SDI Defence Radius

[Scouse Gits]

Patrick - as far as the experience on this forum goes. The AI uses nukes exclusively against cities with no SDI. No other uses have ever been reported.

SG[1]

[rah]

I vaguely remember one instance where they tried to nuke a city that did have an SDI present. But that was awhile ago, and your memory can play tricks on you. But I do remember being surprised, because I too believe like you do about their use by the AI.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
Patrick - as far as the experience on this forum goes. The AI uses nukes exclusively against cities with no SDI. No other uses have ever been reported.

SG[1]

Only humans would do things as dastardly as:

nuking fleets
nuking stacks in fortresses
ignoring the size 24 city with 2 units in it, to instead nuke the size 2 coastal city in which I just docked 4 loaded transports.

In a way it's a good thing that MP games never get to the Nuclear Fission point... the carnage would be unimaginable

Incidentally, it seems that the AI will use cruise missiles on any UNIT that has more than 150 shield cost, but NEVER uses them on cities... sort of the converse of how nukes are employed.

[Scouse Gits]

Just a follow up on the last post - in the few games I play where rocketry is available I often finds that cruise missiles can be cost effective for city reduction - any comments?

SG[1]

[DrSpike]

The first strategy I used to beat deity in 1996 when the game came out was a perfectionist rush to cruise missiles and then use them with paratroopers to take out my 2 neighbours. I then stopped conquering and built the spaceship.

It was a needlessly expensive strat, but CM still can be used for pesky defenders, or ships.

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Originally posted by Scouse Gits
Just a follow up on the last post - in the few games I play where rocketry is available I often finds that cruise missiles can be cost effective for city reduction - any comments?

SG[1]

Unless the defending city is on a river or other defensive terrain, I find a vet howitzer can attack, kill one defender, and retreat with its remaining move (the AI always has rails, handily). As I'm sure you know.

Even if the howitzer gets knocked into the yellow or red, a bomber stacked with the wounded howitzer(s) and a mech inf can survive the AI's turns.

Considering that cruise missiles are a 1-shot unit, win or lose ... and cruise missiles are 40 shields, and howitzers are 70 shields I think... howitzers would seem to be much more cost effective. I've used cruise missiles on remote cities, but I find a bomber will usually do just as good a job. Plus, if there's a SAM/SDI combo in the AI city, the cruise missile has next to no chance.

The few times I've played the ToT Extended Original game and gotten to the new units with AIs still alive on earth, the 'super units' were cruise missile magnets. But only outside cities - this is the AI we're talking about

[La Fayette]

What I have experienced several times playing scenarios is Rocketry available (usually through stealing it from the AI ) and Robotics far away.
Believe me, when this happens I get cash and buy cruise missiles: they are costly, but they do the job

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

I'm the opposite... in most of my games, I get Robotics long before Rocketry (because I delay researching Flight to keep Colossus around).

Absent a VERY strong AI which knows Flight, I'd still go with Bombers before Cruise Missiles. I'm sure my Bombers have a better than 2 in 3 survival rate.

edit: 2 in 3.

[La Fayette]

Originally posted by Six Thousand Year Old Man
I'm the opposite... in most of my games, I get Robotics long before Rocketry (

You are not the opposite, because (just like you) I always research Robotics long before Rocketry, but, in scenarios, it happens that the AI is well ahead in techs (8 techs ahead of me this morning in the scenario I am playing currently)

[Gatekeeper]

I've tweaked the RULES.TXT file so that the AI is more liberal in its use of cruise missiles; I think I made them a bit cheaper. Anyway, the AI no longer "stores" the missiles for exclusive use against ships. I've got it so the AI hits my armored divisions, spies and shock troops (custom unit) with cruise missiles. It also nails any city that's housing a battleship or AEGIS cruiser (which usually doesn't do too much damage ...)

Gatekeeper