Tac. Nuke - Nuke

[mizzile]

What is the real difference between these.... I don't ever use tac. nukes.... ?

[God-Emperor]

The tactical nukes are harder than an ICBM to intercept with SDI, specifically half the chance, but have a limited range.

Due to the range limit you frequently have to deliver the tactical nukes via subs or missile cruisers, which could be sunk, and often can't nuke every city the enemy has on turn 1 of the war with them - you have to wait until you capture a nearby city or use an ICBM (or several, since they tend to get destroyed by the SDI).

[TheMeInTeam]

Even factoring the sub , tac nukes are cheaper to use and will hit the vast majority (or all) of potential targets if you plan a little, so they tend to be better most of the time.

Once you're talking about getting past SDI, tac nukes jump ahead of ICBM in value even further.

In practice, ICBMs generally shouldn't be used unless you're just being lazy.

[capnvonbaron]

If at all possible, travel your nuke-carrying subs under the ice packs at the poles when delivering tac-nuke payloads. They are invulnerable to surface ships that way and far less likely to tangle with enemy subs. Also helps to keep an Attack sub stacked with your boomers just in case the enemy gets lucky and has a sub in intercept range once you're near your targets.

[TheMeInTeam]

No need for that. If you do a full-scale strike there won't be a whole lot left alive to retaliate; most ships will be nuked in port and you can simply retreat your subs into captured cities after nuking/capturing them...not like anything inland is going to wade through volleys of more nukes to retake it. In fact, most inland stuff should be dead too.