Red Alert and Tiberian timelines of Command & Conquer. This seperate page was created as there are at least three seperate pages where this section has a right to stay, and it should stay consistent on all of them. If you want to edit it, please only edit only the section below. This will edit the section on all pages it is included in.
Cross-pollination of Red Alert and Tiberian series'
In an interview with Frank Hsu (Yuri's Revenge producer) it was pointed out that "The Tiberian series is an entirely different game and universe" and so the two series do not really belong on the same timeline.
However, it is common knowledge in the community that Red Alert was a prequel to Tiberian Dawn - there was never any attempt by Westwood to hide this, and the player could watch and take part in the historical events leading to the formation of both GDI and the Brotherhood of Nod. It is assumed such statements by the RA2/YR producers were merely an attempt to retcon the history of their game, as they either didn't want to or didn't care to create a story for Red Alert 2 that fit the continuity.
Facts:
- In the Allied campaign, Over the course of several cutscenes, the player first hears about the UN's idea to form a "Global Defense Initiative", and is later told it was founded.
- In the Soviet campaign, again and again, Kane is seen as Stalin's advisor. Then, in the outro, another high-ranking officer of the Soviet army tries to recruit the player for the Brotherhood, only to be killed by Kane. Kane then tells the player about his Brotherhood and gives a glimpse of his plans.
- Outside the game world, the single most definite proof of Red Alert being a prequel to Tiberian Dawn, is Westwood Studios' Official Command & Conquer FAQ v3.0:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
9.2 What is COMMAND & CONQUER: RED ALERT?
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
RED ALERT is the next Command & Conquer game from Westwood Studios, and
is expected to release in the 4th quarter of 1996. A FAQ for RED ALERT
will be released later on that covers the details of this PREQUEL to
COMMAND & CONQUER: TIBERIAN DAWN.
You can find out more about RED ALERT at the Westwood Studios web site:
http://www.westwood.com.
This FAQ was also included in Covert Operations as part of the readme file. Of interesting note is that emphasis was not added. Westwood itself capitalized "prequel". As such, you can safely think of Red Alert as both part of the Tiberian timeline, and part of an independent Red Alert timeline - as long as you remember that Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge are not part of the Tiberian one.