[BTS] How do missiles work?

[MilesBeyond]

I've found a lot of great info about the mechanics behind air combat, but I can't find anything that does a deep dive on missiles.

Do Guided Missiles just use the same damage formula as Air Strikes, aside from not having a max damage? Or is it something different? Do modifiers for the target ground unit get used when calculating damage, e.g. do Guided Missiles do less damage to a CGIII Infantry than an unpromoted one? Also, do the numbers give a reliable threshold? E.g. unit with modified Strength < x will always be one-shot.

What are the actual effects of a Tactical Nuke? Like I've used them, but I mean in terms of breaking down exactly what they do, how they do it, and what the chances are. Documentation says they're more likely to harm buildings than units, but what are the actual odds there? Do those odds change based on whether the TN targets a city vs targets an empty tile with a city in the blast radius? Speaking of the blast radius, is it equally effective throughout or is there a falloff? And how random is the damage dealt to units?

Are ICBMs the same as TNs but bigger and better, or is there a more substantial mechanical difference? (Obviously ICBMs can be launched from anywhere, they're stopped by SDI instead of interception - I mean mechanical differences in the effects of the explosion).

I've done some testing in WB but boy is that not scientific so I'm wondering if someone has the nitty-gritty formulas on hand.

 

[sylvanllewelyn]

Guided missiles here

Air Combat in BtS Explained - CivFanatics

[B]Air combat explained[/B]This is my attempt to clarify how air units works. Please point out any erros and I'll try to remedy them. I don't even mind you spelling out any errors in my english (pun intended), in fact I appreciate it, but I do have one request: please do NOT clutter this thread with

www.civfanatics.com

Besides obviously strike range and loading onto ships, I think ICBMs and tactical nukes cause the same damage?

 

[Jellybug]

I was looking for info about this just recently because I was facing getting nuked for the first time.

Waded through a giant Monty who had vassaled willem in the early AD's. When I got to DeGaulle (last leader standing, thirteen cities) he had three tactical nukes in Paris, a few fighters, and some modest stacks of infantry and other garbage.

I knew the nukes were going to land. I had no SAM guys to do anything about it, and was simply out of fudgs to give after playing around giant Monty all game.

I gathered that the nukes do massive damage to units in the target tile and the adjacent ones, so I used kind of an AOE II stagger/ split formation with my tanks. I reckon I had two stacks of twenty panzers (panzeren?) and ten cannon each, seperated by two tiles, so that no one nuke could hit both stacks. He fired the three, but I don't actually see the plume in my game so I don't know exactly where they all went. I think he sent two at one stack, and the third at his own city that I just took (RIP leftover riflemen). Across the continent, he also nuked the horsehocky out of my captured Pasargadae from a little island nearby. Kind of a Cuban missile situation, without the better angels of our nature. Pasargadae went from size seventeen to size two. My heart goes out to that poor defending longbowman. (edit: As for the panzers, one stack was wiped, the other survived to take the last city. After that he capped GG. I had more on the way in any case.)

What I'm still unsure about is whether nukes do flat damage to every unit in the tile, or else whether the collateral is capped to a certain number of units. If you had two thousand units in a tile, would they all take damage from the nuke? I'll read the air combat thing now to see if it sheds light.

 

[civac]

Nukes can wipe out arbitrary number of units. You usually need 2 to clear a stack. It's essentially impossible to fight conventionally against nukes.

 

[AcaMetis]

Nukes basically play by their own rules.

 

[Core Imposter]

I don't remember seeing much info on damage for nukes and I haven't tried to figure it out. The highlight for me was having the AI use a tactical nuke launched from a sub to hammer one of my stacks. That taught me a lesson. At least that appeared to be what happened.

 

[ShimonSays]

Is there a way to make nukes interceptable by air units carrying out interception missions?

 

[Lexicus]

No, you need to build SDI to intercept nukes afaik.