What happens to AI nukes if I capture their Uranium?

[Skwurl]

So a neighboring civ has an atomic bomb, but I managed to culture bomb his only uranium tile. However...the bomb still shows up in his city after I grabbed the uranium.

Is he still able to use it?

 

[blac]

My guess would be it has a 50% attack reduction like other units that rely on resources, but I've ever had that happen so I'm not sure.

It would make sense that they would disappear, but they probably follow the same rules as other units. They could have bought some from another civ too

 

[Disgustipated]

why would they disappear? It's not like he physically stole the uranium out of the nuclear warheads as well. Yes, I know, I shouldn't bring in realism into a civ game.

In my opinion he should be able to use it at full strength.

 

[TPQ]

I've been wondering about the same thing. I went to war with Cathy in a previous game (playing Askia) and sent in paratroopers in advance of my main force to take out her uranium mines so she couldn't build any more nukes, as she'd been going all nuke happy on Hiawatha.

Anyway, taking out her mines did stop her building nukes, but she was able to use two she already had on two of my cities. I didn't notice any reduction in damage compared to getting nuked normally, so my guess is that nukes don't suffer the 50% penalty from loosing the uranium their dependant on.

If nukes do take the 50% penalty, their damage must already be so massive that it makes practically no difference to the cities/units they explode on.

If anybody knows the answer for sure, I'd appreciate knowing .

 

[Bibor]

Good question. Good thing we have hotseat so we can test stuff like this out.

 

[blac]

why would they disappear? It's not like he physically stole the uranium out of the nuclear warheads as well. Yes, I know, I shouldn't bring in realism into a civ game.

Well going by civ5 logic it should. If a swordsman who I already built needs a continuous source of iron to be strong then what would happen to a nuke? A nuke doesn't work if it doesn't have the right amount of uranium in it, or whatever it uses. Although I agree with you, they shouldn't disappear. Also by that logic though shouldn't the mines then become exhausted and become unusable?(not saying they should, but the resources are to support a unit, but that really doesn't apply with nukes.)

 

[wcbarney]

I've been wondering about the same thing. I went to war with Cathy in a previous game (playing Askia) and sent in paratroopers in advance of my main force to take out her uranium mines so she couldn't build any more nukes, as she'd been going all nuke happy on Hiawatha.

Anyway, taking out her mines did stop her building nukes, but she was able to use two she already had on two of my cities. I didn't notice any reduction in damage compared to getting nuked normally, so my guess is that nukes don't suffer the 50% penalty from loosing the uranium their dependant on.

If nukes do take the 50% penalty, their damage must already be so massive that it makes practically no difference to the cities/units they explode on.

If anybody knows the answer for sure, I'd appreciate knowing .

I'm as sure as I can be on this answer, based on my own experience over many games and LOTS of glowing in the dark.

I ALWAYS sacrifice a helicopter or two and/or a couple of paratroops to pillage the enemy uranium mines at the start of war. Doing this prevents the enemy from building or buying any more nukes. It DOES NOT effect the usability or capability of any nukes he has already in his launch silos.

 

[Drawmeus]

Well going by civ5 logic it should. If a swordsman who I already built needs a continuous source of iron to be strong then what would happen to a nuke? A nuke doesn't work if it doesn't have the right amount of uranium in it, or whatever it uses. Although I agree with you, they shouldn't disappear. Also by that logic though shouldn't the mines then become exhausted and become unusable?(not saying they should, but the resources are to support a unit, but that really doesn't apply with nukes.)

The reason I view it as a special case from the realism perspective is, simply, that a Swordsman unit represents a substantial army group of principally swordsmen, while a nuke probably represents literally 1 nuke (it's a bad simulation of many nukes or even of 1 MIRV - and I realize you only get a handful of nukes in Civ V vs thousands in real life, but the simulation in this case is so bad as to not really be a simulation at all if one nuke is supposed to stand in for hundreds or thousands). So the swordsman unit needs continuous weapons and armor for new recruits, to replace broken or worn weapons, etc., while the nuke only needs a new warhead if that weapon itself breaks down. Obviously most nuclear weapons data is still classified, but I can't imagine they've had to replace a whole lot of nuclear warheads in the last 65 years.

 

[Zyxpsilon]

Once such Strategic resources start depleting as they should then we'll see who can get away with destruction rather than war & from conventional weapons after the happy trigger fest (event simulation of nukes exchange just as much as Ruins giving the lucky ones a huge military advantage) is over.
I'd even get as far as enforcing ONE Missile per mine and each of these would be as costly as the whole Utopia project in three other type of assets; Beakers, Hammers & Gold.

 

[Ironmonger69]

A more realistic use of the resource would be to render a unit unable to heal rather than fight at half effectiveness. An army of swordsmen would be just as potent at the outset no matter the resupply status, but never be able to replace losses. Maybe even have the health of a unit decay over time to 50% would be better, rather than the immediate reduction.

As for the building limitations, well, it's just a game mechanic that's a bit neccesary for balance, otherwise all you would need is one mine to be as powerful as a nation with 5.

 

[Scaramanga]

I had a situation where I was nuked by France after declaring war on their continent. I was monitoring closely the location of their one other nuke and proceeded to capture the city that seemed to control their sole source of uranium. Even when it seemed I was within range they never used that other nuke.