The Paradox

In Red Alert, a peculiar phenomenon known as a ‘Paradox’, ‘Time Quake’ or ‘Vortex’ occurs from time to time when one of the players makes ‘excessive’ use of the Chronosphere.

“The Chronosphere: An evolution of the Philadelphia Experiment, the Chronosphere allows the Allied Forces player to move a unit from one location to another without having to travel through the space between them. However, the unit will only exist at its new emplacement for a short time before returning to its point of origin. This technology is still unstable. Constant use, or use on certain units, could create unusual and undesirable effects.”


Here is the information about the Paradox contained in the rules.ini file:

; Chrono side effects
QuakeChance=20% ; percentage chance of a time quake occurring with each use of chronoshift
QuakeDamage=33% ; percentage of damage inflicted when a time quake occurs
VortexChance=20% ; percentage chance of a chronal vortex occurring with each use of ChronoShift
VortexDamage=200 ; damage inflicted by vortex discharge
VortexRange=10 ; scans for victims up to this distance away [in cells]
VortexSpeed=10 ; speed at which the vortex moves

Amongst other things, we learn that the Paradox has a 20 per cent chance of appearing each time the Chronosphere is used.

Here is a short animation of the Vortex emerging from a crate: