Nuclear War - what is it good for?

[realpolitic]

I tried a timid nuclear war strategy. When I had enough military to take my 60th city(on a gigantic map, at the hard level, I built about 30 nukes to be used the turn before my Nanite Defuser was built. Half of the landmass ended underwater, including half of the wonders I had. This seems to make it a bit questionable as a stragey when I could develop my commerce as well, and then launch ecoranger attacks. Anyone who has a nuclear strategy that they like?

[Mirimunchkin]

Yes - MAD.
I'm into my 50-somethingth SP game, all at Impossible level on Gigantic maps & so far the AIs have launched only 2 Nuke strikes; one took out 1/2 my Stealth Fighters. The AIs aren't keen on nuclear war so I suggest you follow their example.

To date, I've found it better to go for a points, rather than military, victory. Get ahead in science & you'll get ahead in all the other areas. For example, get the Hollywood Wonder & financially you'll never look back as you can Rush-Buy just about anything - so you get all the Happiness Improvements and Wonders, and can go way over the number of cities limit without 'losing' cities to unrest (by using Entertainers as well I reached 96 cities in one game!).

[child of Thor]

Re: Nuclear War - what is it good for?

Originally posted by realpolitic
I tried a timid nuclear war strategy. When I had enough military to take my 60th city(on a gigantic map, at the hard level, I built about 30 nukes to be used the turn before my Nanite Defuser was built. Half of the landmass ended underwater, including half of the wonders I had. This seems to make it a bit questionable as a stragey when I could develop my commerce as well, and then launch ecoranger attacks. Anyone who has a nuclear strategy that they like?

Well i would say certain real world governments could do with learning something from your experiences with CTP2 ........really they could.

I guess it goes to show that the answer to the question is 'absolutely nothing!'

[realpolitic]

I think nukes are rarely useful, never in a game I've been in, but here are a few possibilities:

When you only have 1 serious opponent
When your empire is further inland than others, especially your wonders - they're less suseptable to flooding
On a gigantic map - you're more likely to reach the 45 city limit


I believe everything in the game should be useful - I'm modding the "World Peace Center". I'm renaming it the UN and making it available when nukes are - so I can better assess the strengths of other nations, so nuclear war becomes thinkable at least in a few games.

[Maquiladora]

Originally posted by realpolitic
I think nukes are rarely useful

Well if youre worried about pollution, only use a few and use them carefully so you lower pollution by multi-nuking the AI's most polluting cities.

[realpolitic]

I'm in a game where they actually are. I'm playing a game on the world map. My plan to exile the players to the badlands has succeeded. All the other players are in the: Arctic, Africa, India, and possibly Australia and the Pacific Islands, my wonders are inland, and I've just conquered my 32nd city under Democracy (2 are small enough to disband). Most of my opponents cities are on the coast.