Nuclear War Games

solops · September 09, 2014, 09:57:41 PM

I am looking for a Nuclear War game. I played the old Nuclear Destruction game (play-by-mail) for years and I still have my copy of the original edition of the Nuclear War card game. All I have found is First Strike for Android and Defcon for the PC. First Strike is a bit simplistic and has a pre-supposed moral position....not what I want at all. Defcon is a bit aged and I have read of problems with keys for the Steam version. Is there anything like Defcon out there or in development? Something a bit more involved and open-ended? Like I would count having 0.001% of my population alive in caves/mines for 50 years a Total Victory if the other guys were toast...no mine-shaft gap for me!

RooksBailey · September 09, 2014, 10:13:35 PM

I wish I had a recommendation for you. Sadly, I don't. I don't know why, but strategic nuclear war games have been scarcer that radioactive hen's teeth. For decades now I've wanted a strategic nuke game along the lines of like something seen in the movie Wargames: a sim that plays out across days where I can target individual cities, position subs, get expected casualty figures, and, yes, play out variants like the ones seen at the end of the movie. DEFCON came the closest. Sadly, that game was abandoned way to early IMO because there was so much more potential to it that they could have explored (they should have forgotten Darwinia+ and worked on a DEFCON 2 instead). :(

There were a few nuke wargame projects over the years, but none of them ever came to fruition to my knowledge (that HoI-modded Cold War game being the latest to fail to launch).

Really wish some game dev would get to work on such a game....

Here's hoping someone here knows of such a game!

EDIT: never heard of First Strike before, but it looks great. Thanks for the tip!

HistoricalGamer · September 09, 2014, 10:22:40 PM

I always enjoyed Bravo Romeo Delta but the game is really old, still if you can get it to work its worth the effort imho.

GDS_Starfury · September 09, 2014, 10:24:16 PM

Defcon on Steam is pretty good both solo an mp and its only $10.

jomni · September 09, 2014, 10:34:20 PM

http://www.mobygames.com/game/nuclear-war

Baloogan · September 09, 2014, 11:34:49 PM

I haven't played this game, but I'd really like to.
Nuclear War

Another game is RUSE, made by the folks who made Wargame: Red Dragon

Command (CMANO) also involves nuclear weapons too! I've got quite a few videos of Command here
I also have an entire episode dedicated to a modern attack on china's nuclear weapons.

Another game I'm keeping my eye on is First Strike

There really needs to be more games about nuclear warfare. ;D

GDS_Starfury · September 09, 2014, 11:44:58 PM

Defcon has that "would you like to play a game" flavor.

Ive played RUSE on the XBox and its not so much nuclear war. it has it as a perk you can get at a point.

jejo68 · September 10, 2014, 12:39:32 AM

So what would be a goal in a nuke game.
To see WHO can destroy the World first ?

jomni · September 10, 2014, 12:42:54 AM

Ruse?

MikeGER · September 10, 2014, 01:58:56 AM

Quote from: Baloogan on September 09, 2014, 11:34:49 PM
Command (CMANO) also involves nuclear weapons too! I've got quite a few videos of Command

I second CMANO as THE game for analysing a Nuclear War situation

Baloogan, there is a new scenario out with the latest Community Pack
"Wargasm: It is 1962" ...maybe we all see a new Video from you soon ;-)

bbmike · September 10, 2014, 05:12:11 AM

I've discovered the hard way (a lot more than once) that Sid Meier's Civilization can be a Nuclear War game. :P

bayonetbrant · September 10, 2014, 05:27:21 AM

is there a computer version of this one?
http://www.victorypointgames.com/toe-to-toe-nu-klr-combat-with-the-rooskies.html

Jarhead0331 · September 10, 2014, 06:35:45 AM

I second HistoricalGamer's vote on Bravo Romeo Delta. It is still the only dedicated simulation of global thermal nuclear warfare available on the PC. It models everything, from weaponry, ICBMs, SLBMs, strategic bomber forces, communications, yield, radiation, radar and detection, etc. yes, it is very antiquated in terms of UI, graphics and sound, but even with old CGA graphics and a keyboard based UI, I still find the game chilling.

If you can find it, it's worth your while.

bboyer66 · September 10, 2014, 08:15:07 AM

Just out in the latest scenario pack for Command Modern Air/Naval Ops

Wargasm: It is 1962 and you are one of the Strategic Air Command's finest. Your job is conducting thermonuclear war against the forces of the Soviet Union. A massive and and well-researched scenario. (Note: The corny-sounding title is from authentic declassified nuclear war plans of the era!)

Will download it tonight.