Effective Silo Launches

[Disco Duck]

If you don't want an advantage go ahead and ignore it. On the other hand, if you want to launch your silos more effectively than the next guy... you should probably pay attention:-)

[Masaq]

While I've tested (against the CPU only, admittedly) your tactic and found it to be pretty precise and neat, I have to agree with the other players who say that it's actually of little strategic or tactical value for me.

I can't talk for others on the forum, but here's why I won't switch my launching patterns, in a kinda haphazard way.

Firstly, I play mostly 3+ player games, usually 6 player ones. This is important because it changes the dynamics of the game quite heavily- 1v1, your opponent knows where silo attacks will stem from, and can arrange accordingly. In a 1v1 game, punching through air defences can be very important if your enemy has kept your fleet and bombers at bay and so you haven't been able to properly recon their territory or take down their defences individually.

Now, in a 6 player game I tend not to launch my silos in order to punch through defences. I may, if the situation calls for it, but usually I rarely have to do it.

Quite simply, if by the time I get to launching silos either my my or another player's bombers and subs haven't already taken down defences of the player I'm going to be launching at, then I probably won't be launching at them. Likewise, if there's a few scattered silos between me and the targets (say, I'm SA and firing at Asia- if EU and Africa have the odd silo left) then I probably won't be launching at them. Instead, I'll go for targets closer to home even if they may not be as profitable, just so it lowers the number of nukes I'm loosing.

If I am launching silos earlier in the game, I'll usually be attacking because one of three things has happened:

1) My bombers and subs have stripped the defences almost completely from 1 or 2 other players
2) The target is launching at ANOTHER player (not me!)
3) The target's main cities are currently under attack, allowing me space and time to hit the minor cities for cheap and easy points whilst the SAM sites are distracted by the main onslaught.


Although I tend to group launch as I find firing on a rotating basis doesn't pay off, I'll generally target in a scattered formation over a target in order to hit as many of the 2-5 million population cities. In this case, hitting the city with 6 nukes is pretty pointless- the last 4 won't even net me a point. Assigning two at most is more economical, and your method doesn't allow me to place 6-12 nukes on 6-12 cities simultaniously. Instead, fairly careful timing will allow me to come pretty close- and if I'm attacking a defenseless player, or one already being attacked, it doesn't matter too much if they're coming in a bit sloppily.

[Ace Rimmer]

Perhaps the best way to resolve this is by playing Defcon against Disco Duck.

[Feud]

Perhaps the best way to resolve this is by playing Defcon against Disco Duck.

Pish posh, that type of thinking will never solve anything. What we need is for each side to put forward one contender, and resolve the matter with a good old fasion game of bloody knuckels.

[Masaq]

Oooh, can't we use swords?!

[KingAl]

I cringe with overly long posts. I attempted to read it, but my tendency to avoid all things wordy took over. Sorry.

The vicious world of internet memetics has forged a term for this purpose.

[Disco Duck]

I tried to edit the original post to leave just the stuff on silos but it is too late and won't let me edit. I should have made my first post somewhere else and written the silo thing, sorry for the length:-)

I was never saying "this is how to win the game with silos", I only meant what the title says "this is how to launch silos effectively". I was just trying to add to the running strategy guide element of the forum.

The key is still combinig the silo launch with missiles from another source (bombers or subs) to initially overwhelm the defenses. Especially when attacking their silos, this is the key, because initially overwhelming them is all you need since they won't exist to be a concern after that. The last waves from the silos only all land and wipe out everything. This is, of course, when you are going to use your silos. Like everyone else, I often attack with only bombers, subs, or bombers and subs.

I really see almost nobody following the "Peeling the Onion" part of the advice, which is really important to effectively attacking silos. Shooting missiles over enemy silos to hit other enemy silos behind them really is a waste and a very inefficient way of attacking them.

Oh, and I've started placing my two triangular patterns of silos a certain way now. Now I am placing them so that 4 of the silos (the "back end" of the triangles) are in a line across the path than I expect most missiles to approach from. This "line" formation is pretty formidable when it "catches" enemy missiles from the right direction (which is pretty predictable in most places). I am finding the triangles poweful both offensively and defensively setting them up like this.

