Capture nuked city

[ackoman]

Hi

This is the first time I've used nukes in a long time and I think I'm missing something. I'm pretty sure in the past I was just able to nuke a city and then capture on the next turn with a unit standing by in close attendance. In the game I'm playing right now, each time I nuke a city the units that I send in to capture it die of radiation before they are able to do it. Has something changed? Is there a preferred unit for doing the capturing? (I'm using Modern Armour)

Thanks,
Ackoman

 

[Uberfrog]

I don't think anything has changed. Your units will suffer 50 points of damage from every turn spent in the fallout, so you need to use a very fast unit that can swoop in and out immediately. Depending on the terrain, Modern Armour, Mechanised Infantry or Helicopter should do the trick, preferably boosted by a Great General or Supply Convoy.

I think you can bring a Builder along to scrub the fallout too.

 

[Archon_Wing]

I usually fire nukes indirectly at the city so it gets hit by the impact. That way, there's a non-irradiated path to it.

 

[Disgustipated]

yeah use helicopters or modern armor for best results.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

I think you should use at least a Modern Armor corps, or better yet Army. I recall sending some solitary units into nuked cities, only to have them expire in the city after capturing it and waiting for the turns to roll over. You need to get in, capture the city, and wait for the turn roll over procedure (suffering the damage) then out of the irradiated area the very next turn or risk losing the unit. I don't mess with nukes all that often though, running projects for tech advancement needed for a science victory always seems a better choice.

 

[Uberfrog]

I think you should use at least a Modern Armor corps, or better yet Army. I recall sending some solitary units into nuked cities, only to have them expire in the city after capturing it and waiting for the turns to roll over. You need to get in, capture the city, and wait for the turn roll over procedure (suffering the damage) then out of the irradiated area the very next turn or risk losing the unit. I don't mess with nukes all that often though, running projects for tech advancement needed for a science victory always seems a better choice.

I think it doesn’t matter the combat strength of the unit, any corps or army will still lose half their hit points if they end their turn in fallout. Speed is the priority, or else dropping the nuke adjacent to the city as @Archon_Wing says to leave a safe approach.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Does anyone have a game save with nukes developed, manufactured and ready to deploy? I'd like to run some tests with various unit types.

 

[Victoria]

Its not a big deal chatrge in and take it... 1 turn... leave the next and you only get 1/2 health damage as said. A builder cleanse is easy after that

 

[BarbarianHunter]

I think it doesn’t matter the combat strength of the unit, any corps or army will still lose half their hit points if they end their turn in fallout. Speed is the priority, or else dropping the nuke adjacent to the city as @Archon_Wing says to leave a safe approach.

Wouldn't a unit first have to resolve a combat against a, presumably, half decent late era garrison strength to take the city? I think this is what could be happening to ackoman. He takes damage from the city combat greater or equal to half the units original value, then gets finished by the radiation.

EDIT: Like this image from Funny Screenshots. While the wall value is 0, the garrison rating still seems in effect. ?Which will damage the unit when taking the city?

Spoiler :

 

[Archon_Wing]

Wouldn't a unit first have to resolve a combat against a, presumably, half decent late era garrison strength to take the city? I think this is what could be happening to ackoman.

Not really if the city center is hit by the impact. You could use any remaining planes to reduce the city to no health and at that point you can send almost anything in. My choice is helicopters, but I've used stuff like Knight Armies before.

 

[BarbarianHunter]

Not really if the city center is hit by the impact. You could use any remaining planes to reduce the city to no health and at that point you can send almost anything in. My choice is helicopters, but I've used stuff like Knight Armies before.

This leaves me mystified as to exactly how I have lost the occasional unit when taking a nuked city. Because I'm always in to capture the city in 1 turn, then immediately out of the irradiated zone the next .

 

[ackoman]

Wouldn't a unit first have to resolve a combat against a, presumably, half decent late era garrison strength to take the city? I think this is what could be happening to ackoman. He takes damage from the city combat greater or equal to half the units original value, then gets finished by the radiation.

This is precisely what was happening to me - my units were losing half their health making it to the city, and then had to fight a garrison unit when getting there. I changed my tactics and approached the city from a different direction where the terrain was more favourable and I was able to reach and capture the city in one turn. Happy Days.

Ackoman

 

[BarbarianHunter]

This is precisely what was happening to me - my units were losing half their health making it to the city, and then had to fight a garrison unit when getting there. I changed my tactics and approached the city from a different direction where the terrain was more favourable and I was able to reach and capture the city in one turn. Happy Days.

Ackoman

I'm glad your issue was resolved!

Your quandary, however, has got me to wondering as to how some of my units expired even though I made it in 1 turn, and out the next. To answer this I ran 2 studies and arrived at the conclusion that strength of the attacking unit definitely has an effect when resolving the damage from taking a city.

Study #1
Nuke Kul Oba
35 melee strength Warrior Monk moves and takes Kul Oba
Pre-nuke Kul Oba wall strength = 53
Post nuke Kul Oba garrison rating = 49
Post-nuke warrior monk strength after taking the city = 57/100 health (so he should survive the turn).

Spoiler :

Study #2
Nuke Chertomlyk
82 melee strength Helicopter moves and takes Chertomlyk
Pre-nuke Chertomlyk wall strength = 52
Post nuke Chertomlyk garrison rating = 44
Post-nuke Helicopter strength after taking the city = 95/100 health (he also should survive the turn).

Spoiler :

So what we do know is that the melee strength of the attacking unit has bearing. If the pattern from the game holds true here as well, the city defense rating also has an effect. Therefore, I would surmise (although have not done any direct evidence) that later era (especially information age) opponents with stated garrison strengths significantly higher than Kul Oba’s post-nuke rating of 49 and Chertomlyk’s post-nuke rating of 44 would negatively impact the health %’s of the Warrior Monk (57/100) and Helicopter (95/100) perhaps below the 50% threshold, resulting in a casualty after the 50% radiation damage is applied.

Unfortunately, Sythia is the only civ left in my test and none of them advanced much past industrial anyway. I don't have any other saves with nukes and ran my present game out for that explicit purpose. So as to what would happen with information later era opponents? Who knows for sure. Anyone have a save? I'd like to find out for sure.

Here is the save, for anyone with the patience for a more detailed investigation.

*PS, don’t nuke Pokrovka the Macedonian unit will heal immediately after taking a city with a wonder.

 

[ackoman]

Thanks for the analysis!