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The Tactical Nuke Silo is the Soviets' superweapon capable of launching a tactical nuclear missile – basically a smaller version of the MIDAS – on their enemies.

Official description[]

For a long time, resolutions and treaties were created to limit the deployment of nuclear weaponry. Sadly, these agreements were cast out by the Soviets when they attacked the United States. The Tactical Nuke Silo builds, arms, and launches nuclear missiles. Infamous for its sheer destructive capabilities, the nuclear missile is an imposing weapon used only in the most dire of situations.[1]

Overview[]

For a detailed list of changes from the original game, click here.

Superweapon Description
Nukeicon
Type: Offensive Superweapon
Recharge Time: 10:00 (15:00 in Infantry Only)

Launches a tactical nuclear missile that significantly damages everything in the targeted area
Leaves a strong radiation field

Explosion can harm aircraft

Left-click icon then left-click on target location

 General tips[]

  • Superweapons are expensive and power hungry. In some circumstances (such as limited funds) it may be more beneficial to spend credits on other buildings or units.
  • All players will be notified of the construction and activation of a superweapon via an EVA announcement, and every player can see the countdown of a superweapon. Unlike in Red Alert 2 however, the minimap will not show where a superweapon is located, nor the fog of war will be removed around the superweapon.
  • Build a superweapon only when it is safe to do so. Building one in the wrong circumstances (such as insufficient funds or low power) can be costly.
  • Place superweapons preferably at the back of the base, so enemy units will have to fight through your defenses to reach it.
  • Surround a superweapon with walls to prevent a timer reset by sneaky spies.
  • Superweapons do not guarantee victory. Apart from a long cooldown between activations, an experienced enemy player can destroy a superweapon or find the means to delay it (sabotaging it with infiltration units, eliminating power sources) before it is even activated.
  • Enemies are able to recover quickly after a superweapon activation if they have a captured Tech Maintenance Center. Destruction of this tech building is vital to ensuring an enemy base stays crippled.
  • In light of the above statement, be wary of certain support powers that can mitigate losses of a superweapon activation (such as European Alliance's Force Shield).
  • A.I. opponents tend to build a superweapon in certain, predictable circumstances, such as the following:
    • When the A.I. base suddenly has enough build space for one (usually after decimating a large portion of their base) if their base beforehand has occupied all the available space. This will often cause a low power situation, which can be used as an opportunity to finish them off.
    • When a player has constructed the first superweapon in the match, A.I. opponents will surely build their own to retaliate afterwards.

 Counters[]

  • Arguably the best counter to a superweapon is to prevent the opposing player from building one in the first place.
    • Destroying the enemy's Tier 3 access structure is the most direct option.
    • Disrupt the enemy's economy, whether by eliminating ore miners or Tech Oil Derricks. Infiltrating the enemy's Ore Refinery is also another option. Note that this tactic is not effective against A.I. opponents due to their infinite money perk.
    • Attentive players can occasionally tell if a superweapon is being constructed if the enemy player hasn't built a structure for a long time. If this is the case, eliminating other important structures may force the opponent to cancel the construction of said superweapon.
  • Knocking out the power grid and/or the superweapon itself with anti-building capabilities are the most conventional countermeasures, whether in a direct assault or guerrilla tactics. Examples include the following:
    • The Allies' Barracuda bombers can drop their payload and return to base with few or no casualties. 4 of them can take down a superweapon in a heartbeat. The Epsilon's Basilisks can somewhat fulfill this role too, due to their decent speed and relatively long range.
    • If the superweapon is not defended by anti-infantry defenses or walls, Tanya (if playing as United States) or Navy SEALs can plant C4 in the superweapon. The C4 detonation is enough to take it down in little time (1 C4 for Tanya, while 2 for SEAL).
  • If the opposing base cannot be assaulted without taking significant casualties, delaying the countdown of a superweapon is another option. The methods for doing this are:
    • Infiltrating the superweapon directly, resetting the countdown.
    • Infiltrating or destroying power plants to shut down the entire enemy base. Since this causes most stationary defenses to become disabled, this is an excellent opportunity to eliminate the superweapon threat.
  • The Foehn Revolt has the defining technology to completely block a superweapon from targeting a specific area, either through mobile Raccoons or the power-dependent Signal Inhibitor. Haihead subfaction has an additional way to do this through the Signal Jammer support power.
    • In addition, the Foehn Revolt can also disable superweapons, halting their countdown. The Raccoon vehicle can do this indefinitely as long as its ECM jammer is locked on to the superweapon, whereas the Ramwagon stolen tech vehicle and the Haihead-exclusive support power Blackout Missile can perform the same for a short period of time.
  • Once an offensive superweapon has activated, there is no way of stopping it. However, the best one can do as any faction is to order all units away from their base, averting extreme loss.
    • As mentioned before, the European Alliance's Force Shield and the Soviets' Iron Curtain can render a few structures impervious to the offensive superweapon's onslaught, as long as they are used before the superweapon strikes; otherwise, the base may suffer low power, preventing these defensive measures from activating.
    • The Maintenance support power can be used to recover from a superweapon strike much quicker.