[KingAl]

I tried to edit the OP but I can't anymore. I should have focused on silos and posted the other stuff elsewhere, so sorry for the length Also, I was only trying to show one way of effectively using silos, not claiming this is the only way.

The key is combining forces: overwhelming the enemy with subs and bombers and then using Silos as a last wave to wipe everything out. Attack the closest silos first - otherwise you've just exposed your nukes to more fire.

I've started placing silos in triangles so that they point in the direction I think enemy nukes will follow. This is effective both offensively and defensively, particularly when nukes come from the expected direction.

Abbreviat'd.

EDIT: Also, you shouldn't in my experience be prevented from editing your original post. Try this:

[Smiling Buddha]

He probably wasn't signed in.

Or summat.

[Clee-Saan]

I tried your tactic in a 1vs1vs1 bot match, that just rocks. I was playing russia against europe and africa. I used 5 nukes waves to destriy EU's silos, and then i killed the civilians with subs and bombers.

I then used the 5 remaining nukes waves to destroy africa's silos, and again i killed the civilians with subs and silos.

That just works realy well.

[torig]

I tried your tactic in a 1vs1vs1 bot match, that just rocks. I was playing russia against europe and africa. I used 5 nukes waves to destriy EU's silos, and then i killed the civilians with subs and bombers.

I then used the 5 remaining nukes waves to destroy africa's silos, and again i killed the civilians with subs and silos.

That just works realy well.

I imagined it would. The thought of launching in volleys like that had come to me long ago, but I never bothered trying it out.
To take it a step further, if you opened up all your silos without launching and waited for them to be fully ready, you could make ALL launches occur even closer to eachother.
Arguably, by the time the last is ready, the first ones would be smoking already.

Consider what you do with bombers. Or perhaps it's not widely spread, but I tend to do it.
As soon as defcon 3 hits, I switch all but 2 carriers and 1 airfield on bombers (rarely all, but it happens). When the counter is ready, I start a massive bomber run. But not before.

[Disco Duck]

To take it a step further, if you opened up all your silos without launching and waited for them to be fully ready, you could make ALL launches occur even closer to eachother.
Arguably, by the time the last is ready, the first ones would be smoking already.

Actually that won't make a difference. The 120 second timer is there whether you start targeting right away or wait for it to expire. The only really important point on synchronizing them like that is that you target each silo, one at a time, for the first "target package". After that you have 120 seconds to get the next targeted in order to retain the same timing of the first launch. All successive launches have the identical timing as the first because of the 120 second delay.

I didn't mention this in the original post because it would have made things more complex to explain, and thus more wordy, but you only really have to target the first "target package" one silo at a time. What I actually do when I do it is setup the first target package one at a time, and then as I go back through each silo for a second time I set up the next 5 shots for each silo, targeting each shot from each silo that is a part of the same target package on the same target. For example, if targeting silos you would target each silo, one at a time, on the enemy silo closest to your launchers. But then on the second pass through each silo you would target the 2nd closest, 3rd closest, 4th closest, etc, target until all 6 enemy silos are targeted, and then move on to the next silo. The counter on the targeting icon helps you do this, the closest silo is "target package #10" and the first missile launched from each silo is the #10 missile (i.e. "target package #10"). Missile #9 from each silo hits the second closest enemy silo, then #8 from each hits the third, etc. So you don't actually have to cycle through all 6 silos 10 times, because the timing of the first shot will be repeated by all successive shots as long as you target all of the second shots before the first missiles launch.

[Ace Rimmer]

Seeing as I have only read the very last post in the thread, does this thread and the video (YouTube or Tiny Pic) in it have any bearing on what's being discussed?

[Disco Duck]

Seeing as I have only read the very last post in the thread, does this thread and the video (YouTube or Tiny Pic) in it have any bearing on what's being discussed?

Not really. The first post is only about 1 page long and explains it pretty well. All we are discussing is a particularly effective way of launching silos, especially when attacking enemy silos.

[hi there (name sux)]

I need help syncing my launches. Can someone explain the "by the book" way to do it. I can do it sometimes but I don't have a standard way of doing it every time, consistently.