Nuclear War - how to not lose experienced units?

[Olleus]

A short summary of the situation of my epic, emperor game (my first post patch), and then a few questions as to how to not get nuked back to the stone age.

I have my entire continents apart from the remains of the ottomans which are no threat. On the otherside of the world there is a super continents dominated by Russia (which is huge) and the USA. Carthage and Ethopia are my allies and also on that continent but are much less strong. The USA was getting too far ahead of itself so I declared war on it and took 3 key cities (and a small one) to decapitate them, then made peace. Then, Russia built cities on "spare" space on my continent and used them to try and launch a sneak attack (spies told me and I saw the units move). Declared war on russia and kicked them out of my continent.

Now my army, mostly heavily promoted infantry (up to march) and rocket artillery are sailing to Russia who's land army I mostly sunk. Also, I'm the only one with a navy worth the name. The USA declares war on my with like 100 SAM units and I have very little defending those 4 cities. Should I lose Washington with all its wonders I'll plunge into -30 happiness and the game will be pretty much other.

Now the interesting bit - everyone has completed Manhattan Project. I spotted 2 nuclear missiles in a russian city, while I'm still building my nukes. Should I call back my invasion? I can't afford to lose my experienced army, but if I do nothing to Russia I'll lose the space race. And with the USA I annexed washington to rush buy some units (making 350+ gold per turn). Should I just rush buy nukes? Or infantry? I have enough uranium for this not to be an issue.

 

[smallfish]

1) take out that city with the Russian nukes

2) AI is unable to use nukes in tactical manner - basically, they will only throw them at city targets. This has been the case since Vanilla.

3) Use your own nukes, rushbought or hard built, to pave a nuclear corridor for your invasion fleet to land.

 

[Olleus]

how can I take out that russian city? Its protected by a ring of other cities. Does nuking it get rid of the nukes inside it?

And I'm pretty sure that the AI can't nuke my homeland, its too far away from them and I control the Oceans.

 

[loki75]

I have never seen the AI use tactical nukes. I would bring my own nukes to be launched from carrier or subs to make way for your army to reach russian capitol asap to take it out.

 

[smallfish]

how can I take out that russian city? Its protected by a ring of other cities. Does nuking it get rid of the nukes inside it?

And I'm pretty sure that the AI can't nuke my homeland, its too far away from them and I control the Oceans.

Nuke the beachhead and that city, move your forces in. First wave is all assault melee and two supporting artillery, second wave is your artillery and other reinforcements, and if you have more stuff behind, that will be your third wave. Is your spy in that Russian city? Check if it has bomb shelters. If yes, nuke it 2 or 3 more times and prepare for the worst by spacing out your troops two tiles away from any friendly city.

If they get it loaded up on a nuke boat or a carrier, they will. Well that depends whether you have initiated nuclear hostilities by nuking them, or they are AI with particular nuke happy stat (ie. see Attila, Montezuma, Catherine...)... but it doesn't really matter at the moment, given you are carrying the war to their homelands.

Unless their nuke boats happen to be close to your capital, of course.

 

[smallfish]

I once initiated nuclear hostilities with Wu Zetian at the same time I DOWed her...

Spoiler :

In response, because she had an aircraft carrier in the vicinity loaded with atomics, she nuked my puppets Tonga and Busan

Spoiler :

Spoiler :

 

[Olleus]

Right, here are some screenshots. Taking the Russian city with nukes out is not an option, simply cant get my troops round there without the risk of being nuked while embarked. Also, what should I do to protect Washington? If the US stops being ******ed and moves its arty to within range of my cities, I don't think I'll be able to stop them. Is rush buying nukes the best thing to do? How many do I need (atomic bombs - dont have missiles yet) to wipe his army out?

Russian heartland

Spoiler :

My Invasion Force (I'm Nappy btw)

Spoiler :

American Invasion

Spoiler :

 

[ense7en]

The tile two west of Moscow is the one you want to hit with the a-bomb.
It'll damage both cities, including the one with the nukes in it, and the nukes will be gone (which is a ******ed mechanic IMHO but whatever).

You will need to load a carrier with that and get it all the way over there which will take a while, though.

TBH though, i don't see her using them until you've taken a city of hers, and if you take the one with the nukes you might be lucky if she doesn't have any others?
Once AI has nukes though it's a gamble as you're in a lot of trouble if they use them smartly.

