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Due to expert skills in field repairs, Russians have self-repairing vehicles, as well as chemical weapons that can cut through armor.
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All factions have basically the same main forces, tanks and helicopters, but have special skills as well. With only one resource, you can focus attention on building up your base and units. The base progression is so fast, in fact, that you'll often crush an enemy base only to discover that he's already built a new one two sites away, which can be frustrating. Your base is limited by access to the technical tree, similar to Heroes of Might and Magic, and building more units and buildings creates additional opportunities.
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Building a solid base is fairly rapid, as you surround it with gun batteries for protection - something the enemy is also doing. The process of locating oil to sell to finance your campaign is done automatically prior to building forces and buildings, thus you're not required to find, gather, store and refine it. Your first confrontation playing as the U. Although this somewhat restrictive feature may annoy some gamers, the linearity doesn't significantly hurt gameplay. In single player action, you must first win the United States campaign before you can play as Iraq, and eventually Russia. The game features a single player campaign, multiplayer action, and a computer opponent skirmish mode, with only minor differences in actual gameplay. NATO members, reacting to the threat to security and wealth, send their own armies to stop the Russians. A former Communist general from the days before Russia's breakup decides to amass an army to take over the oil fields and return the Motherland to its former glory. The Arab Federation halts the flow of oil, causing panic among world powers as they search for alternate energy sources. As a change of pace from the glut of science fiction and fantasy RTS titles, World War III: Black Gold offers a real-world strategy experience with realism ranging from the appearance of soldiers and vehicles to their gritty actions.
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