I think its fairly obvious to anyone who has witnessed a nuclear attack that they are kind of a game breaker at the moment so I thought I'd start a thread and see what other people thought needs to be done to bring them more into line.

Personally I'd like to see:
1. A higher cost. I'm thinking somewhere in the 100k range - the ability to annihilate your opponent should cost more than a day and a half of resources.
2. A smaller radius or GREATLY diminished damage past the epicenter.
3. Reduced damage on structures or the option to "reinforce" a structure to make it invulnerable to nuclear attacks

Anywho... anyone else have ideas?

Yeah agreed, nukes really suck and the first two statements i agree with. However the idea of making a unit invulnerable to a nuclear attack is a little to far, and i think that the damage is just right. I do think that the radiation needs to deplete at a faster rate that way i dont have to drive units around it same with the whole radius idea.

Nukes are the one aspect pf this game that would force me to leave, I think. Unless you started in the very beginning, and are huge and making buckets of money daily, you're at the mercy of all these asshats who seem to have unlimited nukes at their disposal (it doesn't strike me as odd at all - not even in the least - that these same people all named after a certain real world rodent-run empire seem to play from the same house supposedly which is very convenient...what the hell...are the Goslings playing GT now?). These people can just end your game any time they want to do it.

If we're going to have nukes, then let's have an ultimate type of defense to nukes that's buildable in either the main town or wherever, and would essentially serve as a Patriot missile system, or some sort of Star Wars Defense Network.

Nukes, in my opinion, if used, do too much damage, destabilize the game and discourage two parties from engaging in conventional warfare for fear of being nuked...pretty much like they do in the real world, except that in the real world, most countries wouldn't use 15 nukes on Jawesomestan because the fallout alone would destroy their own country in a few months. Of course who wants to program for fallout, not to mention the inevitable public outcry that would essentially cause your national output to grind to a screeching halt? Not me. I couldn't program my way out of a wet paper bag.

Also not a big fan of the idea of nukes. Just my 2 cents.

I had planned on drastically reducing the blast radius and increasing the cost after the restart. However, now that I'm not sure when that will happen, I'm thinking I should do that sooner rather than later.

I suppose I didn't think it was fair for some people to get the strong one and others to get a weak one, but I think it's really going to start hurting the current game. So, fair warning: the bomb specs may change at any time!

The blast radius in real terms is so huge that one nuke can literally knock out an entire front that in real terms is probably 300-400 miles across. I think if you'd like to keep nukes in while balancing the game, either offer a way to eliminate them en route (Patriot Missile type system or Star wars defense network at some huge price) or only allow them a reasonable radius, say 20 miles across, or maybe three squares total. People right now are using them in lieu of actual strategy.

Personally, I'd rather see them disappear altogether, as I feel like they destroy the purity of strategy. On the other hand, a smaller radius nuke might add to the level of strategy so that people don't simply clump up a large force.

I'm enjoying this immensely, especially the part about being able to take part in a game during development where the developer's ego seems to be smaller than his idea.

For the love of god look at my country! I'd be lucky if my people were more than puddles of goo! If you make a change sadly I believe it may be a little too later for the citizens of the of Jawesomestan.

yeah, but you were warned it would happen, and its only bout 25% threw.

Hey I know I asked for it but its still kinda lame that theres nothing I can do to defend myself.

Pretty much.

i as under the impression that nukes could be stopped by turrets, even if many ere needed to do the job. other aircraft have the same vulnerability

The way I understand, is that aircraft fly straight to the target and are subject to attack by ANY force they cross. Build up your defenses in concentric circles radiating out from your capital and maybe, just maybe, the nuke will be shot down.

Yes, anything launched from an airbase takes <i>some</i> damage from any units they pass over, and <i>full</i> damage from any defensive turrets they pass.

Bombs have a much higher armor level, though, so they're much more difficult to shoot down (hence the <i>$80,000</i> price tag)!

just started playing, day 3 or 4 im nuked and out from an overwhelming force. that sucked, cant play a game that takes a player out in one move.

That may have something to do with the fact that you started a half inch away from a huge country on a continent full of established countries.

You'll fair much better starting in a newly developed area. Please let me know if you'd like me to surrender your current country so you can rejoin.

