How long to wait during defcon 1 to fire nukes

[Yonder]

Of course it makes a huge difference to know what you're hitting, but a strategy that has yet to fail me is to launch every single nuke you have as simultaneously as possible, with as many distractions (fighters & bombers) as possible.

Just go for their cities (unless you can take out some radars and silos ahead of time) -- if you fire enough shit at once, there will be too much stuff for them to shoot it all down.


Drawbacks: it leaves you vulnerable for a rather large period of time, you only get one chance.

Benefits: they can't stop it, period.

This only works with a limited number of enemies, 1v1 or 2v2. In larger games you don't have enough nukes to go around unless you focus on only 1 or 2 of the enemy. And in a game without set aliiances you have the whole different problem of needing something in reserve to persuade people not to turn on you for a juicy target.

[Necromagus]

It really depends. Sometimes I manage to sneak in a fleet of two or three subs near a major city like Moscow or London. If that's the case, I'll usually have them blow their load immediately and cross my fingers. Other than that, I've found that patience really pays off. In a Europe vs. Africa game I once managed to overtake an opponent who had built up a 60 point lead simply because he had exposed his silos immediately, allowing me to pick them off one by one before reducing his cities to dust.

[fryguy]

I had to abandon 1v1 AI because it just got too easy.

1) Don't bother with scouting as your planes will just get shot down.
2) Position your subs so that they have decent coverage of the enemy's continent
3) At DEFCON 1, launch a few land or sea based bomber nukes just to get the AI's attention. The AI will eventually unleash a silo barrage.
4) Target 3-4 sub and/or bomber nukes on each silo (now in ICBM mode)
5) After enemy silos are toast, you can expend the rest of your nukes at leisure

You'll lose a few cities during the AI's first strike, but will win big in the end. Fortunately for continued gameplay, this strategy doesn't work so well 1vMany.

[Taldier]

I never launch my silos until I have destroyed all incoming nukes. This means that sometimes not all my ICBMs hit before the game ends but I find that it doesn't matter. I've found that the bombers and subs are easily capable of completely annihilating 2 or 3 other players while they are defenseless firing ICBMs. This also means that I take almost no casulties, which in my opinion is winning a nuclear war.

[Ruges]

Depends on how the server options are set. which country you are and which country you want to attack.

[Feelgoode]

A tactic I have used and seen used is the massive early launch. This works very well if your opponnet(s) are adjancent to your own territory. As soon as DEFCON1 signals launch your bombers, wait about 30 seconds (real time) and then start you subs off immediately followed by all your silos. As soon as the bombers are away launch fighters NOT to full range as you will need them later but they distract anti-air. If your fleets are close to sure get the carriers to launch too. Target any silos with at least 4 nukes and any airfields with 1 or 2, the ones you can see.

The overwhelming fire power means lots of hits and every time a silo is hit at least some of it's nukes are destroyed you don't have to knock them out. You can sometimes also get a second wave of bombers out too.

As soon as your silos finish launching they go back to anti-air usually just in time to hit the retaliation strike (sometimes they do miss the first few nukes).

It's then hunker down time as any remining silos and bombers come at you. With anti-air and fighters hardly any of the reduced attack gets through. The only time this has been a close run thing is if you don't spot any enemy subs as 60 SLBMs can hurt you.