South America: Mexican Standoff
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Thesis:
I actually had this manuver performed against me by the AI, and I thought it was a viable tactic. Haven't actually tested it sucessfully yet, but it's a concept worth writing about.
Most of the high population cities are crammed around Mexico for the South American continent, with a few placed in the southern reaches. Normally one would think this has the european dillemma: small space and not enough land room to cram all in what's needed. However...
When it boils down to a nuclear exchange between North America and South America, one interesting setup to defend your land territories there while nuking your opposition can be setup like so;
The deal here is for your submarines to nuke what silos there are defending N.A. When operating in groups of at least three, an ideal task is to designate one silo as the first target of all three submarines, and repeat for the next target (optimally one cluster of submarines/bombers per silo). This way, the enemy silos are overloaded with short-range nuclear missiles and take damage and/or destroyed, leaving the rest of the cities open for ICBM/returned bomber attack.
It also makes airspace over the continental U.S. a hazard- as mexican missile platforms can hit most airbases situated in the United States.
counters:
The NORAD player has several oppertunities to break this.
1. Gulf of mexico counter:
Not pictured in the illustration is the rest of the S.A. fleet. If this is defeated in the African-European conflicts in the ocean (or by the U.S. forces on the east coast) then it's possible to route bombers around the defense net and attack the submarines from behind. The only problem with this is that bombers have to cross the mainland in order to combat the submarines- which means enemy defenses. Still, if S.America is being attacked by Africa, then the chances are good that the enemy will be distracted by African bombers.
2. Pacific retaliation:
Unless the S.American player does not divide his force, it's also possible to take the long way around and divert your forces south. The Pacific is a VERY large place to loose fleets, and a wise American player may deploy a force far to the west to come down and around behind the S.American forces without encountering thier screen.
3. Offensive SSBNs.
Unless the S.American forces have a carrier on ASW operations, several submarines could sneak into that general area and attack the S.American SSBNs when they surface to fire. This also means potentially sacrificing these submarines, unless you give your opponent more to worry about by overloading his defenses with parimeter attacks from battleships and fighters/bombers.
