I just downloaded the game two days ago (am loving every bit of it), and I'm facing some trouble in the game as to what should and should not be done. Prophile fed me some tips the other day, which I've used. Here's my playing style for a 1-on-1 game:

DEFCON 5 - 3

• Set up Radars at borders, so that they just overlap.

• Set up Silos near major cities, leaning towards borders.

• Set up Airbases close to borders nearest to Enemy.

• Make 6 fleets of Subs, 2 each; make fleets of Battleships and Carriers (never mixed), about 3 or 4 each. Place all fleets in the same waters.

• Order all Subs to head for Enemy coast. Leave one Carrier fleet and one Battleship fleet near home; order all other fleets to head for Enemy coast.

DEFCON 3

• Engage Enemy fleets as needed.

• If Enemy continent is close to home (U.S.S.R. to Europe, say), send Fighters to scout area (several waves).

DEFCON 2

• Fleets, if everything goes well, are usually standing by near Enemy coast. At this point, the Battleships usually trade fire with Enemy's Airbase squadrons.

• Carrier fleets send a few fighters to scout Enemy's coast.

DEFCON 1

• All Subs set laser sights. Capitals and Silos are first priority, Airbases, Radars, and medium-sized cities next.

• Carrier fleets launch Bombers; targets same as Subs. All fighters launched as cannon fodder/distraction for Enemy air defense.

• Around Victory Timer: When all Subs have launched nukes, and action near Enemy coast is now insignificant (whether success or failure), all Silos switch to ICBMs. All Airbases launch Bombers.

• Continue defense of homeland until end.

That's it. Basically, my fleets attack together in a clump, at once. My own coast is protected by two fleets, one Battleship and one Carrier. I save my ICBMs and Airbase Bombers for last. Lately I've been thinking of my playing style as brute force - less tactical work and more fist-in-your-face strategies. I mean, I win a few times, and I lose a few times. When I win, I'm not satisfied, when I lose, I lose bad.

When I win, it's usually when I'm Europe and the enemy's U.S.S.R. The only reason I win is because the Enemy puts all its fleets south of Asia and works its way past the Cape of Good Hope. I just go through the Arctic Circle. That way, I launch my nukes sooner, and when the Enemy finally arrives, their own homeland's already rubble. But that's not an effective way at all, because it's just a matter of who gets to the Enemy coast sooner, and in the end my cities are hit bad as well.

In another game, I was North America and the enemy was Asia. I lost. Pretty badly. Our fleets went in opposite directions and never met, but it was just a matter of poor management on my part. My West Coast was completely undefended, and my cities were obliterated. Even though I attacked earlier, my final score was in the negative. I think my gaming experience could be a little funner... right now there's not much variety in my games.

I want to know what obvious, completely idiotic blunders I've made, or what obvious, completely essential moves I haven't made. Post your strategies! Unless, of course, it's "classified" and if you told me, you'd have to kill me.

Much thanks to IV and Ambrosia for your hard work, guys. Oh, and congrats to the new moderators. Who did you bribe, cia?

This post has been edited by kitkut : 22 May 2007 - 11:00 AM

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

I just downloaded the game two days ago (am loving every bit of it), and I'm facing some trouble in the game as to what should and should not be done. Prophile fed me some tips the other day, which I've used. Here's my playing style for a 1-on-1 game:

DEFCON 5 - 3

• Set up Radars at borders, so that they just overlap.

• Set up Silos near major cities, leaning towards borders.

• Set up Airbases close to borders nearest to Enemy.

• Make 6 fleets of Subs, 2 each; make fleets of Battleships and Carriers (never mixed), about 3 or 4 each. Place all fleets in the same waters.

• Order all Subs to head for Enemy coast. Leave one Carrier fleet and one Battleship fleet near home; order all other fleets to head for Enemy coast.

Agreed.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

DEFCON 3

• Engage Enemy fleets as needed.

• If Enemy continent is close to home (U.S.S.R. to Europe, say), send Fighters to scout area (several waves).

