Going Nuclear!

[HobbesACW]

Can anyone resist when the option is made available? (I had already won the scenario )

[CapnDarwin]

Such a cool animation. [:D]

[Zakalwe101]

Hobbes

much like yourself, the option was here so I took it, when the missiles first became available I saved the game and carried on playing , achieved a Tactical success, went back a used the nuclear option. Which was costly -5000 vp's and actually achieved very little, targets were fleeting and honestly this late into the game not densely packed - which kind of points to the dilemma I guess NATO would have had, what to strike, when and judging the cost/benefit - I certainly would not have wished to have the decision - in any case would it be a political decision or a military decision or both and could the decision be made quickly enough ?

[Mad Russian]

First it would be a political decision. At the highest levels of all NATO countries involved. Then it would have been a military option to pick the best target in the most opportune moment.

Getting those 2 options to match up would have been formidable.

Good Hunting.

MR

[Stimpak]

And then once one flies - they all fly. Other side responds with their own, the panic sets in, everyone gets excited, then the nuclear planners start barking orders, faxes start racing, missiles warm up, bombers take off, cities start getting erased, communications go silent, electricity is gone, chain of command vanishes, and the war is over in a few hours...

Well, unless the survivors want to fight for the ashes.

[Phoenix100]

I would think the politicians and the military planners would likely be still alive somewhere, squirreled safely away in bunkers, to come out in due course and fight for the ashes.

[fluidwill]

Not allowed to post links but search Youtube for - Yom Kippur War & The Development of U.S. Military Doctrine - John Suprin

Right at the end of this in the Q&A he tells an anecdote about meeting a Ukrainian officer and talking about nuclear release doctrine and apparently the guy says they'd (Soviets)have had to have specific instructions NOT to go nuclear, if they were coming it was behind a wave of nukes, my fave line "500 nukes just for Denmark" which kind of made me blink a bit.

[Mad Russian]

Makes sense.


You have to watch those Danes!!

Good Hunting.

MR

[Zakalwe101]

Just as an aside, as a young Police Officer back in 1987, I would on occasion have to staff the "front office". Behind me on the wall was set of telephones linked to the United Kingdom Warning and Monitoring system, I knew they were part of the civil defence network but no one told me that every few months in the early hours they tested the network, you can no doubt imagine my surprise when one night at 0400 the phone rang. Where I worked was a few miles from RAF Manston with one of the UK's longest runways, images of flying SS20's sprang to mind !