Gap generator (Red Alert 2)

The gap generator is an Allied radar jamming device in Command & Conquer: Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge, and is similar to the original version developed by Albert Einstein.
==Background==
The gap generator was one of the many genius inventions provided by Einstein that helped the struggling European Allies overcome their Soviet opposition during the Second World War. Its ability to disrupt radar signals and provide "dark sectors" allowed Allied bases to spring up undetected with little fear of surveillance.
With the outbreak of the Third World War, the Allies restored the concept of the gap generator. The device had changed little since its inception: other than its ability to jam radar signals, it was virtually the same as it had always been. It is implied that gap generators produce this jamming signal constantly, as the psychic radar could only uncover its shroud briefly.
In the third iteration of the war, the Allies did not use static gap generators and instead opted to place them in Mirage tanks as a secondary weapon.
==Game building==
The gap generator generates shroud in a radius of 10 tiles around the structure, rendering anything underneath invisible to anyone but the owning player and their allies. While the structure is powered, this shroud is generated constantly, meaning that any passing of a spy plane or an activation of the psychic reveal support power will only show what is underneath for a second before it is covered again. The Spy Satellite Uplink is also jammed. However, once the structure is unpowered or destroyed, the shroud it generated can be uncovered as usual, and is immediately uncovered by the spy satellite.
If enemy units are found in the gap generator's area of effect, they will only see what is in their immediate vicinity. Shroud uncovered in such a way is reset after the unit moves away from its current position, is destroyed, or otherwise leaves the area of effect.
==Trivia==
* The gap generator operates in a similar function to the Nod stealth generator in Tiberian Sun and disruption tower in Tiberium Wars. Both structures had the ability to "cloak" its affiliated bases from enemy radar, although via different approaches (Nod's "stealth" and Allies' "shroud").
* When the player who owns the gap generator has at least 9000 points of power available (total minus drain must be equal to or greater than 9000), the gap generator can "deploy" and use up those 9000 power points. While the released versions of Red Alert 2 and Yuri's Revenge do not associate any new functionality with this in practice, it can be assumed that the development versions were to give gap generators an extended range in exchange for a significantly larger power drain. This is why the gap generator has ExtraPower and the undocumented SuperGapRadiusInCells values in rules(md).ini. The set radius for the deployed gap generator is set to the same value as the undeployed one, likely as a quick way to roll back the functionality before release.
* Unknown if oversight or intended, but Gap Generators can be used to expand bases like regular structures.
** For mappers who want to fix it: the flag is "BaseNormal", with the default value "yes". Developers didn't add BaseNormal=no under [GAGAP] in the main rules file (so it defaults to "yes"), but you can add/override it by setting it in the map file. Same goes for the Psychic Tower [YAPSYT].
==Gallery==
CNCRA2 Gap Generator alpha.png|Alpha appearance
Gap generator in Snow Theater.jpg|In a snow theater
===Cameos===
Alpha icon:
==See also==
* Spy Satellite Uplink
* Psychic radar
Category:Red Alert 2 support structures