What's the point of nukes?

[zaphod2016]

What is the point of building nukes?

Russia, still armed with calvary, declared war on me (sneak attack) even though I had an ICBM aimed at their capital. Being armed with nukes did nothing to persuade Catherine against attacking me.

So, naturally, I sent my ICBM straight into Moscow- and then America, France and China all declared war on me, even though we were all current allies against the Aztecs, whom we had just eliminated. Russia had been an Aztec ally, then made peace with everyone, and then sneak attacked me. What was she thinking? What sort of strategy is that?

I think I'm missing something. Having nukes does nothing to avoid aggression, and using them results in WWIII. Why build nukes at all?

Just out of curiosity, I restored a saved game and nuked myself. No one cared. No one declared war. Oddly enough, Catherine did not sneak attack on the replay. Best not to mess with the criminally insane, I suppose.

+ =

 

[rilnator]

Nukes are good for revenge. Theres no better way to settle a 3000 year old grudge than nuking their capital. Then hoping they don't retaliate.

 

[Bobv13]

What is the point of building nukes?

Russia, still armed with calvary, declared war on me (sneak attack) even though I had an ICBM aimed at their capital. Being armed with nukes did nothing to persuade Catherine against attacking me.

So, naturally, I sent my ICBM straight into Moscow- and then America, France and China all declared war on me, even though we were all current allies against the Aztecs, whom we had just eliminated.

Did you build enough for America, France and China too? If you didn't that was your first mistake.

 

[Lord Emsworth]

What were ICBMs again?

 

[Aabraxan]

What is the point of building nukes?

Russia, still armed with calvary, declared war on me (sneak attack) even though I had an ICBM aimed at their capital. Being armed with nukes did nothing to persuade Catherine against attacking me.

So, naturally, I sent my ICBM straight into Moscow- and then America, France and China all declared war on me, even though we were all current allies against the Aztecs, whom we had just eliminated.

Did you build enough for America, France and China too? If you didn't that was your first mistake.

That's right. If you're going to bring nukes to the party, it's bad manners not to bring enough to go around.

 

[MAS]

If you are the first to use nukes, all AI will DoW you. Thats the way the game is programmed, its a diplomatic deterrent, kind of like in RL, though maybe more abstract.

You can either:
1# Don't use nukes.
2# wait until someone else uses them first.
3# Eat the consequences.

Nukes are of course always a good option of there is only one opponent left. Because then the deterrent against using them doesn't do much.
They make quickly conquering that last opponent easy. Consider a SID game where the AI may have over a 1000 units on 10 city island.
Well, you could also use the bikini babe tactic... (an undefended worker to lure the units out of the cities, then kill the cities and the units will disappear as the civ is destroyed)

 

[zaphod2016]

Assuming I build enough nukes for every foreign city on the planet, and launch first, won't they retaliate and obliterate my infrastructure?

Does the SDI work? I think the manual says 75% odds. Call me "old school"; I think I'll stick with my bombers.

 

[vmxa]

SDI is very effective. I have had it stop all launches in a turn, 9 or 10 in a row. It is not full proof.

Not that launch so many will turn the game into a nightmare down the road from dozens of msgs about global warming. I once launched about 200.

Do note that you need to use 3 on any city to be effective.

 

[mr_lewington]

ICBM's add 2 your power, which is a detterent in its self. it sounded like u only had 1, which isnt enough 2 deter a country. also, if ur enemy has many ICBM's, dont build your own. instead, build tactical nukes and plant nuclear subs near ur enemy. that way u still have ur second strike ability.
(my first true nuclear war resulted in no city in the world having more then 2 pop, and on a large map as well.)

 

[Quintillus]

One nuclear strike wasn't enough to deter Japan in WWII, so why should it be enough of a deterrant in Civ?

 

[mr_lewington]

exactly my point, its almost like saying just because u have a tank while every1 is still using cavalry, the AI wont take you on.

 

[zaphod2016]

Hmm. Any patches for anti-matter bombs? ;-)

 

[Nergal]

I've done a few nuclear war endings, normally with one powerful AI and a few weaker ones left in the game. Build a lot, preferably 2 per AI city and build SDI because it will help. Get a pile of cities building nukes before you strike, the AI will normally strike at cities with Aluminium or Uranium to stop you building more, but it doesnt stop ones you are already building. Load transports with Tanks, Modern Armour and Mech Infantry, anything you have really if they are on another continent, or just roll up to their borders and DOW. Hit the capital because its guaranteed to annoy the hell out of them, any cities that look like being production centres and anything that will deny a resource. If you can hit them hard enough they will be down to spearmen, warriors and archers, oh and trebs.
Providing you are strong enough via a nearby civ they might well join in rather than fight you, I've had that happen. You will probably get DOW from most but so what, you are the guy with all the nukes. After that just roll over them with your armour and hit anything that looks like its making a comeback. Have plenty of workers on hand to deal with pollution and go for it.

 

[LordJacky]

Having a nuke aimed at an enemy will not stop them. For example one nuke can damage an enemy city, hopefully halting production and such, but will not destroy them. For example, one time I thought I would win, I had the largest continent, traded with everybody, everybody was polite or gracious towards me, except America. So I finally decided to start producing troops and because I was capable of building nukes, I built nukes. In fact since America had only about 6 cities with the population of 12+ I decided to build 6 ICBMs all intended for those cities. The reason I started producing weapons of war against America was because the only way to win was conquest so, I decided to take the initiative. I nuked America's factory cities. It caused an outraged. Mainly because nukes have harmful effects to the environment and could cause countries to start war. So that's how I started my World War 3, except I didn't realize everybody had ICBMs. They all declared war on me, except for China who was my allies, but Japan, America, and Germany formed an alliance, nuked my cities, and the world would be in nuclear winter in real life. But basically said, nukes aren't always great, they're a deterrent, a last resort if you will, but shouldn't be used as a spear head weapon of war, unless you have strong allies, and by strong I don't mean powerful, I mean support you, not matter how much it damages the world. So even more simply said, aiming a nuke at an enemy won't do anything. Nukes are only good for a view circumstances.

 

[jdladson]

Nukes arent really that good for spearheads, as in the above post. I really use them defensivly, like to annoy the AI when i see a large stack of units, or a landing party almost to attack a city. I never nuke cities im going to invade simply because it makes rebuilding THAT much harder.

 

[MadMac10]

I find nukes extremely helpful in cross-continent warfare. I have positioned two transports full of units outside my target city. After my enemy nukes me (always picks my biggest city--no sense of strategy at all!) I nuke that coastal city and land my units in the rubble. Roads and other infrastructure are wiped out, and the city's defense is minimal if not nonexistant. Then I take the city, pop-rush some workers to clean up the mess (after I have pop-rushed an airport, naturally.)