I'd probably just take that city and then go from there, but if you want to be safe, wait till you can get a couple nukes loaded on a carrier and over there.
Then you can nuke that tile i mentioned, and if it looks like she's got a lot of firepower coming at you once you grab that first coastal city, you can spread more nuclear love around as needed.

As for the Americans, either rush buy a lot of ranged units to defend, or i'd suggest actually considering nuking them too as it might be tough to hold them off.

You can nuke your own tiles with the majority of their units on them if needed.
Remember range is +2 tiles from spot it hits.

 

[Dentalfury]

Right, here are some screenshots. Taking the Russian city with nukes out is not an option, simply cant get my troops round there without the risk of being nuked while embarked. Also, what should I do to protect Washington? If the US stops being ******ed and moves its arty to within range of my cities, I don't think I'll be able to stop them. Is rush buying nukes the best thing to do? How many do I need (atomic bombs - dont have missiles yet) to wipe his army out?

Russian heartland

Spoiler :

My Invasion Force (I'm Nappy btw)

Spoiler :

American Invasion

Spoiler :

Ouch.

Do have any significant ground forces to counter Washington (Aside from the 1 Landship)? Or did you send everything at Russia?

I would only buy 1-2 nukes to blunt Washington's invasion force but your still going to need something to mop up. Do you have a decent air force? If you still have something, nuke the SAM's first and wipe out the survivors from the air.

As for Russia, I would try to nuke Krasnoyarsk and use some combination of naval and ranged attacks to take the city in 1 turn. The AI is bad at picking safe locations to keep its air forces/nukes and you can use that to your advantage.

 

[Olleus]

I've got a mix of 5 units and a general going to Washington, will be 4 turns until they get there. Dont have an air force at all, spent my gold on battleships and artillery instead. That said, I do have one carrier with a fighter as recon close to Russia, I can probably get a nuke rushed in very few turns, load it to that carrier, and then nuke that city. Will the nukes imeadiately die if they get hit by a nuclear blast?

I think my priority will be to get rid of the russian nukes so my army can land safely, then nuke the americans, then nuke the russians some more as I need to. I'm fairly confident Washington can hold as long as the americans keep their artillery away. The SAM just kill themselves trying to attack my infantry unit, so the city should hold for a while.

Sounds plausible?

 

[smallfish]

2 atomic bombs for America... then take a couple more of his cities with some rocket artilleries and he should roll over nicely.

As for Russia, seeing how coastal close Moscow and that nuke city is, I would recommend you use your gunlines to help push in there and keep it. If Russian Army shows up to overwhelm you, pummel them with the big guns. Don't be afraid of your troops getting nuked - like I said, the AI does not use them tactically, they will drop them on cities. So long as your stuff is spaced out of two tiles (and if need be, raze some of those Russian cities on the beach), you should weather her nuclear response just fine.

(OT: Is this Standard or Large map size? Because if its Standard, I could play the game and show you more stuff)

 

[sveint]

In nuclear war you will lose units. Forget your "experienced" units. In a nuclear age you can no longer depend on a small elite army.

Since you are not going for cultural, annex some puppets and mass produce infantry (should have done this a while ago).

America's invasion doesn't look that threatening. An artillery in each city should be able to hold him off.

As for Russia, by the time you get your own nukes ready, they will have more nukes in other cities. In other words, you will lose units. I'd invade through the city states (don't declare war on them, just land in their territory).

Also try to bribe Russia and/or anyone else to war with Russia. Will be a useful distraction.

 

[sveint]

Also we haven't seen your cities. But Washington is building an aqueduct... really not what you need. If you are going to win by war, forget infrastructure, build units and more units.

Even if you plan on a science victory you will want mostly units at this point.

 

[Matthew.]

I think my priority will be to get rid of the russian nukes so my army can land safely, then nuke the americans, then nuke the russians some more as I need to.

So the plan is to nuke everything? I like

All you will need to do with Washington is wipe out his units to force him into a peace treaty. You can always go back later if you need to. If you can get a quick nuke, you can take out most of that initial wave, which should be enough time to react to whatever else he sends.

 

[joebnr]

I'm confused, is it Krasnoyark with the nukes? I'm on Mac Gods & Kings, so maybe the patch changed something for you, but don't you have the navy to take that city in two turns? Two turns of battleship bombardment and then hit the city with all 3 destroyers on the second turn.

 

[Traejun]

Keep nukes (bombs are ok, nuke missiles are preferable). Use them as soon as a nuke goes live in an enemy city.

 

[Skibbi]

In America, try to break that machinegun unit out and as for the Infantry, attack the paratrooper.