I remember old discussions years back about when RA1 took place and recently I found a transcript archive of a Q&A that took place in 06 Feb 1996 which was really early in RA1's development and had some interesting information. Well It may not be much but I always wanted a specified date of the war unless I missed some information somewhere. XD
VENOM: what's the story behind RA and in what time and technology level will it be on ?
WSAdam: Okay -- Here's the scoop: World War II never happened the way that we think of it. Hitler never came to power, and there was no WWII... for a while. We're spinning European history in a new direction, with Joseph Stalin and the USSR coming to power as the big heavy in the game. The player can play the Allies or the USSR as they strive for conquest of Europe. The technology ranges from 1940's to 1980's, but that doesn't mean that you're going to be commanding Pintos! We've also spun the technology up a bit, so there's plenty of cool stuff for you to use.. like attack dogs!
Rambo: what will RA's story line be about?
WSAdam: RA is an alternate time line that takes place in the 70's. WWII in Europe happened in another way, where Stalin and the USSR became the big heavy that threatened Europe.
Also some neat early ideas at the time
kane: how will you earn your money to make units? Tiberium?
WSAdam: Ahh- this is somethingwe changed. Since Tiberium isn't around yet, the player has ore to mine (on the board, not in mines) to get money -- there are three types of ore, so which one you go after will determine how much money you get per load. Sure, you can go after the copper, but that Iron deposit is worth more, but closer to the opponent - - it adds a strategic advantage to what you collect.
WSAdam: there are three ores, Copper, Nickel, and Iron. Each is worth a different amount of $$ per scoop for your ore collector. We've kept the metaphor of harvesting, but now you've got a dump-truck like unit with a scooper, and an Ore Processor.
WSAdam: Side note -- we considered power lines, but they were problematic for the computer and made the game a lot more of a sim than we want it to be.
They were found here: http://www.tibcom.com/wchat/transcripts/