To: Beijing HQ Re: Disappointing missile performance

[Yonder]

The arcs do not represent altitude.

At high (and low, although there were few targets in the Southern Hemisphere during the cold war, so few nukes were pointed there, especially the tips) ICBMs would follow those paths because a straight line on a globe is a curved line on a 2d representation of a globe. Going directly north over the north pole from the US to Russia is the shortest path, and on a map it looks like it arcs upward.

Now when people think of nukes launching they think of those arc shapes, which remind us of wargames and are aesthitically pleasing, which is why the nukes in Defcon (probably) follow such a path. However closer to the equator there would be a much smaller arc, and in the southern hemisphere the arc would curve downward, as has been said.

[DremoraLord]

Couldn't they just make a rule that silos which belong to a country that a nuke is not aiming at cant shoot it down. After all you'd want to let it through if it was going to damage your enemies

[Imitation]

I think it helps that it causes paranoia in your enemies. You can never truly be sure 100% if they are aiming for you or for your neigbour. The paranoia is a real part of the game.. the uncertainty. Because at the point that you notice the nukes you can then retaliate and well.. that's nuclear war for you isn't it.