Nuclear Issue

[biggamer132]

I have a problem in my current game. It's a rather big one.

I'm currently in the middle of a very fun game on Noble with SevoMod (great mod, btw), and to date I'm the #3 nation in terms of score (#1 by a mile in terms of the power graph). The game's worked out rather nicely so far because my main territory has had all of the resources I needed to industrialize (iron, coal, oil, aluminum) and plenty of them, except for one: uranium. Herein lies my problem: My neighbor, who's #2 in score and who's furious with me (there's been a lot of sabotage going both ways and he declared on me a few hundred turns ago) has nukes. I, not having uranium, don't.

The thing is, these aren't the normal ICBMs. SevoMod has cruise missiles too (which function as nukes, except with limited range). No one has ICBMs because I'm pretty sure no one has built the Manhattan Project, but he has at least 20 cruise missiles and a shared border with me, so he has plenty of places to launch from. I've built the SDI and bomb shelters in all of my cities, but I'm wondering: is there anything else I can do to minimize the effects of a nuclear attack if/when he declares war again? I especially have a very, very large army divided up into several stacks and ready to retaliate, and I'd like to know how I can keep them from getting decimated before the action even starts.

 

[KMadCandy]

i'm not familiar with SevoMod at all so i can't help you. i just realize that i have never had anybody use a nuclear weapon on me, never thought about it before . in normal civ4 and warlords, you can't build SDI at all until someone has already built manhattan project. maybe that's changed in sevomod and you can, but the way you phrased it as "I'm pretty sure no one has built the Manhattan Project" makes me wonder.

if this wasn't a modded game, the fact that you could build SDI at all is a guarantee somebody built manhattan project. but, since you're playing sevomod i don't know if that applies. good luck!

 

[Gwil]

Release some public information films informing people of the need to "duck and cover". That seems to be the real life approach.

Seriously though, you mention that espionage is being traded between both of you - surely there is an opportunity to steal the enemy plans, thus locating his cruise missiles/ICBM. When you know these locations (I presume theyre border cities tbh), assemble some strike teams to take out the most dangerous locations.

 

[r_rolo1]

Can't you get uranium elsewhere ( trade or conquer ) ?

 

[cabert]

I don't know how cruise missiles function, but I would think that striking first would be the best mean to get over this threat .
An even better way would be to get someone else to declare on him .

 

[biggamer132]

Reading your replies, I can see I left out some details:

1. Gwil, I've stolen his plans at least twice (once every recently) and he usually has between 20-25 nukes in his border cities. The problem is that he shares border on two opposite ends of his empire, so even though I share a border with him, my ally all the way on the other end of the continent does too. Therefore, I could take out a few of the missiles with a first strike, but I wouldn't be able to get far enough in the first turn to get all of them.

2. Rolo, I could do that, but three of the civs have already been taken out by stronger neighbors and everyone left has a defensive pact with at least two other civs, myself included.

3. The defensive pact is actually another problem; he has DPs with two other civs (both on the other continent), while I have them with the two other civs on my continent. The problem is, if I declare war first, I lose the protection of those pacts (one of my allies has nukes too, so I definitely don't want to lose him). On top of that, they're pleased with my neighbor, so if I declared war, chances are they wouldn't join in and might even get bought in against me, which would be a disaster.

 

[biggamer132]

An even better way would be to get someone else to declare on him .

I just saw this, and it seems like a good idea. I'll see how feasible it is.

Edit: Just checked every civ, and all of them would either have nothing to gain or "are afraid of their military might". If I give these guys units, do you all think they'd be more willing to declare?

 

[cabert]

I just saw this, and it seems like a good idea. I'll see how feasible it is.

Edit: Just checked every civ, and all of them would either have nothing to gain or "are afraid of their military might". If I give these guys units, do you all think they'd be more willing to declare?

while gifting units to a third party indeed should make them more likely to declare, the amount of units necessary won't be possible to gift.

 

[biggamer132]

while gifting units to a third party indeed should make them more likely to declare, the amount of units necessary won't be possible to gift.

True, unless I'm willing to bankroll and arm a neighbor who I'm not completely sure won't use those weapons against me.

I also did a bit of experimenting in WorldBuilder, and it indeed turns out that the Manhattan Project has been built because ICBMs can be built.

 

[Hold The Onion]

I'm not familiar with this mod, but these discussions are great. They make it seem like a real life situation thanks to the complexity of everything. I espeically like the doubt about getting stabbed in the back by a country that you supply the arms to. I may try this mod just for the complexity and tension it seems to cause.

 

[biggamer132]

I'm not familiar with this mod, but these discussions are great. They make it seem like a real life situation thanks to the complexity of everything. I espeically like the doubt about getting stabbed in the back by a country that you supply the arms to. I may try this mod just for the complexity and tension it seems to cause.

That's the base game, not the mod. A game of vanilla civ can have just as much drama as SevoMod, believe me.

 

[InvisibleStalke]

My 2c based on standard game only:

- Can you acquire Uranium through trade? I expect you'll need to pay hugely for it.
- If you keep your power graph above his, you should be able to deter an attack (unless its a Monty). You might have to focus on racing to a space win which will be harder with a big army being maintained.
- You might do better with your units split up into lots of small stacks separate from each other.
- If you had a chance of killing a lot of the nukes in one turn you could sail half your army to the other side of his empire. I would be surprised that an AI with that many nukes wouldn't have a pretty big army anyway so this may not be doable.
- Can you keep the bulk of your forces out of cruise missile range?
- Can cruise missiles self target their own lands? In standard I don't think they can which means the safest place for your massive army might be inside HIS borders!