First day impressions on tactics:

[nimby]

- Don't spread out your silos too far. You'll want them to be able to cover each other, to prevent mass-nuking from killing off yours silos one by one.

- Silo nukes alone can't overcome a player's defences. I've launched 3-4 silos at europe, and only nuked Manchester and Paris (though nuking Paris made it all worth it!). You've gotta wait for their silo strikes to launch your nukes, or send in more nukes from subs/carriers to swamp the air defenses.

- Sub and bomber nukes are not to be underestimated. You've got a -lot- of nukes in the airfields/carriers that you'll probably ignore at first.

- Ships are -very- slow, so place them carefully! The game is only supposed to play out 8 or so real hours, so don't expect to cross the world in 8 hours. You'll be lucky if you can get your ships around Africa in that time-frame.

- Bomb large cities over and over. Moscow, Cairo, New York, etc all have a ton of people in them. If you hit with 3 nukes, you get like 20 points out of any of those cities!




Ok, so I wrote this up cause the servers are acting up a bit for me (often I find games that are already in progress while they were listed at 1/3). Also, it's 4 AM, and I can't sleep yet. I probably should, but I'm afraid the reds will nuke my house at night

[rowenlemmings]

Also do not underestimate the ability of carriers as mobile radars, due to their fighters.

If you're playing on a slow enough time setting, or have the ability to slow it down, keep fighters going at about half their combat range (their fuel range) around carriers at all times for maximum coverage.

Remember that Airbases regenerate fighters, but carriers do not.

If possible, and if you have naval dominance, consider stringing carriers through the oceans from an airbase of yours to your main attack fleet, then resupplying your main attack fleet with the quick-flying fighters from the airbases (since they restock, unlike any other unit. To do this, of course, you'll need to make several 1-carrier fleets.

If you have a limited campaign area, such as a 1v1 or all your enemies are on one side of you (such as you: North America vs North and South Asia), consider making fleets as follows:

1 Carrier (Anti-Sub at your coastline)
1 Carrier (Anti-Sub at your coastline)
4 Battleships, 2 Carriers (one anti-sub, one fighter)
2 Battleships, 2 Carriers (escorts the larger fleet -- one carrier fighter, one carrier bomber)
3 Subs (close-range to enemy coast)
3 Subs (close-range to enemy coast)

Seperating your subs into two groups allows them to avoid being wiped out by a lucky anti-sub carrier, yet still converge on their target with the same nuclear ability if required of them. It also allows you to attack two seperate areas at once (such as, against South Asia, their East Coast and the coastal areas of India).

Keep the two single-carrier groups patrolling your coastline at all times!

If you're able, keep bombers patrolling your coastlines at all times, also (this of course becomes taxing if the game is played at faster than speed 2.

These last two points should allow you to escape entirely (or at least mostly) unscathed from submarine attacks. Your main problem at this point will be to establish naval dominance. That being said, MICROMANAGE YOUR CARRIERS. You cannot expect to beat any opponent if you let the carriers, and to a lesser degree, fighters, to manage themselves. If you're playing on a slow timer, and you see bombers being launched by a carrier, order the nearest fighter to attack the bomber and send a bomber to hit the carrier. Bombers are deadly things if you let them go unchecked, as only a few hits from one can kill any ship, and their complements of fighters, bombers, and NUKES.

I've yet to be able to use subs as an effective naval unit, but if anyone has, please let me know!

Hope this helps. Anything further, tack on here!

[DataMage]

Im gonna have to disargee with you about the subs.... If someone is not concentrating on them, they can be a very painfull reminder that you need to cover all your flanks. The also serve as a good way to protect your carriers from biting it early on.

[rowenlemmings]

Im gonna have to disargee with you about the subs.... If someone is not concentrating on them, they can be a very painfull reminder that you need to cover all your flanks. The also serve as a good way to protect your carriers from biting it early on.

Meaning as ship to ship combatants, or as nuclear launchpads? If you don't find their subs before they launch, you're screwed, bottom-line. Same deal for them. However, I personally have not been able to use them as effective ship-to-ship weapons. No one will leave groups of battleships unattended by an anti-sub carrier, and a single anti-sub carrier can wipe out an entire sub fleet before any significant damage is done.

I've also never been able to mix subs and other naval units in the same fleet -- it seemed silly to me when I can simply have more fleets. However, again, I can very easily be wrong =).

[TheHappyFriar]

- Ships are -very- slow, so place them carefully! The game is only supposed to play out 8 or so real hours, so don't expect to cross the world in 8 hours. You'll be lucky if you can get your ships around Africa in that time-frame.

if oyu start in africa (like i did) & send your ships to west coast of SA/NA,thye will get there in time to launch all their nukes in the last few minutes of the game.

Odds are by then nobody is thinking ofdefending the middle of the ocean. Worked well for me (just make sure at hte longest range you fire nukes with ~10 minutes or so left).

[Daemondim]

1)Open with fighter Skirmishes in Defcon 3. As soon as you can, start moving fighters and bombers over your enemy territory, either from airbases, or from carriers, so that you can find things to knock down.

2) He who silo nukes first, gets the crap kicked out of him by subs. I almost always put my subs around enemy coasts, where I feel I can pull it off, and wait for an attack from a nuke silo. Then I remove that silo, and anything else I've found through fighter/bomber skirmishes I like to make two, three, or four groups of subs, to allow me versatile positioning.

3) Accompany sub groups with battleships, lead them with them in fact, a group of 2 carriers, four battleships makes for a formidible force, especially if you launch all the fighters and bombers periodically to take care of scouting for ships. Lead those into the enemy coast, and be prepared to move your subs around any engagement you find yourself in.

