Nuclear diplomacy

[Bigfoot3814]

Any nuke fans out there? I've built nukes, but never actually launched one before. I have seen online videos of the animation and it is really cool. I hear the diplomacy penalties are insane. What exactly are they?

 

[Dragon Reborn]

When I used one I got a -4 diplomacy modifier with the country I was at war with (America I think). I wasn't that impressed by their effectiveness though.

 

[Munch]

I wasn't that impressed by their effectiveness though.

I think they are pretty useful. One dropped on a city you are about to take and you probably won't need siege weapons or air power; two or more dropped in a city and you can probably capture it with a rifleman.

Also, remember you don't have to aim for enemy cities. Before the enemy gets bomb shelters they can be really destructive to both units and buildings in the city, but after bomb shelters they are practically useless at city attacking. At this stage they can still be used to great effect because they have a high chance of permanently (unless the enemy has Ecology) disrupting a tile in a 3x3 block surrounding ground zero - i.e. destroying the improvement and adding fallout (slow unit movement and can't rebuild on that tile); and they are also excellent at destroying incoming naval stacks.

Nevertheless, in all my time of playing civ I've never been at tech parity with an enemy civ during the nuclear age. I've always had a monopoly on nukes or shared them with a friendly AI. The exception being in one game where my rival (damn you Willem, teching while I'm stuck in a bitter intifada on two fronts) got nukes and all the panoply of armageddon while I barely had artillery, I promptly quit when he started lobbing tac nukes around and humilating me by marching mobile artillery through my relatively backwards civ.

 

[Kadasbrass]

I have a dream..... of a dip modifier of "-1000 You nuked us!"
It keeps me sane... but the highest I've ever gotten was in the one hundreds and that might of been due to worldbuilder... (may of finally did it without worldbuilder but was to long ago to remember)

 

[Bigfoot3814]

but the highest I've ever gotten was in the one hundreds and that might of been due to worldbuilder... (may of finally did it without worldbuilder but was to long ago to remember)

This happened with multiple attacks, I suppose?
Doesn't nuking a civ cause relations to drop with others too?

 

[jimbob27]

Yeah, if they're pleased or friendly with the civ you nuked, you get a penalty. IIRC its -2 for the guy you nuked, and -1 for everyone thats friends with him. If they're cautious annoyed or furious with your victim, there's no penalty. I don't think there's a cap for either, I've had them in the 100's before.

 

[magichj]

I use Nukes whenever I can. Just remember when/if you use them that the square you target and the adjacent squares all get unit damage. So if you're attacking send the nuke, then bring your armies adjacent to the city.

 

[Munch]

I use Nukes whenever I can. Just remember when/if you use them that the square you target and the adjacent squares all get unit damage. So if you're attacking send the nuke, then bring your armies adjacent to the city.

Or just nuke the tile on the other side of the city!