Ever since the early days of the original Red Alert Attack Dogs have made wonderful scouting units that doubled as ferocious infantry killers. In this Tip of the Week the strengths of the Attack Dogs scouting and infantry killing will be explored as well as their ability to be quick and sneaky.
Scouting
Scouting is vital in any match your in and this is where the Attack Dog excels. Proper scouting of your opponent’s actions makes it easier for you to counter whatever they are doing. Below are a couple safe scouting spots one each of the ranked 1v1 maps where your dog will be able to see a lot of your opponents base without him even knowing it!
Placing your dogs at these spots will grant line of sight over key areas of the map.
Barracks Camping
Since dogs can instantly kill enemy infantry, camping an Attack Dog at your enemy’s Barracks is effective in stopping enemy infantry production. Empire players fear the most since they do not have a unit that can stun infantry like the Soviet War Bear or an Allied Attack Dog. Before camping a Barrack, remember to use Attack Move (A + click) the dog in front of it to be completely sure the dog will kill units being produced. Some players build turrets to stop dogs from camping their barracks, but there is one annoying trick to actually "counter" his turret.
By placing the Attack Dog just around the corner of the Barracks, the dog can attack around the corner and avoid the turret fire.
Preventing Enemies from Ungarrisoning
This can be vital in some key situations where keeping a garrison is a must. The following technique does not work on Empire though since Imperial Warriors will be immune to the paralyzing bark from your dogs, but will work against Allied and Soviet players. When a group of Peacekeepers is going into shield mode on their way to ungarrison your building, simply have a dog near run in and bark. This will let your garrison troops finish off the encroaching Peacekeepers and keep the building. The same technique works against the Soviets. Have a dog ready and when you see the Conscripts getting their cocktail out rush towards them with the dog and bark, the garrisoned troops will do the rest. The videos below show how this is done.
Stopping incoming Peacekeepers
Stopping incoming Conscripts
Dog Ambush!
The Dog Ambush is a tactic that can keep your air force alive while performing a Cryo-Rush against the Soviets while your opponent is camping and massing up Flak Troopers. To do this, simply get 2-3 Attack Dogs to play around with your enemy’s War Bears and while they are busy with those, sneak 7-8 dogs a spot behind the opponent’s base where they will be unseen. When your Vindicator and Cyrocopter get close to his base, move your dogs in to paralyze your opponent’s Flak Troopers. Once the first wave of Flak Troopers is dead, move some of your dogs to camp out his Barracks to prevent War Bears and Flak Troopers from ruining the Cryo-Rush. The video below shows this tactic in action.