| Unit | Quotes | Gallery | Changelog |
| “ | Burn, baby, BURN!! | ” |
| —Arsonist |
The Arsonist is an infiltration unit deployed by the Latin Confederation who specialize in infiltrating enemy facilities and burning all of its structures to ash.
Official description[]
Somewhere between the wicked Crazy Ivans and the careful Saboteurs are the Arsonists, the Latin Confederation's masters of silent and unexpected building demolition. Capable of wearing a disguise just like the Saboteur or the Allied Spy, the Arsonists can get past enemy defenses and forces which are unable to see through the trickery and set enemy units or buildings on fire. This fire is especially useful for causing havoc in bases which are not protected well enough as it is guaranteed to take down at least a building or two if planted successfully. The Arsonist will not lose his disguise while setting things on fire, however an Engineer might be able to get rid of the napalm charge before it is set off.[1]
Overview[]
Arsonists are something of a combination of between the concept of the Crazy Ivan and the Saboteur; boasting the fearsome damage output of the former and the low profile of the latter, Arsonists are quite effective at exploiting an incomplete security setup to the maximum. They are also immune to the flame damage of their own napalm charges, or any other incendiary weapons for that matter, which give them an edge in combat against such enemies. The heavy armor they are equipped with also makes them impossible to crush, even beneath tank treads. Larger vehicles, however, could still manage it.
Like all infiltration units (barring the Revolt's Clairvoyants and Scorpion Cell Hijackers), however, they could be exposed and killed like any other man. Such units who are capable of rooting Arsonists out - especially the agile and fast Attack Dogs - should be avoided, especially when deep within enemy lines and without support. The Arsonist's charges can also be defused by an Engineer, should one arrive on-scene in time. Arsonists are additionally immune to any effects that modified their combat ability, which is a double-edged sword: while they could not be impaired by debuffs, their firepower was also unable to be affected by friendly buffs too.
AI behavior[]
Arsonists controlled by the AI have the following attack patterns:
Medium/Hard[]
- 1x targeting power plants, production structures or garrisonable structures
Hard[]
- 1x targeting offensive superweapons (including Fake Psychic Dominator) or Plasmerizer
Appearances[]
| “ | Use the Arsonist to sneak into the enemy base and set their buildings on fire. | ” |
| —Soviet intel during Operation: Thread of Dread |
Cooperative[]
- First batches of Arsonists appear in Mind Over Matter, the Soviet General will send Arsonists to destroy Psychic Beacon.
Act Two[]
- Arsonists become trainable in Thread of Dread.
- In Meltdown, the Russian forces which integrated Latin Confederation's arsenal are available to train Arsonists, requires Radar Dish.
Assessment[]
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
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Behind the scenes[]
- The Arsonist replaces the Hijacker which belongs to the Confederation in 3.0.
- The Arsonist's original SHP sprite is a public asset and can be used by other modders. The link can be found here (note: found in Lao Tze's RA2 Units Pack Ver 25 and possibly older); named as Saboteur, and file name is sabo.shp.
