Nuclear War

[Patroklos]

Hey all,

Just had some questions/comments on how the AI handles nuclear weapons.

1) I have noticed that the AI refrains from using nukes in wars when they have a stockpile (normally they throw everything they have at an opponetnt with conventional units). However, in all my games, to include the one that spawned this thread, the AI was the one who first used nukes. What are the triggers that tell a civ that nukes are okay to use, or a war is so threatning that they are required?

2) In said game, China only nuked my capital city and then left everything else alone (they nuked one other civ that turn as well). I was wondering if the AI takes into account my stockpile in comparison to theres, and then keeps their nuke strike small to avoid an overwhelming responce (I have 23 ICBMs and 6 TACs, by far the largest stockpile in the world).

3) I did not retaliate in a nuclear manor to China's attack, not because I am so nice but the rest of the world (proving there were unused stores, and all these civs were fighting someone) nucked China with all they had, including my enemies, before my turn and there was no point in me wasting expencive nukes. However, was wondering if my act of self controle concerning WMDs helps my world wide reputation.

4) Lots of human players use the strategy of only using one nuke to kill the capital so that they lose all trade deals and resource/luxury bonuses, leaving the rest of the country relatively undamaged for future capture. Does the AI understand and use this strategy?

Thanks

[Sheik]

1. I am not sure on this but an AI willingness to use nukes probably comes from a combination of your reputation, their reputation, and everyones military power standing.

2. Who knows. Though I am impressed at the AI nailed your capital because some people have reported that the AI nukes worthless cities.

3. Maybe, Maybe not. It probably depends on your current reputation. But I would bet that using nukes hurts while not using nukes does nothing.

4. Again, who knows. So much about the AI is unknown in this game. I would bet that the AI "knows" to nuke the capital because it is an important city but obviously other factors also come into play.

Sorry for all the mostly useless answers but many of the questions you ask I do not the answer to and I am fairly sure that there are few people who do. A lot of what players have learned has been discovered throuhg independant experiments.

[pedrojedi]

In my particular collection of cases, I usually don`t get ever nuked by the enemy. When I tested once a ICBM (I like seeing the mushroom blooming! ), THEN I had a nuclear response; that was the only time that AI used nukes on me. Never forgot the horror and revolt!

[sevencubed]

When I tested once a ICBM (I like seeing the mushroom blooming! ), THEN I had a nuclear response; that was the only time that AI used nukes on me.

Same here. I am new to CIV3, must have played around a dozen games - 1.29f version, and only once the AI nuked me (really hard...) as a retaliation to my using two ICBM's against it.

And also, as an AI vs AI use, i' ve seen it only once.

[Abdul-Aziz]

I also wasn't ever nuked by enemy...

[Roadrunna]

I stockpiled a good 30 ICBM's and used them all on 1 turn, taking out every city that one of the AI's had and all resource infrastructures.
AI retaliated with his full arsenal of 7 ICBM's the next turn.

[smellymummy]

Re: Nuclear War

1) ...What are the triggers that tell a civ that nukes are okay to use, or a war is so threatning that they are required?

I can't recall a game where the AI nuked first, but it's possible it happened - sounds familiar -. I'd guess the threat you pose to the AI can be a factor. Define threat by military strenght, attitude vs you, reputation, and completion of spaceship or UN. The AI could also try the same for obtaining a special resource, but I never saw that happened

2) ... I was wondering if the AI takes into account my stockpile in comparison to theres, and then keeps their nuke strike small to avoid an overwhelming responce

From my own experience, no. Just about every time I can remember exchanging nuclear attacks against the AI, the AI would bomb me to death. Repeated nukes on the big cities, and repeated nukes on the cities stocked up with nukes, so in essence destroying them! So much for MAD It doesn't stop at the first strike either, the AI would keep sending subs with tactical nukes, and drop ICBMs as they made more.

3) ... was wondering if my act of self controle concerning WMDs helps my world wide reputation.

From what I can tell, your reputation apparently slowly goes up as you improve relations. However when you drop a nuclear weapon your rep will go down the drain, often causing other AIs to declare war on you unless there is a strong alliance/relationship. So yes, by not using nukes, your rep is better in its own way. But does it really matter? by the time nuclear weapons exist, important alliances are usually already set in stone, and the game is nearly over ...

4) ... players use the strategy of only using one nuke to kill the capital so that they lose all trade deals ... Does the AI understand and use this strategy?

I've never had the AI (I play 1.29) cut off my capital, I think they prefer to just raze it I've had the AI cut off resources and luxuries, which is pretty common for everyone I think.

BTW, about cutting off the capital: at best it will disable foreign trade if you also manage to destroy the airport and harbor, but remember that all the other cities still connected to the network can still use there own internal resources (in case some people don't realize this...)

[Datajack Franit]

DON'T USE ICBMs! The whole landmass will turn into desert!