Tsar's IGU

In-depth tactical discussion on how to lose the least

Moderator: Defcon moderators

Tsar Bomba
level1
level1
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:12 am

Tsar's IGU

Postby Tsar Bomba » Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:21 am

For distance measurements I use my own in game measurement (IGU). That IGU is simply 1/2 the total distance a fighter can fly. I know some people use the grid mod, but I don’t like it for calculating large distances – especially when I just need a rough estimate. Using the IGU we can calculate how long it takes individual units to travel one IGU:

Fighter: 3.75 min/IGU
Nuke: 3.83 min/IGU
Bomber: 7.5 min/IGU
Ship: 12.5 min/IGU
Sub: 19 min/IGU

From this data we can calculate IGU/hour:

Fighter: 16
Nuke: 15.67
Bomber: 8
Ship: 4.8
Sub: 3.15

This data can be used to determine approximate placements of your opponent’s ships. Imagine a game of EU vs Russia. The shortest distance for EU to send its subs to India (for an attack on Russia) is approximately 8 IGUs. 8 IGU / [3.15 IGU/hour] = 2.53 hours. No need to send bombers until the game has progressed 2 hours and 30 minutes. When should you send bombers? If your bombers are 3 IGUs away from India you need to send them 23 minutes before you want them to arrive. To complete this thought, the soonest EU could surface subs in India is at the 2:30 mark - to have your bombers circling India at that time you need to send them at 2:07 mark.

Similarly you can calculate the approximate position of the enemies traveling flotilla based on the elapsed time: been one hour and still haven’t seen Africa’s fleet? Maybe they are under Australia…

The following is the ratio between the speeds of different units:

Fighter to Nuke: 1:1 or 49:50 (in other words slightly slower than nukes)
Fighter to Bomber: 2:1
Fighter to Ship: 10:3
Fighter to Sub: 5:1

Bomber to Fighter: 1:2
Bomber to Nuke: 1:2 or 51:100 (slightly faster than 1/2 speed)
Bomber to Ship: 5:3
Bomber to Sub: 4:1

Nuke to Fighter: 1:1 or 50:49
Nuke to Bomber: 1:2
Nuke to Ship: 10:3
Nuke to Sub: 5:1

Ship to Fighter: 3:10
Ship to Bomber: 3:5
Ship to Nuke: 3:10
Ship to Sub: 3:2

Sub to Fighter: 1:5
Sub to Bomber: 1:4
Sub to Nuke: 1:5
Sub to Ship 2:3

nb Silos nukes in the northern hemisphere travel a little faster depending on location. Speeds and ratios of nukes are mostly accurate out to 3 IGUs, but this is information is more useful for bomber and sub nukes.

These ratios are vital for interception times and naval nuking (nuke to ship interception). A simple example would be nuking a bomber that is retreating directly away form your bomber: Because nukes travel twice as fast as bombers fly, you measure the distance between your bomber and the enemy, add that distance again and fire your nuke along the line that the enemy bomber is flying. If you mark the position of the enemy bomber, your launch point, and the intercept point, you will notice that the nuke traveled two lengths and the bomber only one. This principle holds with every nuke vs bomber scenario. Imagine that the bomber is closing on your nuke instead of retreating from it. Where do you aim? Halfway between the bomber and the nuke? NO! You would aim 2/3 of the way between the bomber and the nuke – nuke travels two distances while the bomber travels one! It is a little trickier when the bomber isn’t directly retreating from or directly closing on your nuke. If for example your bombers are flying parallel to one another, you would need to find the spot on the enemy bombers flight path that allows your nuke to travel two distances to the bombers one – I use the orders tab and drag the nuke retical in front of the bomber until the nuke line looks twice as long as the distance from the enemy bomber to the intercept point. Hint: An 8 inch steel ruler with a cork back is very useful for determining flight paths and comparing distances (just make sure you don’t zoom when comparing distances).

