Would you like to play Global Thermonuclear War?

Ace Pace · Post by **Ace Pace** » 2006-09-27 01:48pm

I just tried blind firing sub missles and took out a pair of carriers, it was abit of predictive firing(based off fighter courses) but I hit nicely.

Fighter turns are SLOW.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-09-27 07:21pm

Me Europe, AI USSR

I managed to do a lot better in naval combat this time by slowing time down and queueing up full fighter launches on all my carriers. Managed to beat the AI although this was partially because in a shocking reversal of usual strategy, it split it's fleet and sent half of it half-way around the world to come and hit me from off the African coast.

Fortunately, because by that time I'd already emptied my ICBM reserves, and because they launched from too far away, their counter-strike was pretty weak compared to their near-total annihilation (I like playing with max populations and they only had 1.2 million survivors total at the end).

Achieving a massive SLBM/bomber first-strike was pretty fun. I nearly completely wiped them out before I started using my ICBMs.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-27 08:08pm

Europe is 'easy'. For serious. Even the ingame choices say 'solve arguments over who gets to be Europe'. They get small territory, so tightly packed defences and nothing like Russia's wide open spaces. You should be raping them with subs from the Artic, works every time.

Sure they get owned by Russia/US/Africa alliances, but everyone gets owned by teams.

Let's compare escalations. I start with naval actions - the lack of 'conventional bombing' of airbases etc shits me to tears - then settle down to shoot all the inbound scout fighters down. When defcon1 hits, I usually spam out bombers from the remaining carriers on targets of opportunity (the AI often drops radars/airfields far from any defence, so this can be quite effective). If an opportunity presents itself (like piles of missiles/bombers/planes over a target) I use one of my subfleets to destroy all the cities in the distracted area. ICBMs are the *last* weapon I use, and while I almost always win I often have silos I didn't use. Damn the victory countdown! South America was DOOMED!

Since not using silos means you have a powerful defence, forcing the AI into launching with only two or three silos at a time means you'll almost certainly shoot 90% of the missiles down. This can be done by distracting silos with air defence needs - for instance, the nearest silos to me almost never get a chance to fire nukes.

In my last game I won with 250-odd points, and I think I only took one hit to a city. It *was* London - bloody South American opportunism - but all the other nukes fired at me were either shot down or killed Hungarian peasants. Bear in mind we'd jack the population up to 200 from 100 for that game.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-09-28 01:13am

A neat trick is that you can launch nuke-armed bombers during DEFCON 2. They just can't launch nukes until after DEFCON 1 is declared.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-28 01:22am

Yeah, and the 'fire timer' on bombers can count down while they fly around safe inside your territory, then you give them a target and they lob in 30s.

Has anyone won a game by 'firing first'? In all the games I've played, whoever fires first takes the brunt of the retaliation - they get quick points, but they get fucked right up afterward. I guess if you had all silos fire 3 missiles then switch back AND emptied all your subs you could keep your defence up while putting a lot of missiles over the target... but defence is pretty strong.

loomer · Post by **loomer** » 2006-09-28 01:48am

I've won a few games by firing first, but only with 18 submarines off the East coast of America nuking New York and every other large city. Sure, they get blown up after about 3 launches, but by the time they retaliate I've got my fighters in the air and can blow their nukes out of the sky before they even reach my Russian homeland. Then, once they're out of nukes, I just fire every nuke and blanket the entire North American continent in fire.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-28 01:51am

Can fighters shoot down missiles? In my first game I habitually scrambled fighters towards inbound nukes, but I never saw them actually do anything. They can't be set to 'attack' nukes, either.

loomer · Post by **loomer** » 2006-09-28 01:54am

Odd, they seem to be able to shoot nukes down for me... I'll go check again, but I'm pretty sure they can.

EDIT: Nevermind, just a mistake on my part. The silo shots were moving beneath the fighters, so when they peeled aside it looked like they were firing.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-28 01:58am

I've got 'defconreview-1' version, so perhaps yours is different?

Before Defcon 1, can you attack buildings? I got a few bombers through to a radar site, but they were on 'naval combat mode' so they didn't do shit. Are there no conventional ground-attack weapons?

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-09-28 02:09am

I don't believe there are.

Nephtys · Post by **Nephtys** » 2006-09-28 03:09am

A trick I've found, is have each of your silos target a soft target, like an out of the way airfield or radar site, or coastal city. Something not well protected by AA. Fire two missiles from each of your silos, thens witch them ASAP back to defense.

