After experimenting with nuclear bombers in a recent 100p team match, this is what I have learned.
When to build them?
Nukes are useful when the enemy is grouped into large formations. Nukes are more useful when you have air superiority, but enemy AA coverage is less important, as explained later.
Who should build them?
Nukes are expensive, to the point where you won't be able to build much else, so they are more practical when you have coalition partners who can cover for you in the ground game and feed you rares. Allies get them 2 days sooner, so if you're in a coalition, make sure an Allied player takes that role. You don't want the other side to get 2 days ahead.
Where to stage your bomber?
The bomber range is huge, so it doesn't matter where you keep them overnight. They get to the front line with 1 rebase. Yes, they are slow, but rebasing is more about repeat refueling times and less about flight times.
Why do you need air superiority?
Nuclear bombers fly alone. You cannot stack them with other planes. They are extremely vulnerable when flying over enemy territory. You can try patrolling along the flight path, and this will help against small interceptor attacks, but a full stack of interceptors will get through and shoot down your expensive bomber. You can try attacking when the enemy is AFK, by that works with any unit, and I'm not going to bring up the obvious.
What if the enemy has AA coverage?
If the enemy target's total AA defense approaches or exceeds your bomber HP, then your bomber may get shot down. Even it's not shot down, the more damage it takes, the weaker the nuke damage. This is very counter-intuitive. You have 1 bomber and 1 bomb. It either works or it doesn't, right? Wrong. It behaves just like a flight of conventional bombers. Some get shot down, and the remainder do partial damage. This leads to disappointing results.
Can you avoid enemy AA defenses?
Yes, you can. This is because the blast radius of a nuclear weapon is 50km, same as the range of a cruiser or normal artillery. That means your don't have to hit the intended target. You just have to hit within 50km of the target.
There are 3 ways to do that:
1. Target an enemy province or city center. Make sure your target is close enough to catch the blast, but far enough to not cover the target point with it's AA splash radius (about 5km).
2. Use another enemy unit as the target. This can be a unit coming to or going from the large stack. This happens when reinforcements arrive, or scouts are leaving.
3. Use a neutral or friendly unit as the target. This will start a war, but it's a sneaky tactic, and you can always sign peace later.
What about AA splash damage?
AA splash damage works against nuclear bombers. If the strike point is within 5km of a ground unit with good AA defenses, they can and will shoot at the bomber, even if the bomber is not targeting them directly. If you're trying to time an attack to hit moving targets, give them some extra space. It sucks to lose a bomber after you put in a lot of careful planning.
Can the target hide in a bunker?
No. Bunkers provide no protection against nuclear blasts. Very counter-intuitive. The units will die, leaving the bunker intact. Behaves more like a chemical weapon than a nuke.
Can the target run from the bomber?
If you target a unit, the bomber will track that unit, updating the strike location. This is different from a missile, which targets the location at the time of the launch. There is no use running from a nuclear bomber.
The only things the target can do are:
1. Combine with other units, building up enough AA cover to shoot down the bomber.
2. Run away from friendly units to keep them out of the 50km blast radius.
Does it help to create some distance from the center of the blast?
No. Nukes have a splash radius of 50 km (same as artillery or a cruiser). Everything inside that radius suffers full damage. Outside of that radius, units suffer zero damage. This is not intuitive at all, but this is how it works. If you can't get outside of artillery range, forget about it, don't bother running.
Can you nuke friendly territory?
No. Nukes cannot target friendly territory, or enemy units inside friendly territory. If the area belongs to an ally, the game will ask if you want to declare war on your ally.
The best way to nuke an invader is to wait for them to capture a province, and then target the province center as the enemy stack is passing through. Just be aware that nuclear bombers are slow. You cannot take off when the province changes hands, because by the time the bomber gets there, the enemy may be outside the blast radius. Target the enemy while it's far away, or target another enemy in that direction, and time your pass over the intended strike location.
Can you patrol your bombers to get in position?
Nuclear bombers cannot patrol, but they do have a patrol cone. You can change the target to anything within that original cone. If you target outside the cone, the bomber will fly back to refuel.
One way to position a nuclear bomber and wait for a target is to change the target location in flight, bouncing between targets, or flying back and forth between the target and the air base. If you have the opportunity, you can also use this tactic to approach the target from an unsuspected direction, buying you time to strike before the enemy can move their fighter patrol.
Nuclear bombers take a lot of resources and time to research. They are expensive to build. They are slow and relatively fragile. But if you know how and when to apply them, they can deliver a back breaking blow to an opponent's army and to their morale.