Nuking ships uses a similar method – in this case the nuke travels 10 units to every three that the ship travels. So the distance the ship travels should be about 1/3 the distance the nuke travels. Same with subs but the nuke needs to travel 5 units to your opponents one. I refer to this as Rule 235. Nuke travels 2 distances for bombers, 3 for ships, and 5 for subs.


If anyone has questions on this I’ll be happy to post some pics.

Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Image
Last edited by Tsar Bomba on Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:22 pm, edited 2 times in total.
User avatar
cza
level4
level4
Posts: 640
Joined: Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:31 am
Location: The Void

Postby cza » Fri Mar 02, 2012 8:24 am

Shhhhh!
User avatar
Forever Young
level5
level5
Posts: 1440
Joined: Tue Dec 16, 2008 9:48 pm
Location: Black Forest Germany GMT+1

Postby Forever Young » Fri Mar 02, 2012 5:37 pm

:shock: i am shocked! :)
it seems to complicated to me. i always try to play after emotionals or feelings.
but i am very interested on your blind nuking method! :)
User avatar
Mrmot
level4
level4
Posts: 900
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:56 pm
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Re: Tsar's IGU

Postby Mrmot » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:01 pm

Tsar Bomba wrote:For distance measurements I use my own in game measurement (IGU). That IGU is simply 1/2 the total distance a fighter can fly. I know some people use the grid mod, but I don’t like it for calculating large distances – especially when I just need a rough estimate. Using the IGU we can calculate how long it takes individual units to travel one IGU:

Fighter: 3.75 min/IGU
Nuke: 3.83 min/IGU
Bomber: 7.5 min/IGU
Ship: 12.5 min/IGU
Sub: 19 min/IGU

From this data we can calculate IGU/hour:

Fighter: 16
Nuke: 15.67
Bomber: 8
Ship: 4.8
Sub: 3.15

This data can be used to determine approximate placements of your opponent’s ships. Imagine a game of EU vs Russia. The shortest distance for EU to send its subs to India (for an attack on Russia) is approximately 8 IGUs. 8 IGU / [3.15 IGU/hour] = 2.53 hours. No need to send bombers until the game has progressed 2 hours and 30 minutes. When should you send bombers? If your bombers are 3 IGUs away from India you need to send them 23 minutes before you want them to arrive. To complete this thought, the soonest EU could surface subs in India is at the 2:30 mark - to have your bombers circling India at that time you need to send them at 2:07 mark.

Similarly you can calculate the approximate position of the enemies traveling flotilla based on the elapsed time: been one hour and still haven’t seen Africa’s fleet? Maybe they are under Australia…

The following is the ratio between the speeds of different units:

Fighter to Nuke: 1:1 or 49:50 (in other words slightly slower than nukes)
Fighter to Bomber: 2:1
Fighter to Ship: 10:3
Fighter to Sub: 5:1

Bomber to Fighter: 1:2
Bomber to Nuke: 1:2 or 51:100 (slightly faster than 1/2 speed)
Bomber to Ship: 5:3
Bomber to Sub: 4:1

Nuke to Fighter: 1:1 or 50:49
Nuke to Bomber: 1:2
Nuke to Ship: 10:3
Nuke to Sub: 5:1

Ship to Fighter: 3:10
Ship to Bomber: 3:5
Ship to Nuke: 3:10
Ship to Sub: 3:2

Sub to Fighter: 1:5
Sub to Bomber: 1:4
Sub to Nuke: 1:5
Sub to Ship 2:3

nb Silos nukes in the northern hemisphere travel a little faster depending on location. Speeds and ratios of nukes are mostly accurate out to 3 IGUs, but this is information is more useful for bomber and sub nukes.

