5-Dec-2006 Learn how to nuke the opposition to radioactive dust with our game guide In a bunker cluttered with wires and barely illuminated by rows of flickering screens, a man finally stamps his fist on a desk. "Dammit Hogarty, we need a decision now! My son is out there," he shouts, stamping his fist on a desk. I fire an indomitable glance in his direction.
"You think I don't know that?" I ask, stamping my fist on a desk. "I've got a wife out there too," I declare with a fist stamp. "God help us all." Stamping my fist on a desk, I give the order. "Launch the ICBMs, and have our families en route to Australia within the hour." My fist really hurts...
1) YOU'RE UP, EUROPE Europe has a rather unfair advantage over the rest of the world, in that it's the smallest continent available (thank you, continental drift). This means that all of its high-population cities are more easily defended by a few silos placed on the mainland. If you're playing against North America, be sure to place radar in Iceland to get a heads-up on any nuclear missiles heading your way. Silos in Scandinavia, Scotland and Ireland will start swatting away many nuclear attacks from the US, but be sure to defend London well - it's Europe's bullseye for nukes, worryingly.
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2) Youth in Asia When playing as Asia, your main priority should be to defend your eastern coastline. Your most populated city is Tokyo - if it gets bombed, there won't be any Nintendo, Sony, soiled knickers or cartoon porn, so you should consider placing almost all of your silos on the eastern side of China. In Diplomacy mode, try to ally with Russia - there's enough hostility in the world without having to worry about Siberian nukes from the north. If they combine their forces, the East makes a formidable opponent. Just don't tell them that.
3) AMERICA, HELL YEAH Any idiot can choose to control the United States. The same rule applies in DEFCON (ahahah, see what we did there?), but it takes a bit of know-how to defend the country well. A passing interest in geography will tell you that it's a wide country with major cities on either coast. Europe will have subs sitting outside New York waiting to blow it up (goddamn them all to hell), while the Russians will be loitering around San Francisco and Los Angeles. A couple of fleets of battleships and carriers should put them off, while radar in Canada and Alaska will warn of freedom-hating nukes from the sky.
4) SUB SCOUTS Submarines don't appear on conventional radar, meaning you can march them right up to your enemy's coastlines and they won't notice. It also means they can do the same to you. If you wait by the beaches until your foe begins launching ICBMs, you can quickly retaliate with nuclear strikes from your subs on the now-undefended silos - a tactic which will render your enemy partially defenceless. Be warned that subs themselves are easily wiped out when surfaced, and also remember that not all fleets have to contain six units, so don't be afraid to spread the sub-love around.
5) Sub of the day Defending yourself from sub attacks can be achieved in a number of ways. The most effective way is by right-clicking on any aircraft carriers you own and putting them in anti-submarine mode. This means subs will show up within their radar range, so have them patrol the coastline around your big cities - those underwater sailors won't know what hit them. Another way is to wait until they surface before attacking them with fighters, bombers and battleships, but this method usually allows subs to fire off a nuke or two before you can destroy them.
6) OF RADARS AND SILOS One of the most basic strategic elements of DEFCON is the fact that to launch an ICBM from a silo, you must deactivate its air defences. Silos are effective at shooting down nukes, but confuse them with bombers, nukes, fighters, more nukes and nukes from submarines, and they'll let a few slip through. Destroy nearby radar installations to severely cripple the silos' ability to stop nukes, and if enemy silos are launching their own death rockets into the sky, hit them while they're defenceless. It's all about timing, and playing against people who don't know any better.
7) Carrier command Fleets are so much more than victims of DEFCON 3 scuffles, and having most of your ships still afloat is a massive advantage later in the game. Battleships should always be accompanied by some carriers or subs, as they're vulnerable to attacks from enemy submarines. Carriers locate and attack subs, as well as launch fighters (who can also scout) and launch bombers carrying nukes. A fleet of six subs is a powerful and rapid way of levelling a freshly revealed enemy silo, but they'll be destroyed almost instantly by nearby fleets or airbases along the coastline if they don't have floaty protection.
8) SOMETHING IN THE AIR TONIGHT Place airbases during DEFCON 4, when you can see enemy silos on your radar (or at least the ones within range). Otherwise, your planes become targets as soon as they take off. Also, because bombers require 240-seconds to arm themselves after taking off, you might find them being shot down before they can drop their bomb. To prevent this, have them fly away from the enemy territory for a bit, giving them a chance to prepare themselves, then command them to fly to their intended target for the best strike possible, while repeatedly muttering: "My god, what have we done?" You just scored another 20 points is what you done.