Try putting your battleships a little further ahead, so that they take the punishment. After all, your carriers are the ones with the nuclear warheads on board.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

DEFCON 2

• Fleets, if everything goes well, are usually standing by near Enemy coast. At this point, the Battleships usually trade fire with Enemy's Airbase squadrons.

• Carrier fleets send a few fighters to scout Enemy's coast.

DEFCON 1

• All Subs set laser sights. Capitals and Silos are first priority, Airbases, Radars, and medium-sized cities next.

• Carrier fleets launch Bombers; targets same as Subs. All fighters launched as cannon fodder/distraction for Enemy air defense.

• Around Victory Timer: When all Subs have launched nukes, and action near Enemy coast is now insignificant (whether success or failure), all Silos switch to ICBMs. All Airbases launch Bombers.

• Continue defense of homeland until end.

The mass attack is the only way to go in the victory timer. I'd send out some fighters before though, from the carriers, to scout.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

That's it. Basically, my fleets attack together in a clump, at once. My own coast is protected by two fleets, one Battleship and one Carrier. I save my ICBMs and Airbase Bombers for last. Lately I've been thinking of my playing style as brute force - less tactical work and more fist-in-your-face strategies. I mean, I win a few times, and I lose a few times. When I win, I'm not satisfied, when I lose, I lose bad.

Eeeeeh... it's better to defend your own coast with just carriers (for anti-sub) and your airbases. Take the battleships in to, ah-ha, battle.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

When I win, it's usually when I'm Europe and the enemy's U.S.S.R. The only reason I win is because the Enemy puts all its fleets south of Asia and works its way past the Cape of Good Hope. I just go through the Arctic Circle. That way, I launch my nukes sooner, and when the Enemy finally arrives, their own homeland's already rubble. But that's not an effective way at all, because it's just a matter of who gets to the Enemy coast sooner, and in the end my cities are hit bad as well.

In another game, I was North America and the enemy was Asia. I lost. Pretty badly. Our fleets went in opposite directions and never met, but it was just a matter of poor management on my part. My West Coast was completely undefended, and my cities were obliterated. Even though I attacked earlier, my final score was in the negative. I think my gaming experience could be a little funner... right now there's not much variety in my games.

Learn to play as other places than Europe.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

I want to know what obvious, completely idiotic blunders I've made, or what obvious, completely essential moves I haven't made. Post your strategies! Unless, of course, it's "classified" and if you told me, you'd have to kill me.

Have you read Introversion's Strategic Air Command briefing area?

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 04:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

Much thanks to IV and Ambrosia for your hard work, guys. Oh, and congrats to the new moderators. Who did you bribe, cia?

The Godfather did him a 'favour'.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 03:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

DEFCON 5 - 3

• Set up Radars at borders, so that they just overlap.

• Set up Silos near major cities, leaning towards borders.

• Set up Airbases close to borders nearest to Enemy.

• Make 6 fleets of Subs, 2 each; make fleets of Battleships and Carriers (never mixed), about 3 or 4 each. Place all fleets in the same waters.

• Order all Subs to head for Enemy coast. Leave one Carrier fleet and one Battleship fleet near home; order all other fleets to head for Enemy coast.

While not all wrong, I do not agree on most.
There are different strategies for different continents, but generally.
Put up all silos as close together as possible, in an area which is tactically smart, or densely populated. Don't care about the rest of your cities.
Radars around the silos. So close that it will take 3+ nukes to take it out. You can also place some where you expect his troop movement and use it as a scout.
But at least 3-4 radars around the silos, so the silos have longer range.
Set up airbases within silo defense range, if you have a coast which is very close to your silos, set them there, and have a few carriers and battleships there.
In most games I think of airbases as fleetdefense. Especially if in continents far from each other.
I would place most fleets in the same waters, but keep some for scouting and defense(together with airbases) if you have another coast. Leave a few carriers to take out sneaky subs.

