Questions about nukes

[Aziphos]

A nuke will cut of supplies...what exactly is the result for the ai(will the ai stop to reinforce the planet)?
If the AI is forced to stop reinforce ists homeworld will it still deploy reserves? (if not nuking would be kind of overpowered)
Are there other reasons to nuke Home/core-worlds? (exept from disabling fortresses)
Will a (normal) commandstation be destroyed even if it is protected (for example by a counterattack guardpost)?

[Hearteater]

Other than the immediate effect of killing any ship not immune to a nuke, the AI doesn't care about them.  They do disable a few structures that require supply like Fortresses and Force Fields, but do note that both the Super Fortress and Core Force Fields do NOT require supply, so nuking homeworlds which also have a lot of Mark V ships isn't generally super effective except in a few special cases.

[Aziphos]

In this case is there a real reason to use nukes? (I think 10 mk3 lightningwarheads should be enabled to cause nearly the same damage on a mkIV system [except against ships which are immune to area damage], at a lesser AI-Progress cost)
Especially nukes above mkI seem really useless (if you aren't using them JUST BECAUSE ).

[TechSY730]

Especially nukes above mkI seem really useless (if you aren't using them JUST BECAUSE ).

They are. Mk. II nukes are supposed to be somewhat silly with very little practical use (though some in some very odd vertex cases, they could be useful), and Mk. III was designed sort of to be a flat out joke.

[keith.lamothe]

Nuke MkII and MkIII basically are useless if you actually want to win the game, yea.  They're basically just there for comical reasons

The mkI can be very useful in a final "win or lose" gambit at the end of the game.  Sometimes moving on the AI HWs involves dealing with attacks (waves and/or CPAs and/or exos, etc, etc) that you simply can't stop, so you can spam warheads (including nukes) on those attackers as long as you take out the homeworlds before all that fresh AIP catches up to you.

There's an AAR in the AAR forum by Faulty Logic that rather impressively demonstrated that utility: http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php/topic,11130.0.html

[LaughingThesaurus]

Especially nukes above mkI seem really useless (if you aren't using them JUST BECAUSE ).

They are. Mk. II nukes are supposed to be somewhat silly with very little practical use (though some in some very odd vertex cases, they could be useful), and Mk. III was designed sort of to be a flat out joke.

Mk III is also good for getting the "It was the only way to be sure" achievement.

[LordSloth]

If you don't mind stretching plausibility, a mark two nuke could be used for getting around core warhead interceptors that are in core worlds, if for some reason you cannot break past the outer ring. Of course, with the strategic reserves and brutal picks, you'll still have a fight even once you break through. Some of the core eyes also got nuke immunity, if I remember correctly, neutering that advantage. Still, cutting off supply on a turtle can be promising.

A mark three nuke could be part of some crazy strategy to bumrush the AI Homeworlds with a full fleet of Fallen Spire Ships and/or Golems, since they're immune to nukes - but it would be the most impractical route to victory ever. I wouldn't mind watching an AAR where someone on a 120 system snake map used all the nuke immune Spirecraft to attempt some kind of crazy coup, though making it there before the retaliation wave would be iffy. On the other hand, Spirecraft Jumpships can hold 5/10/15/20/25 ships each, and I have loaded Spire Frigates onboard before. Without those pesky mk2-4 planets, you should be able to near immediately jump ALL of your frigates to the heart of the AI homeworld for the most insane maneuver. Bonus points for having the transceiver being built at the same time, while the Dark Spire Vengeance Generators are hanging around.

Speaking about actually practical uses of MK1 nukes: Fallen Spire Campaign.
You DO not want to plan on using a nuke, but it can be a lifesaver if you're in the middle of shard retrieval when OTHER things start going wrong, particularly if your co-op games tend towards unspoken iron man no reloads. Just... don't try to co-ordinate this without teamspeak or skype.

And most eyes can be  taken out by nukes. They have the health, but not the immunity. Unless they're hanging around the homeworld.

The best way to use a mk3 doomsday nuke is to slowly build one in a co-op game, (you can afford it if you carefully manage engineers), and forget about it entirely, until a counterwave hits your forgotten system.

[Winge]

The best way to use a mk3 doomsday nuke is to slowly build one in a co-op game, (you can afford it if you carefully manage engineers), and forget about it entirely, until a counterwave hits your forgotten system.

I disagree.  The best way to use a Doomsday device is to break AI War.exe (via out of memory exception) so that you can't lose >D


http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12514.0;attach=6763

Note:  the attached image may have required more than the normal cap of Nuclear Warhead Mk IIIs.  Specifically, 16 times the normal cap made possible by a 16 homeworld game.  Additional warheads may be used at the discretion of the commander.  Side effects of Nuke Mk III use may include evil laughter, Robert Oppenheimer quotes, death, CPU meltdown, and ridiculous AARs.  Nuclear doomsday is not for everyone.  If you have any questions, please contact your nearest mad scientist.

[Histidine]

http://www.arcengames.com/forums/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=12514.0;attach=6763

For me the kicker was having all the fortresses in brownout and the champion just sits there going "Hey guys, what's up?"