Nukes

[dollsandshells]

Being a marathon player who either gets bored of winning by modernity or loses and quits before, i have never seen nukes being used, times ive made it too modernity the UN has always banned them before they existed. How common is it for them to be used? Do AI use them often? Is there a diplo hit for using them? Are they effective?

 

[Shorlin]

In games where I'm going for domination victory (normal speed), nukes usually play a big role if there are still a few decent AI civs I need to deal with in the modern era.
In my experience some AI always seems to build Manhattan project, and when your enemies get fission its pretty game changing cos the AI loves to use them nukes, and yeah, they are devastatingly effective! I'm not sure what the diplo hit is but the AIs don't seem to care about it.
Nuclear war is pretty fun imo , the battle strategy is so different from previous eras. You need to do a lot of prep work, get all your units etc in place and strike your enemies whole civilization hard and fast (preferably decimating them on the turn you dow). You need to make sure you take out their stockpile of nukes and cut off their uranium supply so they can't retaliate.
I would say give nukes a try, but then I love modern warfare/units in this game.

 

[itg]

I use nukes in about 75% of my games, often halting research to rushbuy as many as possible. Nukes + paratroopers gives you the fastest conquest in the game, or you can just spam nukes to force capitulation. If you're not interested in war, they're still nice to have in case you need to melt an AI SoD.

 

[*Svart*]

i never use them my games finish always first

 

[BobDole]

They're pretty common if you get late enough and don't get banned (they can easily be banned by the UN if someone chooses to, and the AI generally takes its sweet time to build the Manhattan Project, so unless you build it, it might take awhile). They're definitely effective, although you can quickly trash your relations with much of the world since you take a diplo hit with the civ you nuked along with all of their friends. But who needs friends when you can force civs to capitulate just from a barrage of nukes? (The easiest way to speed up a conquest/domination victory)

The only annoying thing is that the AI can be pretty reckless with them. They'll fire off tons of nukes without really considering the consequences, so before you know it half the world is a desert and everyone hates each other. Oh well.

 

[blasto]

I think this part of the game is broke for BTS. I turn off the ability to create the Manhattan project because once I get into late game I find that the AI's will spam nukes. However, if I use them I either split the earth or are threatened with this consequence. But no matter what the AI keeps using them.

Very annoying and not fair at all.

 

[Esham]

I use them from time to time.

Usually when i am nearing the end and i am sure i am going to win and i want it over NOW.

I just hit the big red button and drop hellfire on my enemies and clean up the mess after.

 

[JustinianVII]

Edit out global warming, let the nukes fly, and see that warm loving radioactive glow of the earth from space. AIs do use nukes--especially fond of the tactical nukes--so it forces one to adopt a more flexible strategy than simple mega-SoDs towards the enemy in the late game.

 

[EvanMeisterX]

Only to see the nice warm explosion. See:

I worldbuildered (worldbuilt?) it to show you

Anyways, the diplo hit (I think) is -1 per nuke you shoot at a civ, and -1 on their friends, too. But who cares, the explosion is oh so fun!

 

[TheMeInTeam]

It's -2 per nuke fired on the target civ, -1 for "friends", which seems to include cautious most of the time.

There is no penalty for nuking a civ with people who are annoyed or furious toward your target. Also, if you buy 10 turns with potential haters via a request just before war, 10 turns is often enough time to get the war done. Make them count and you might even get a 2nd DoW before you have to worry about piling...and then only people actually like your targets and your targets can bribe for help.