4) Subs can kill things on the water very well, but wait to use them to attack until after you've shot your load at enemy silos.

5) Bombers make for good cleanup. Don't underestimate the late game bomber sweeps, once most of your enemies silos are gone, only the fighters in their airbases remain for defense against bombers.

6) It's ok to start the game down a bit, so long as you don't drop below -10/20. Much farther than that is very difficult to return from. It's always preferable though, to wait until you have a clear picture of the board before launching nukes and finding your attacks defended against easily.

You'll note I focus on Silo Removal a lot. I find I get a lot of points post destruction of defenses. Once those pesky silos are gone, everything's AOK. Keep in mind though, your enemy will likely want to remove your silos in the same way. Fighter sweeps over your own continent to defend against attack bombers, a couple groups of carriers on defensive to sweep your coastline for subs, be vigilant, and don't forget, Subs are a very powerful, very mobile, very agressive tool in this game. Use your subs, once they're spent, to hunt down enemy subs and fleets.

That's my thoughts at the moment, anyone got any counterpoints/counterstrategies?

[Solo22031]

the strategy that works for me is sit tight until all their nukes are gone
then go trigger happy
and also using subs and bombers out the ass. those work too
saving silos for the last.
and when you do use silos
use all them in masses.
thats my .0076 cents.

[MrBunsy]

Hello Nimby! I'm pretty sure we played last night at some point.

I definatly agree on not underestimating your subs and bombers, and after several games I have devised the tatics I hope to use next game, where I leave all my silos in defense, and when I see 'launch detected' I will send a few bombers / and or subs to take out the silo, leaveing them with potentially less defense.

rowenlemmings, I like the sound of that idea... When I next play a 'slow' game, mind if I nick it?

[rowenlemmings]

rowenlemmings, I like the sound of that idea... When I next play a 'slow' game, mind if I nick it?

Only if you pay me $0.15USD a game.

[Soldant]

Biggest thing I've found out is that the quickest and easiest way to cripple an enemy is to eliminate vulnerable radar sites. It totally screws over their early warning system, and if the silos can't react quick enough to an incoming hit, it doesn't matter if they hit the incoming missile; chances are they won't have the time to land enough of them to wipe the missile out. People leave radar sites in incredibly easy to strike locations (I know I do at times) that are just begging to be hit by subs. With perimeter radar eliminated (it only takes one nuke to take out a radar site) they are reliant entirely on radar further inland, with no ability, or at least limited ability, to plan attacks or to prioritise targets for the silos (to stop them taking on aircraft and focus on nukes).

In the last game I played Asia was decimated within the first minute of DEFCON1 because all of their radar sites were crushed except for the ones directly within the most populated areas where silos lay. They had no ability to determine my silo locations until later when I fired off all my nukes, but by that time they had lost so much of their radar coverage they couldn't respond to a lot of my strikes and ended up taking even heavier losses.

As for naval combat with subs: I've found it to be incredibly useful. Everyone I've come up against so far in open sea warfare has had their carriers set to deploy fighters or bombers. I just take a fleet of subs and pick off the enemy battleships and carriers, leaving them stranded while by fleet powers on ahead. Usually there are too many shots flying around for the enemy to really notice the subs, though occasionally somebody will put 2 and 2 together or be smart and have a carrier on anti-sub patrol.

I never new that airbases regen'd fighters! I'll have to keep that in mind!

Also another important aspect is psychology. Paranoia really is your friend. I recently capitalised on a request to backstab Europe by going through with it right up until the last minute, where I fired away on the enemy alliance right when I was supposed to nuke Europe and join their alliance. Since the enemy was firing away with everything at the time, there wasn't much they could do.

[rowenlemmings]

aye, I'd like to put in a request right now that anything that happens in-game, STAYS in-game.

If I backstab you at the last moment when we are coordinating a strike such as that outlined above, it's not because I dislike you, or anything else, you simply have population for me to wipe out in order for me to gain points. I'm just as likely to side with you 'till the end next game (assuming I'm winning, of course).

I'll do anything for a win, but if I know I'm not gonna win, I'll support the people who've been nice to me that game. That being said, if I think betraying my alliance will bump me up to 1st, I'll do that, too.

[Brutopia]

Couple of points I'd like to add:

- Place a couple of radars well inside your borders, in spots where they support you silos in defence mode. A silo cannot shoot down a nuke before it sees it. The range of the silo SAMs exceeds their detection range - a supported silo can easily get 6-8 shots off at an incoming nuke. 2-3 silos with a single radar on the most likely path of incoming nukes will only let through roughly 15% of the missiles, even with quite a thick salvo coming in.

- Conversely, taking out a key radar post can reduce enemy defences considerably.

- When in an alliance, the guy who takes out the enemy defences with a brilliantly coordinated bomber offensive is doing a good job. Unfortunately, his ally, who exploits this opportunity to slaughter 30 million civilians, gets the points. When taking out defences, always have at least 2-3 extra bombers in the mix just to score the first hits on the big cities.

- Remember, the first nuke into a city is always the best, usually taking out 40-50% of the population, and therefore, 40-50% of the points available from that city. Usually, you'll need 2-4 more nukes to actually reduce the city to zero after the first hit. Therefore, you're getting less points for your megatons.

Dismissed.

[nimby]

It's possible to reduce a city to 0 population (I did it to Mexico during the victory timer and found out I forgot about some airfield nukes). However, when a city drops below 2 million population it's not really worth nuking, unless you don't have anything else to kill.



If you finished off someone's defences, be sure to finish their cities! Every city of 2 million pop is worth a point when nuked, don't let your other enemies get that point!

[Fidel]

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