These ratios are vital for interception times and naval nuking (nuke to ship interception). A simple example would be nuking a bomber that is retreating directly away form your bomber: Because nukes travel twice as fast as bombers fly, you measure the distance between your bomber and the enemy, add that distance again and fire your nuke along the line that the enemy bomber is flying. If you mark the position of the enemy bomber, your launch point, and the intercept point, you will notice that the nuke traveled two lengths and the bomber only one. This principle holds with every nuke vs bomber scenario. Imagine that the bomber is closing on your nuke instead of retreating from it. Where do you aim? Halfway between the bomber and the nuke? NO! You would aim 2/3 of the way between the bomber and the nuke – nuke travels two distances while the bomber travels one! It is a little trickier when the bomber isn’t directly retreating from or directly closing on your nuke. If for example your bombers are flying parallel to one another, you would need to find the spot on the enemy bombers flight path that allows your nuke to travel two distances to the bombers one – I use the orders tab and drag the nuke retical in front of the bomber until the nuke line looks twice as long as the distance from the enemy bomber to the intercept point. Hint: An 8 inch steel ruler with a cork back is very useful for determining flight paths and comparing distances (just make sure you don’t zoom when comparing distances).

Nuking ships uses a similar method – in this case the nuke travels 10 units to every three that the ship travels. So the distance the ship travels should be about 1/3 the distance the nuke travels. Same with subs but the nuke needs to travel 5 units to your opponents one. I refer to this as Rule 235. Nuke travels 2 distances for bombers, 3 for ships, and 5 for subs.


If anyone has questions on this I’ll be happy to post some pics.


Yeah, we would like to see pictures.
User avatar
tllotpfkamvpe
level5
level5
Posts: 1698
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:04 am

Postby tllotpfkamvpe » Fri Mar 02, 2012 6:06 pm

.
Last edited by tllotpfkamvpe on Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Mrmot
level4
level4
Posts: 900
Joined: Sat Feb 14, 2004 3:56 pm
Location: Bosnia and Herzegovina

Postby Mrmot » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:25 pm

Tsar, mvpe,tnx for opening my eyes!

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Made some tests and was laughing after applied your suggestions.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
User avatar
Ace Rimmer
level5
level5
Posts: 10803
Joined: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:46 pm
Location: The Multiverse

Postby Ace Rimmer » Fri Mar 02, 2012 7:29 pm

Surely you already knew some of this? The most obvious is the nuke to bomber speed.
Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast...
User avatar
trickser
level5
level5
Posts: 1826
Joined: Thu Mar 06, 2008 2:15 pm
Location: The Senate ; GMT+1
Contact:

Postby trickser » Fri Mar 02, 2012 9:40 pm

Code: Select all

   ---
  /   \
 /     v
>          <

mvpe shows a good example how to take advantage of NukeSpeed = 2x BomberSpeed

However in an actual game, when you have to stop bombers approaching you, use Senators 1/3-2/3 rule. :)
Tsar Bomba
level1
level1
Posts: 31
Joined: Fri Aug 15, 2008 8:12 am

Re: Tsar's IGU

Postby Tsar Bomba » Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:24 pm

Mrmot wrote:
Yeah, we would like to see pictures.


added
User avatar
tllotpfkamvpe
level5
level5
Posts: 1698
Joined: Fri Aug 31, 2007 12:04 am

Postby tllotpfkamvpe » Fri Mar 02, 2012 10:35 pm

.
Last edited by tllotpfkamvpe on Fri Feb 24, 2023 6:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Nukraine
level2
level2
Posts: 119
Joined: Thu Jun 16, 2011 3:08 am

Postby Nukraine » Mon Mar 05, 2012 1:48 am

very enlightening, thankx
skyray
level1
level1
Posts: 12
Joined: Sat Mar 17, 2012 9:27 pm

Postby skyray » Sat Apr 28, 2012 1:49 am

I'm a noob and I guess I found this by accident to an extent. I was getting frustrated and tried to launch an SLBM at an OP4 fleet, thinking "The game's not gonna let me do that lol". Low and behold, it did and I wiped out 3 ships with it. I didn't think other players were doing that. Now, I find there's are actual formulas for it! Just another reason to love this game. Thanks.

Return to “Strategic Air Command”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 8 guests