!!FridgeBrilliance:
* How does the death of Einstein lead to the rise of the Empire? Note that in Red Alert I, the Americans seem to be absent from the Allied forces, while Red Alert II has the USS Arizona memorial. In the original RA timeline, the US was busy fighting Japan on its own, but in the altered timeline, the US either had to split their forces helping Europe, or concentrated their attention there. Either way, this meant the Empire had the time and space to build itself stronger.
** While wiping out Einstein in 1927 helped mitigate the Allies' technological and military superiority, [[InSpiteOfANail it didn't prevent them outright]]. This is due to how by that point, he had likely left ''enough'' in the way of research notes for others to build upon, such as the ones who would found [=FutureTech=]. Not to the point, perhaps, of replicating nuclear tech, but sufficiently enough for a similar trajectory to take shape.
** Furthermore, Cherdenko's plan was predestined to fail, since if he'd stopped the Chronosphere's invention OR secured a Soviet victory, he'd have never needed to go back in time at all. Causality abhors a paradox, so neither one happened.
* The Empire of the Rising Sun's lack of a dedicated aircraft production structure unlike the other factions and reliance of TransformingMecha units (Mecha/Jet Tengu, Striker/Chopper-VX, Sea/Sky Wing) for air power instead may appear odd until you realise that the Empire is based on UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan, which did not possess an independent air force and which instead maintained two air forces under the command of the Army and the Navy respectively.
** Though the [[UsefulNotes/YanksWithTanks United States Air Force]] didn't achieve independent status from the Army until 1947, either, so UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan wasn't alone among the major belligerent powers in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII for not having an independent air force. That said, the US Army Air Forces had wrested a substantial amount of independence from the Army, while its Japanese equivalents were on a much shorter leash.
* The United States doesn't seem as powerful as they were in Red Alert 2. In the Imperial Campaign, [[spoiler:Los Angeles is invaded and America is subdued as early as the end of the second act]]. Perhaps Cherdenko's plan did work after all, but it only hit the Americans the hardest.
** That, and [[spoiler:Ackerman is easily replaced by an Imperial android spy]].
* Though it's never explicitly stated that Ackerman is an Empire spy in the Allied campaign, there are some subtle hints. In the mission where you take him down, the main enemy base almost always has no attack dogs, and will almost never train any. One of the major battlefield roles of attack dogs is to sniff out enemy spies; the last thing Ackerman wants are his own defenses giving away his secret.
** Furthermore, if (and only if) the player trains spies of their own, they will randomly note during gameplay that Ackerman building up all these doomsday weapons right under the Allies' noses is ''extremely'' suspicious, and wonder how he was able to pull it off.
* The lack of any CivilWarcraft scenarios in the main game's Imperial Campaign seems a bit odd, since even the Allies get one. But the price for treason in Imperial Japan was likely very high, and the idea of [[spoiler:Tatsu betraying his own father]] likely would have made the whole ordeal even more severe.
* Many people take issue with the sudden disappearence of [[GreaterScopeVillain Yuri]] from the Soviet side of the conflict, as he was present in the last game and the focus of the expansion. However, I am here to offer an explanation as to why he doesn't appear in this game.
** First, let us consider how Yuri came into existence. In Red Alert 2, Einstein travelled back in time to assassinate Hitler, thus eliminating the reich from [=WW2=]. This, however, led to the Soviets being able to push far further into Europe, presumably thanks to Stalin having less opposition in the region. Keep Stalin in mind, we're going to come back to him. [[https://youtu.be/BJPMrZJsH_Y?t=980 According to Yuri himself]], the Psychic Core was established thanks to the Stalinist Soviet Union taking an interest in their abilities.
** However, in [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert3 RA3]] the Soviets go back in time and eliminate Einstein from the equation by murdering him before he manages to complete his research. This means that his chrono, prism, and nuclear technologies don't develop - and not only Japan doesn't get nuked, but Hitler is never assassinated, and the Soviet Union doesn't get to grow in power like it did in [[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert2 RA2]], due to the presence of the Reich. This means Stalin might simply not have had the opportunity or resources to aid in the development of Yuri's Psychic Core.
** That and the fact that now Psychics are a gimmick the Empire is using with Yuriko and their Psionic Decimators. Adding sinister-looking Psychics to the heavily industrialized, mass-produced Soviet army full of diesel bikes and chemical-based Desolators might simply be a little too high-end to fit in with the aesthetics and theming of the faction.
** I'm not sure if this is right place to hold a discussion but I think the most plausible reason why Yuri isn't in Red Alert 3 is because both Krukov and Cherdenko were most likely present during the events of Yuri's Revenge and understood the threat he was. It's implied that they somehow lived through the entire new timeline as Cherdenko was premier but they definitely keep their memories of the old time line like how Krukov remembered about nukes. If Cherdenko was paranoid enough to remove Krukov and the player then you can be sure he would feed Yuri to the warbears/attack dogs long before Yuri got a chance to subvert much.
* According to WordOfGod, when Einstein [[RetGone erased Hitler from history]] to prevent the original World War 2, all he did was create an alternate timeline which became ''Red Alert 1'', with the original Einstein from "our" history (kinda) returning to his laboratory in Trinity. By contrast, Einstein's [[HoistByHisOwnPetard own erasure from reality]] thanks to a Soviet-made time machine results in Premier Cherdenko, General Krukov, and Dr. Zelinsky coming back to an altered Moscow instead of the one they left. Which wouldn't make much sense, except that Zelinsky's reverse-engineered time travel wasn't derived from Einstein's research, but Nikola Tesla's, which would lead to somewhat differing results.

!!FridgeLogic:

* The Mt. Rushmore mission: [[spoiler:The President]] states that if his heart stops, the weapon will fire. Given he wants to fire the weapon anyway, why can't the order simply be given remotely instead of driving to the firebase, since there must be some kind of transceiver that monitors his vitals?
** Because he's lying. [[spoiler:The Imperial campaign reveals that Ackermann is a SpyBot and clearly has no heart. The Empire probably just counted on the Allies being too stupid to realize (which is true) and made up the heart emitter thing so they won't kill their precious spy. Also, there would be massive political fallout if the Allies killed a President, so that helps as well.]]
** I assume he was going to use the radio tower you blow up at the start of the mission, and that by destroying it, he'll need to reach the firebase to activate it personally, since the only other way to activate it remotely (his heart stops) will be to kill himself. [[spoiler:Then again, if Ackerman was ActuallyADoombot, and it was meant to use the Mt. Rushmore superweapon to level Moscow, why didn't the Empire give it the order to fake a "heart attack" to launch the superweapon?]]
** To keep the Allies and the Soviets busy fighting each other instead of them?
** He may want to give selective coordinates to specifically target, rather than just spam weapon shots at preset targets a la the RealLife fail-deadly Dead Hand system the Soviet Union installed and Russia (supposedly) still maintains or Israel's Samson Option regarding its nuclear weapons -- [[spoiler:Ackerman may ''strongly'' disagree with Bingham's approach to the Soviets but destroying Allied bases and infrastructure is not in Ackerman's interests, which may well happen if the preset targeting list hasn't been updated to account for the changes in territory control in Europe between the Allies and Soviets pre-ceasefire. Ackerman may want to change the targeting list but needs to physically be at Mt. Rushmore to do so; at the same time he can use the threat of the preset target list to try to keep Commander Warren and the Player Commander from trying to remote-snipe him dead.]]
* What ''was'' Thornley's plan? OK, presumably he'd use timestopping to utterly neutralize the Union and Japan, but what then?

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