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 03:50 PM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

DEFCON 5 - 3

I definitely like having my silos in pairs. I also tend to launch early, using half my silos to attack cities and the other half (this is where pairing helps) defend the area from incoming nukes that might be launched at my suddenly very un-secret launch locations. Subs I actually use somewhat late, basically as soon as the enemy starts to use their silos. If I can scout them out early I will hit them early with bombers launched as early as defcon 3 so they are all in the air and can hit simultaneously all their radar and silos first, airbases second. Hopefully few enough casualties to keep bombing cities, with carriers just off their coast to rearm. But I prefer to keep my subs just off the coast and invisible to hit strategic targets. When the enemy launches, I can hit them from real close and end their attack as soon as it started, but naturally if I can catch a silo on my radar before they launch, I can usually take them out with subs and still have MRBMs to spare. My second wave of ICBMs will hopefully hit every city at least once (again, while being protected by their paired silos now empty... assuming the ones I'm using now to launch defended them well enough). If all of their silos are destroyed, I'll use my subs' remaining nukes to hit larger cities.

I suppose the key part of my strategy is the bomber wings. It's more effective against smaller (or more concentrated) nations. I can imagine people needing to change their pants after seeing 30 or so bombers suddenly appearing on their radar at the same time, and then 30 nukes dropped on every single one of their bases all along a coast and perhaps a few cities. That's not something even more than a few air-defense placements can really deal with well enough, and there's really only the threat of fighters to my aircraft, but if my carriers are near I usually flood them area with fighters at the same time. I usually send at least a few bombers on long-range suicide missions to scout out the rest of their territory while the rest rearm to do it again. Once the coastal silos are large white blips on the map, and I've scouted the entire range of my subs, I will launch at their cities. By then the ICBMs may be incoming as well and my remaining bombers will attempt to destroy any silos out of my sub range.

All that said, my win record is probably only 60%, and it works best vs. a single opponent close to my border. For farther away opponents, or ones harder to scout, I probably launch all of my ICBMs as early as possible and hope some of them get through, and they switch back to air defense before the enemy nukes come in. Bombers take the place of subs for hitting launching silos. Subs are close-range city hitters.

What I need to work on most is my coastal defense. Subs and bombers usually get through in higher numbers than I'd like. It depends on what continent I'm on of course, but usually I lose my airbases (my main costal defense) and radar, exposing myself to high casualties. I've also been known to suffer higher fleet casualties than I'd like.

Hah, well, hopefully I'm getting better. I never even knew the Strategic Air Command existed, but now that I do, I dunno what I'd do without it. Thank you, Prophile!

Just finished a Cold War game -- I was the Soviets, and won 52-45 against the States. I was playing a defensive and not rushed game, and it worked. It was a long game though. My Subs waited off the West Coast 'till the enemy switched all its silos to ICBM mode, then took 'em out, plus a few capitals along the way. Definitely an improvement to my previous "attack with all nukes at once as soon as Subs are in range" berserk strategy.

I placed all my silos west near Moscow, and never switched to ICBM mode until very, very late in the game. Too late in the game, actually. Once I realized the enemy had no nukes left, I let it all go, but none of them hit the East Coast like I'd wished -- victory timer stopped when the nukes were halfway through the Atlantic, haha. Well, that just proves that being too patient's not too good, especially since I wasn't playing in Survivor mode. My fleet was also in much better condition. All my Carriers were intact, and I only lost about 4 Subs. My Battleships were decimated, but I think everyone agrees that losing them is a necessary winning strategy.

I still need to work on micromanaging my Fighters, as well as generally learning how to maximize the effectiveness of my air squadrons... my Bombers were the ones who struck the East Coast, but they were Carrier-based, and I didn't let all of them go at once. Rather, I attacked with two waves... maybe that was a mistake. My mainland Bombers never really made any big debut -- I was mainly using them to protect my North coast from enemy Carriers, but I didn't really manage that part of my defense too well. I should've sent 10 Bombers and 10 Fighters to attack the enemy fleet, instead of sending 20 Bombers all at once (my Fighters came late, not really doing much to protect the Bombers). I held the coast, but I lost pretty much all of my land-based long-range nukes, excluding the Silos, which I didn't use.