After the two are in the air, the AI'll more than likely finish eating up that salvo, then launch everything they have at you, inviting counter attack.

SylasGaunt · Post by **SylasGaunt** » 2006-09-28 09:10am

I tend to save most of my ICBMS, using a massed force of carrier based and land-based bombers to try and soften up enemy defenses. Meanwhile I try and position sub groups in out of the way places and wait for a launch. When that happens. boom mass MRBM launch targeted at launching silos, airbases, radars, and cities in that order, often with multiple targeted strikes. That usually rips a bit hole in their defenses and I continue with bomber raids and sub launched nukes until they're exhausted. Then once the victory timer begins I click to real time and spam every single nuke I have remaining targeted on cities for maximum points.

I'll fire the occasional ICBM salvo to try and prompt a retaliation though, usually just a barrage of missiles from one launcher while the others stay in air defense mode.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2006-09-28 11:09am

Oh wow.

I went to bed and the faint glow of the world map danced before my eyes as I couldn't stop thinking about the game.

This morning I dreamed of missiles streaking down toward their targets.

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2006-09-28 11:33am

Okay, just ordered the game for £10 ... should be good fun for tomorrow night if nothing else. Can't see it having much longevity, but for a tenner, you can't really grumble.

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-09-28 02:44pm

Uraniun235 wrote:This morning I dreamed of missiles streaking down toward their targets.

Now go read TBO and be inducted into the land of nukey-dom.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-28 02:49pm

I consistently refer - internally and to other players - to my boomers as 'the Shep fleet'. A successful sneak mass launch is 'pulling a Shep'. Is that wrong?

Does the AI use diplomacy at all? IE, can you form alliances with the AI? Forming alliances with players is heaps of fun - especially since anyone can leave at any time... like right after you've tied all your silos up with launches.

Adrian Laguna · Post by **Adrian Laguna** » 2006-09-28 05:10pm

Speaking of Shep, where is he? He made a comment in the first page and never said anything in the thread again. Come on! I can't know for sure it's a good game until it gets a Shep Seal of Approval.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-28 05:26pm

Stark wrote:I consistently refer - internally and to other players - to my boomers as 'the Shep fleet'. A successful sneak mass launch is 'pulling a Shep'. Is that wrong?

I think you may have just given him a wargasm (now that was an underrated game).

Dahak · Post by **Dahak** » 2006-09-28 06:40pm

What is the difference between AI and human conflict?
I just have played against the AI, and I will be called upon to fight against human counterparts this weekend, so I wouldn't mind any helpful suggestions/experience

What is better suited against a human than an AI?

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-28 08:30pm

I find humans are far sneakier with subs, and you've got to pay much more attention to antisub work to stop them. Also, humans will micro naval combat, and you can't distract their silos with bombers etc as the humans will micro those too.

The diplomacy aspect is just excellent, however. Even your allies can't see your boomers, so you can lull them into a false sense of security and pull a Shep on them.

atg · Post by **atg** » 2006-09-28 08:37pm

This thread got me wanting to play DEFCON badly.

So I downloaded via Steam and it won't let me play until "Official Release" at 6pm GMT.

Stark · Post by **Stark** » 2006-09-29 03:50am

I am the king of nuclear war.

I Shepped the Euros right up, and took advantage of the Mexican launches to hit Mexico city and various airports and radars. Unfortunately, the 0.1M dead Americans was my fault, striking a radar right near the border. Otherwise, a perfect round. All three enemy navies obliterated (the Mexicans have three warships in the Pacific, though), Europe flattened, Central America lightly toasted and America safe and secure. Tricking the AI into firing with their silos when you have boomers off the coast = you win.

Post by **weemadando** » 2006-09-29 04:04am

atg wrote:This thread got me wanting to play DEFCON badly.

So I downloaded via Steam and it won't let me play until "Official Release" at 6pm GMT. :evil:

Yeah, I'm hanging out for 1800GMT too. But I can't even play tomorrow morning as I'm having a garage sale that needs supervision! NOOOO!

Ubiquitous · Post by **Ubiquitous** » 2006-09-29 01:04pm

Who would have thought that? It's 6PM, I want my game, but the server is down! I didn't see that one coming!

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2006-09-29 01:24pm

Ubiquitous wrote:Who would have thought that? It's 6PM, I want my game, but the server is down! I didn't see that one coming!

No, it's ~1730 GMT. BST != GMT.