The Psychic Dominator was Yuri's superweapon from the Third World War, developed as a trump card with which he intended to conquer the world. Once activated over a designated area, all enemy units caught in the blast zone were immediately and permanently mind-controlled.
Official description[]
| “ | When fully charged and deployed, this weapon causes a massive burst of psychic energy that turns all units in the area of effect into units under Yuri’s control. These new additions to Yuri’s army can then be turned on their former friends or sent back to Yuri’s base for a trip to the Grinder or Bio Reactor. Units normally immune to mind control, and garrisoned units, are immune to the effects of the Psychic Dominator. Once a unit is captured by the Psychic Dominator, it can never be mind controlled again. The Dominator’s psychic bursts also damage nearby structures. - Red Alert 2: Yuri's Revenge manual(src) |
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Background[]
The Psychic Dominator Device could store extreme amounts of psychic power, and then release it to mind control a group of units or vehicles in an area, though this required a significant energy input. When the device is nearly charged, the device opens and the contraption atop of it, which holds the lids on the device, rises, resembling a hand controlling a puppet.
The original design enabled the full conversion of energy into a complete psychic wave. This setup was designed that the Psychic Dominator will simply release the wave in a very large area, surpassing the psychic beacon and was possibly on par with the psychic amplifier. Yuri created a network of Psychic Dominators scattered across the globe as a reserve plan in the case of the Soviet invasion's failure. However, time travel has significantly altered the design of the device. As Yuri discovered the Allied forces who travelled back in time to stop him, he did not have enough time to complete it according to plan. He kidnapped Albert Einstein and ordered him to help perfect the Psychic Dominator technology. While a rescue team was searching for him, Einstein sabotaged a Psychic Dominator in Egypt, and after he was saved, the device was utilized with lower performance but with balanced side effect.
Once charged up, it would send out a wave of psychic energy that could completely conquer human minds in small area (on par with chronosphere and Iron Curtain ranges). It also unleashed raw psychic power that would deal significant damage to the surrounding buildings, but was harmless to units.
Game building[]
Abilities[]
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Dominate
Cooldown: 10:00
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Effects[]
Aftermath of a Psychic Dominator's activation
In-game, the Psychic Dominator has a seemingly small blast radius, equal to that of the Allied Chronosphere or Soviet Iron Curtain. All units in its AOE are indiscriminately dominated and fall under control of its owner, making them immune to most other sources of Mind Control (barring another enemy Psychic Dominator). The blast radius of the accompanying destructive wave, however, is actually similar to the one of a nuclear missile or a lightning storm (despite the discrepancy with the psychic wave's radius), causing similar carnage.
Like all other psychic units and structures, the Psychic Dominator cannot affect units protected by the Iron Curtain.
Counters[]
As with other superweapons, the Psychic Dominator's weakness was its requirement for large amounts of power. It could be delayed from firing if the base's power was knocked out. Furthermore, the device was extremely expensive, and although heavily armoured, was unarmed save for the massive psychic domination, which was not an effective weapon for direct defense. A spy could also reset the weapon's timer, provided he could penetrate the base.
AI behavior[]
In skirmish, the AI will always build a Psychic Dominator after a Genetic Mutator.
The AI will always target the largest group of enemy units that can be permanently mind controlled with Dominate. Therefore, an effective tactic against the AI would be to send a lot of cheap infantry somewhere away from the main base. The AI would fire at those infantry, sparing the base (as long as they do not use the Genetic mutator instead), and base defenses could then mop them up. In Easy or Medium difficulty, if there are no units built at all, the AI simply will not target the base with the Psychic Dominator's blast.
Deployment[]
Yuri's Dominator on Alcatraz island
| “ | Be one with Yuri... - Yuri's voice that is heard after the Psychic Dominator's activation. |
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A network of multiple Psychic Dominators (and according to the map intro likely a few dozen psychic beacons around the world) were used to conquer the minds of almost everyone on Earth during the Psychic Dominator Disaster.
Below is a list of known Yuri's bases during the Third World War which housed these devices:
- Alcatraz Island, United States (Time Shift and Time Lapse)
- Egypt (Tomb Raided)
- London, England (Brain Wash)
- Antarctica (Brain Dead)
After the war, time travel carried out by Anatoly Cherdenko erased this superweapon from existence. However, the technological cult of the Empire of the Rising Sun had developed a similar weapon - Psionic Decimator. While this lacked the power to mind control enemies, its psychic power could cause significant destruction.
Gallery[]
Early concept art
Final concept art
Model
Psychic Dominator under construction on Alcatraz
Psychic Dominator in Egypt
Psychic Dominator in Egypt
A Psychic Dominator in Antarctica
Installer slide
Deployment animation
Undeployment animation
Active animation
Passive Psychic Dominator in a snow theater
Charged Psychic Dominator in a snow theater
Cameos[]
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Trivia[]
- The Psychic Dominator's original name was Puppet Master, which is seen in some concept art and the game files.
- Unlike other superweapons, there is no EVA announcement when a Psychic Dominator is activated.
See also[]
 Yuri Third World War Arsenal | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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