Re: Wish List
Ha! Right on the money. My last "manifesto" included a whooole section on nukes. All very theoretical, of course, since the AI likes to build 'em, but won't use 'em. Have to think what the gameboard would be like with five or six half-decent AI's that have twitchy fingers on The Button. Ugly. Very ugly. Could easily turn into a nuke-all slugfest.
I pushed for the ability to move nukes onto Ballistic Subs and Mobile Launchers (... which is the whole point of each platform ...), the ability to bombard sea spaces, and to "shoot over" water and whang opposing continents. (INTERcontinental vs. INTRAcontinental). Pushed for a six-space range on silo'd nukes, too. As a counter, I suggested cruisers and AA Emplacements having a chance to intercept inbound missiles. The more you've got, the better the odds, up to a 60% cap. (So a bunch of cheap AAs don't instantly confer immunity from nukes.) I also suggested that the anti-missile units 'project' their coverage to neighboring turf, or at least to neighboring turf if the missile flight path arcs over their location near the point of impact.
My fav, though, was suggesting that using nukes carried a level of opprobrium in the 'world community'. Basically, anyone initiating a first strike is far more likely to be nuked in turn by other players (AI), without warning. And that using something extra heinous, like neutron bombs, would pretty much guarantee that other parties would go out of their way to retaliate with first-strike nukes. (Naturally - the victim of a first-strike can retaliate without incurring worldwide opprobrium - they get a pass.) This way, using nukes becomes a lot more "expensive", because anyone who launches a nuke attack is going to take a lot of radioactive flack from everyone else.
Well, at least in a game that has a lot of AIs. In a more "human" world, you might simply reduce AA defense costs for the victimized party. So if Joe nukes Bob, Bob gets an automatic 25% reduction to anti-missile defense costs. Joe gets squat, so he has an incentive NOT to nuke ... unless doing so would be totally cool and wipe out that massive 'Death Fleet' Bob's got hovering way out yonder.
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