@kitkut, on May 24 2007, 11:17 AM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

...especially since I wasn't playing in Survivor mode...

You were playing 1vs1. In a 1vs1 game, the scoring modes are all mathematically equivalent. That is, it is a zero sum game in which every point that you gain is directly related to a point that your enemy loses. At the end of the game, the person with the most kills is also going to be the person with the most survivors. In larger games, the scoring mode matters, but if you are against only one opponent, it doesn't really matter.

@kitkut, on May 24 2007, 11:17 AM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

I still need to work on micromanaging my Fighters...

Indeed. Micro-ing fighters is very important. This is especially true because fighters to not automatically pick new targets when their first target dies. Instead, they fly to the point where the target died before giving themselves new orders. That means that it is worth it to watch your fighters and their targets, and manually retarget them as soon as possible.

@kitkut, on May 24 2007, 11:17 AM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

...as well as generally learning how to maximize the effectiveness of my air squadrons... my Bombers were the ones who struck the East Coast, but they were Carrier-based, and I didn't let all of them go at once. Rather, I attacked with two waves... maybe that was a mistake. My mainland Bombers never really made any big debut -- I was mainly using them to protect my North coast from enemy Carriers, but I didn't really manage that part of my defense too well. I should've sent 10 Bombers and 10 Fighters to attack the enemy fleet, instead of sending 20 Bombers all at once (my Fighters came late, not really doing much to protect the Bombers). I held the coast, but I lost pretty much all of my land-based long-range nukes, excluding the Silos, which I didn't use.

The more bombers that you manage to launch at the same time, the more effective they are. Sending them in waves doesn't help much, as you figured out. That being said, it is often better to keep your airbase stationed bombers near the motherland. You have enough carrier based bombers to do plenty of damage. Don't worry about getting their nukes off, especially in a 1vs1 game. I have won several games with 50 or more nukes left over. I think you are well on your way to being a formidable opponent. Good luck.

xander

@kitkut, on May 22 2007, 08:50 AM, said in Tactics and Strategies:

I just downloaded the game two days ago (am loving every bit of it), and I'm facing some trouble in the game as to what should and should not be done. Prophile fed me some tips the other day, which I've used. Here's my playing style for a 1-on-1 game:

DEFCON 5 - 3

• Set up Radars at borders, so that they just overlap.

• Set up Silos near major cities, leaning towards borders.

• Set up Airbases close to borders nearest to Enemy.

• Make 6 fleets of Subs, 2 each; make fleets of Battleships and Carriers (never mixed), about 3 or 4 each. Place all fleets in the same waters.

• Order all Subs to head for Enemy coast. Leave one Carrier fleet and one Battleship fleet near home; order all other fleets to head for Enemy coast.

DEFCON 3

• Engage Enemy fleets as needed.

• If Enemy continent is close to home (U.S.S.R. to Europe, say), send Fighters to scout area (several waves).

DEFCON 2

• Fleets, if everything goes well, are usually standing by near Enemy coast. At this point, the Battleships usually trade fire with Enemy's Airbase squadrons.

• Carrier fleets send a few fighters to scout Enemy's coast.

DEFCON 1

• All Subs set laser sights. Capitals and Silos are first priority, Airbases, Radars, and medium-sized cities next.

• Carrier fleets launch Bombers; targets same as Subs. All fighters launched as cannon fodder/distraction for Enemy air defense.

• Around Victory Timer: When all Subs have launched nukes, and action near Enemy coast is now insignificant (whether success or failure), all Silos switch to ICBMs. All Airbases launch Bombers.

• Continue defense of homeland until end.

mostly agreed, however i usually use my subs for anti-silo operations. if i can see most of the enemy territory (USSR vs Europe) i will unload into his silos the moment i hit defcon one, ohterwise i wait until he starts popping nukes off and nail the silos as they flag. once silos are destroyed, there are no missiles that can get through overlapping coverage from all 6 silos. and with enemy silos dead, you are free to use your bombers to level other military installations.