Nuclear questions

[CrazyScientist]

Do tact nukes and ICBMs destroy a city if it is down to size 1. I guess what I'm asking is, is it possible to nuke a city into oblivion if you have enough nukes? If not I think it should be. Really I almost think a nuke should destroy any city smaller than a metropolis. Or at least automatically reduce metros to cities, cities to towns, and wipe out towns, so that no city could withstand more than 3 nukes. I guess this would kind of unbalance nukes, but on the other hand, nukes are rediculously unbalanced in real life anyway

Also, regarding cruise missiles. Seems you can't put them on sub, nuclear subs or carriers. Is there any way to transport them overseas (airlift? transport?) or are they limited to your own continent?
:die!:

 

[Ironikinit]

IIRC you can move cruise missles onto transports, but can't load them. I could easily be wrong on that.

And I'm not much help with nukes, either, but I'm pretty sure you can't destroy cities outright. When I used them they destroyed all the units in the city, making them easy to take. I don't know if that happens 100% of the time.

 

[Mr Mcs]

I never use Tact nukes, cuss when i do they destroy every sign of life in the hole Scenario!

 

[Marzipan]

I have levelled a few planets with nukes, perhaps I can help

As far as I know, nukes will never completely remove a city. You can destroy all the military units in the city, everything else, and get it down to pop 1, but it won't go away. When you nuke a city, half the population is killed right away, and a lot of the rest starve withing a few turns later. You also get serious global warming problems when the nukes start flying. But then in nuclear war, it's warmer for some than for others. Do I sound callous? hehe

Given that repeated nukes don't completely raze a city, why is it that you can completely raze a pop xx city with the simplest ground unit? I guess that's a question for another thread.

 

[Black Waltz]

Well just for you, once I completed my current game I was working on...

WARNING! SEVERE SELF PROMOTION HERE. IF YOU WISH TO SKIP, DO SO.

Huge Map

8 Civs

Warlord (I know...)

Me the French.

Wiped out Indians Middle Ages

Egyptians in Modern

Just to get Livingspace.

Got Spaceship victory.

END OF SELF-PROMOTION

... And I had 13 or so Inter-Continental-Balistic-Missiles stockpiled...

At that time Germany and Persia on the other continent had just started a war with the English, and I was sharing (or should I say dominating) the Aztecs on *my* continent. I was just letting the Aztecs share it with me.

They were all Nuclear Powers themselves. The English had 1, Germans had 3 and the Persians had 1. Think the Aztecs had a couple stockpiled too...

Anyway, once I'd won, I launched a couple of missiles...

1 hit the German capital of Berlin. Half of their population were lost in the resulting explosion - they were at size 30...

Next 1 flew into the center of the Persian capital, causing more severe damage.

Then I launched a couple more hapazadly round all their empire. I think I hit 7 cities in all.

Then next round...

*Hears the swoosh of a missile overhead*

Germany launched two. One at Paris, and another at Tolouse. Then Persia launched their one and hit another of my big cities. I can confirm the damage as follows...

- % chance of losing units, or just having units have low health. Both happened to 2 of my cities. 1 was left defenceless while one was left with a mobile infantry with 2 life out of 4.

- Improovments destroyed - randomly determined which ones.

- City size reduced by half.

- Global Warming kills the lovely planet you lived on for 7000 years. *g*

Overall, the most fun you can have with a massivly explosive device.

 

[Bruinesian]

A city never disappears even after repeated nuking, I've tried it. Officially nuking pisses off the world, yet I never experienced a backlash due to that. And believe me, the global warming threat posed by ICBMs are serious. In one of my recent heavily-nuked game, there's not a turn that goes by when a couple of my cities are experiencing globo-warming. My once green five-city island, the home of all my biatching cities and capital, is 90 percent desert.

So, you have to use nukes tactically (!). Now, if I do use 'em, I launch one on the largest enemy city closest to me where I know the enemy will crank out its military hardware. After I nuke that, I move in for the kill, and base myself there.

As for cruise missiles, to me they are the paratroopers of things-that-blow-up. They're worthless. I use a fleet of carriers with full plate of bombers and escorted by an Aegis Cruiser plus transport-ful of mechs and cavalry. That's thirteen bombing runs! That's havoc on city improvements!