War. War never changes.

[bhodi]

I suck at this game.  I haven't figured out why.  Yet.

Use your subs as immediate retaliation; They keep shooting down my ICBMS becuase they can unload their entire arsenal AND get back into defensive posture before my nukes can even get there. As soon as you see one or two launches, get your subs surfaced and unload.

"Missile Shields" from the bunkers seem to have higher effectiveness than our real-world counterparts, it's entirely possible to play a defensive game 1v1 and have NONE of your cities hit, but it simply doesn't work in a 3+ player game becuase you get two points for every kill, one of those players will have more points than you.

[Samwise]

I think I understand the broad points of when to launch the nukes and when to hold back, but whenever I launch my nukes they evaporate before they cross the enemy border, and whenever the enemy launches his nukes all of my defensive thingies just orbit around them happily until they explode.  Is there an option somewhere to not let your silo operators come to work drunk?

[bhodi]

Nope, it pretty much seems that way. Dunno what to tell you except to heavily exploit the fact that their borders are completely vunerable when their silos go into launch mode, and to launch on them before they switch back with your short range subs. I also tend to put my silos on the edge of my territory, giving them the most possible time for their fire do laps around incoming ICBMS. It takes timing, but you can also fly bombers/fighters ahead of your nukes, as defenses attack the first thing they see, and sometimes they last long enough for your nukes to slip in. That, and doubling or trippling up your nukes (time your launches so two enter their territory at the same time) tends to work as well.

[Samwise]

Maybe I just need to work on sub positioning, then.  The naval game is slightly mysterious to me as well - I suspect I'm supposed to be micromanaging my ships a lot more than I am, since I routinely get wiped out in naval combat even if it's my entire navy against a small expeditionary force.

This may all be tied to the fact that the tutorial got wedged for me about halfway through and I never went back and finished it.  (Same thing happened with Uplink, come to think of it.)

[Surlyboi]

"There's no such thing as a winnable war, it's a lie we don't believe anymore..."

Damn, this game is haunting. Who decided to put the person coughing in the background?

[Ironwood]

I played the demo and, frankly, I'm not seeing the fun.

Does it get any better in the full version ?

[Big Gulp]

I played the demo and, frankly, I'm not seeing the fun.

Does it get any better in the full version ?

Nope, except you can set up different scenarios (different regions, more than 2 warring regions, etc).  If you don't like what you see in the demo you shouldn't buy the game.  Oh, and I pity you for not loving it.  I suggest a steady diet of Failsafe, Dr. Strangelove, and WarGames to make up for this deficiency.

[Ironwood]

I get that.  I just remember playing this game when I was younger and, frankly, it's not really been updated much.

Hell, you could look back even further and it'd just be another Missile Command Clone.

I can maybe see that it might be interesting in Multiplayer, but, er, Meh.

[bhodi]

I got my $10 worth of fun out of it.

[Yoru]

The AI is too weak for me to find the singleplayer fun. Multiplayer with 4 or more is what I like, particularly when it comes to making and breaking diplomatic deals. Dealing with ceasefires for flyover nukes is always fun.

[Yoru]

Patch released 18 Oct 2006.

Mostly server browser upgrades and fixes. Steam people will get it automatically.

[eldaec]

Is there any reason to ever want to play as any nation other than Europe?

As far as I can tell Europe is set up with strictly superior city locations and coastline.

I don't see how subs can ever threaten the coastline, it's reasonably easy to house carriers safely in the arctic ocean and blockade the baring straight, giving me easy bomber access to Russia and NA (plus you control Iceland), I can wipe out Cairo without bombers having to leave my territory, and Atlantic access gives subs a decent chance of providing quick response nukes when NA, SA, or Africa reveal their positions.

The cities are so compact I can put all my silos almost next to each other making their defensive capabilities stronger, and at the same time making the silo rush is easier to manage (icbms are easier to bunch together to ensure most get through).

The geography seems to give Europe an advantage over every region bar Asia (Europe v Asia I'd rate as a wash).

The only downside I see to playing Europe is that I'd expect any player with any sense would want to form a worldwide alliance to wipe out the damn frogs within 5 minutes of defcon1.

[bhodi]

In terms of a multiplayer game, I've found the only person more dangerous than europe is the US; They can sit and turtle, and, after everyone's done blowing each other up, they can come in and clean up the mess.

[Surlyboi]

War apparently does change...

http://graphics.stanford.edu/~danielrh/christmas/

This is an awesome mod. A few days too late, but still, enjoy the christmas spirit for a little longer.

[Triforcer]

Sorry for the necropost, but I just became aware of this game and am wondering how easy it is to get online play anymore- is there still an active community?  That's the bad thing about online games- when they get lower than that critical mass necessary to keep people coming in, you are left with tumbleweeds and wasted dollars. 

[schild]

Honestly Triforcer, I think this is the kind of game that for it's entire lifecycle, you'll be able to go into your favorite forum, and say "anyone up for a game of Defcon" and SOMEONE will answer the call. It won't be me because my computer doesn't like bright colors right now, but someone will. No one is going to miss their chance to nuke the shit out of you.

[Strazos]

I'm sure at least a few people here have the game, myself included.

[Rithrin]

I still give it a play every once in a while. Unfortunately, I'm not much of an opponent.