Have fun!
When to build them?
Nukes are useful when the enemy is grouped into large formations. Nukes are more useful when you have air superiority, but enemy AA coverage is less important, as explained later.
Who should build them?
Nukes are expensive, to the point where you won't be able to build much else, so they are more practical when you have coalition partners who can cover for you in the ground game and feed you rares. Allies get them 2 days sooner, so if you're in a coalition, make sure an Allied player takes that role. You don't want the other side to get 2 days ahead.
Where to stage your bomber?
The bomber range is huge, so it doesn't matter where you keep them overnight. They get to the front line with 1 rebase. Yes, they are slow, but rebasing is more about repeat refueling times and less about flight times.
Why do you need air superiority?
Nuclear bombers fly alone. You cannot stack them with other planes. They are extremely vulnerable when flying over enemy territory. You can try patrolling along the flight path, and this will help against small interceptor attacks, but a full stack of interceptors will get through and shoot down your expensive bomber. You can try attacking when the enemy is AFK, by that works with any unit, and I'm not going to bring up the obvious.
What if the enemy has AA coverage?
If the enemy target's total AA defense approaches or exceeds your bomber HP, then your bomber may get shot down. Even it's not shot down, the more damage it takes, the weaker the nuke damage. This is very counter-intuitive. You have 1 bomber and 1 bomb. It either works or it doesn't, right? Wrong. It behaves just like a flight of conventional bombers. Some get shot down, and the remainder do partial damage. This leads to disappointing results.
Can you avoid enemy AA defenses?
Yes, you can. This is because the blast radius of a nuclear weapon is 50km, same as the range of a cruiser or normal artillery. That means your don't have to hit the intended target. You just have to hit within 50km of the target.
There are 3 ways to do that:
1. Target an enemy province or city center. Make sure your target is close enough to catch the blast, but far enough to not cover the target point with it's AA splash radius (about 5km).
2. Use another enemy unit as the target. This can be a unit coming to or going from the large stack. This happens when reinforcements arrive, or scouts are leaving.
3. Use a neutral or friendly unit as the target. This will start a war, but it's a sneaky tactic, and you can always sign peace later.
What about AA splash damage?
AA splash damage works against nuclear bombers. If the strike point is within 5km of a ground unit with good AA defenses, they can and will shoot at the bomber, even if the bomber is not targeting them directly. If you're trying to time an attack to hit moving targets, give them some extra space. It sucks to lose a bomber after you put in a lot of careful planning.
Can the target hide in a bunker?
No. Bunkers provide no protection against nuclear blasts. Very counter-intuitive. The units will die, leaving the bunker intact. Behaves more like a chemical weapon than a nuke.
Can the target run from the bomber?
If you target a unit, the bomber will track that unit, updating the strike location. This is different from a missile, which targets the location at the time of the launch. There is no use running from a nuclear bomber.
The only things the target can do are:
1. Combine with other units, building up enough AA cover to shoot down the bomber.
2. Run away from friendly units to keep them out of the 50km blast radius.
Does it help to create some distance from the center of the blast?
No. Nukes have a splash radius of 50 km (same as artillery or a cruiser). Everything inside that radius suffers full damage. Outside of that radius, units suffer zero damage. This is not intuitive at all, but this is how it works. If you can't get outside of artillery range, forget about it, don't bother running.
Can you nuke friendly territory?
No. Nukes cannot target friendly territory, or enemy units inside friendly territory. If the area belongs to an ally, the game will ask if you want to declare war on your ally.
The best way to nuke an invader is to wait for them to capture a province, and then target the province center as the enemy stack is passing through. Just be aware that nuclear bombers are slow. You cannot take off when the province changes hands, because by the time the bomber gets there, the enemy may be outside the blast radius. Target the enemy while it's far away, or target another enemy in that direction, and time your pass over the intended strike location.
Can you patrol your bombers to get in position?
Nuclear bombers cannot patrol, but they do have a patrol cone. You can change the target to anything within that original cone. If you target outside the cone, the bomber will fly back to refuel.
One way to position a nuclear bomber and wait for a target is to change the target location in flight, bouncing between targets, or flying back and forth between the target and the air base. If you have the opportunity, you can also use this tactic to approach the target from an unsuspected direction, buying you time to strike before the enemy can move their fighter patrol.
Nuclear bombers take a lot of resources and time to research. They are expensive to build. They are slow and relatively fragile. But if you know how and when to apply them, they can deliver a back breaking blow to an opponent's army and to their morale.
Have fun!