Dat was me. Johnny is right. You might want to get established far away from any superpowers to build yourself up. I nuked you out of convenience because I didn't feel like creating a whole bunch of tanks or jeeps at that particular moment. But at least it gave me something to do because the whole western part of that continent abandoned the game in mortal fear of what was coming.

Yeah starting in an area where you know there is a huge country next door who will likely be encroaching on your space isn't very smart. I would have nuked you too, frankly.

Everyone loves nukes

I don't. I hate them and haven't used one yet. They are always an option though, and I have them ready to use. I just choose not to use them.

kinda hard when i have no idea whats going on in a game i just started. im out.

True. I haven't gotten that far yet so I don't know anything about them.

I haven't used one and don't own one and won't own one . And I could have a bunch.

I prefer the combat to the straight up destruction.

And before anyone quits, they should fire off a note to Johnny. He will let you dissolve your country and restart somewhere new. There is plenty of space available since some new continents are opening up. Just get as far away from anyone as you can.

I've added a message to the join page strongly urging users to select a starting location far from large, established countries. Hopefully that will help going forward.

As much as I hate to recommend this, but maybe you need to add a few "seed" cities on an uninhabited continent.

I am still waiting for Johnny to dissolve his country and start over. LOL

I want to know if he gets to see everyone's moves...

Just load the map and keep hitting reloading. It'll be any second now.

hahaha I'm probably the only player who has set moves everyday since the game launched. I've certainly grown quite a bit, but I think it serves as a useful "test" for this alpha run. Players will have to learn how to adapt or fight.

There's probably a <i>lot</i> of stuff I can code in, if I wanted. It would be a bit be a bit pointless, though, because I wouldn't get to play and test the game the way actual users play. (I'd also have to be a pretty big dildo to spend all that time making a game so I can give myself superpowers and make everyone not want to play it. haha)

I guess I hadn't really thought of it from your perspectives too much. Does it feel unfair to play against the game's creator? Do you feel like I could be cheating all the time?

It's certainly important that I play during the alpha, but if it does bother you guys, I'd have to consider not joining the game after the final launch. (I do love playing, but once I get the mini version of it complete, I could always play a game against my friends instead.)

The only thing that I feel is unfair (and it really isn't) is that you have been playing since inception.

Yes but his nation is old and bloated. His people are lazy and weak, his armies tired of war. I'd say he's ripe for the picking. (As I sit six months travel distance from him...)

[/grin]

Didn't really think there was much to this when I first read it, but now that Johnny has arrived on my doorstep I've been giving it more thought (call it the self-preservation instinct kicking in), and I do think there are obviously some built-in advantages for him.

Right now I'm sitting here contemplating what my next steps should be to try to prevent him from getting a foothold in the big southern continent. And since he attacked me today, I can only assume there will be more attacks headed my way tomorrow.

He's planning his next steps with full knowledge of what attacks are most effective against different types of units. He knows just how much force to use to take out my troops, while I'm sort of shooting in the dark, not knowing if there's an advantage in attacking with one unit versus another, and either wasting resources by "over attacking" or fighting ineffectively by sending two missiles when three are needed.

Can a missile hit a ship? Does sending five missiles give me a better chance of hitting a target, or just do more damage when the attack arrives? Are jets more or less likely to hit targets?

Johnny, I certainly don't expect you to take it easy on me because I'm bringing this up, but when the "real" game gets going, I think it will be important that if you do play, there is an explanation of some of these things available to the rest of us. (And if this is already available and I'm just too stupid to find it, I apologize for wasting your time with this rather long-winded rant.)

Here here, there has been some trial and error on my part on this. He would certainly have an advantage in these aspects. I wouldn't expect him to provide code or anything, but a basic attack formula would be nice. I know that we won't know exactly how many hit points the enemy has, but it would be nice to know that a new jeep has 12 hp and a plane does 1d8 damage.

Please feel free to ask any questions you have! Maybe I'll create a thread in "Help" and make sure I check every post and reply.


<i>Can a missile hit a ship?</i>

Yep.


<i>Does sending five missiles give me a better chance of hitting a target, or just do more damage when the attack arrives?</i>

The missile attack has more strength, so it's more likely to survive (at least partially) when flying over enemy units/turrets. It would also do more damage on impact.


<i>Are jets more or less likely to hit targets?</i>

Units don't have an "accuracy" rating, so it's really about strength and armor. I'll be posting the game variable values shortly.