AI behavior[]

Unlike in the original game, the AI will always build a Tactical Nuke Silo first before building an Iron Curtain Device.

Appearances[]

You have been granted access to the Tactical Nuke once again, to fight fire with fire.
—Soviet intel during Operation: Thread of Dread

The Tactical Nuke Silo is the most common superweapon in both wars. Despite being a Soviet structure, it is also used frequently by the Epsilon Army, up to the point where it is deployed in conjunction with their own superweapon, the Psychic Dominator.

Act One[]

The Tactical Nuke Silo is first useable by the player in this mission. Once the player's AI ally constructs the Nuke Silo, the whole base will be handed to the player's control. It cannot be rebuilt if destroyed.

The enemy Soviet forces start with a Tactical Nuke Silo. Its destruction is one of the objectives of the mission.

  • See: Zero Signal

  • On Mental difficulty, the Russian enemy will eventually build a Tactical Nuke. It will always target the topmost Gladius ABM unit, which will fall in a single strike without Force Shield.

  • See: Sunlight

  • The Tactical Nuke Silo becomes first buildable in this mission, once the Pacific Front base is revealed. If the player decides to build one, the enemy general Xiurong Wu will respond in kind by building a nuke himself in the Pacific Front base.

  • See: Dragonstorm

  • On Mental difficulty, the enemy Soviet forces will build a Nuke Silo after the map expansion.

  • See: Moonlight

  • Act Two[]

    Authorization of Tactical Nuke Silo is confiscated in several early and middle-period Act Two Soviet missions.

    The Tactical Nuke Silo is re-unlocked from this mission onwards. In this mission, the Foehn base (which still uses Chinese equipment) has no less than four Tactical Nuke Silos surrounded by Windbelts. They don't become active until a few minutes into the mission and three of them are powered by the Windbelts. Once active, majority of these Silos will prefer to hit the two Epsilon bases over the player's until the Epsilon bases are destroyed.

    When the Palace in mind-controlled Russian base is captured, battlefield will expand. The player need to destroy the Nuke Silo(s) that can threaten the Weather Controller as soon as possible, a Tactical Nuke can severely damage it. In addition, even if the Psychic Beacon is destroyed, the Nuke Silo(s) will still be kept by PsiCorps.

  • See: Stormbringer

  • On Normal or Mental difficulty, a nuke will be deployed by Scorpion Cell when Rashidi says that he gathered enough troops and weapons to prevent the Proselyte from getting to the palace.

  • See: Obsidian Sands

  • Tanya and Norio are tasked with destroying Yuri's Psychic Amplifier and two nukes in the area. Both nukes must be destroyed within 30 seconds of each other and before the Amplifier is destroyed, or else a nuke will launch and the mission ends in a failure.

  • See: Paranoia

  • Building a Tactical Nuke Silo will cause the enemy to build a Psychic Dominator in the area near two Rocket Launchpads in response.

  • See: Earthrise

  • According to player's advancing process and presence of specified base structures, the enemy will build a Tactical Nuke Silo at outer base or inner fortress area against the player. In higher difficulty, if the Nuke Silo at outer base is destroyed, the enemy will immediately rebuild one in inner fortress area.

  • See: Fatal Impact

  • The Stalingrad Task Force will eventually construct three Tactical Nuke Silos after their base has been established, while the enemy forces with Russian equipment will build one at right side of Kremlin too. Additional one enemy Nuke Silo will be built on Mental.

  • See: Death's Hand

  • The two Tactical Nuke Silos under Epsilon control will always target the player's Construction Yard. It will destroy it in a single strike unless a Force Shield is utilized, although the Boomerang division will send the player a new one if it is lost in this manner. 1 to 3 additional Nuke Silos (amount depends on difficulty) will be built at bottom right air base.

  • See: Withershins

  • The mind-controlled Soviet forces will build up to 2 Nuke Silos.

  • See: Hamartia

  • Origins[]

    • In Kill the Messenger, the Tactical Nuke Silo will become buildable only after the enemy Epsilon establishes a Psychic Dominator.
    • In The Great Beyond, a Tactical Nuke Silo will be built at the main base automatically after Epsilon built their Psychic Dominator. However, Tactical Nuke Silo cannot be rebuilt even Chinese arsenal is chosen if it is destroyed.
    • In The Remnant, the Nuke Silo is available to the player with the standard prerequisite. On Normal and Mental difficulty, enemy mind-controlled Soviet bases each will build a Nuke Silo.

    Special Ops[]

    • In Dawnbreaker, the PsiCorps forces who robbed Chinese equipment will build a Tactical Nuke Silo to strike the player's outpost.

    Skirmish/Multiplayer[]

    • In the Islands map Cold War Stalemate, both players start with a Tactical Nuke Silo. No matter which faction the player chooses, Nuke Silo is only available offensive superweapon, and the Soviet players cannot rebuild it if destroyed.

    Trivia[]

    • The Tactical Nuke Silo appears in more missions than any other superweapons do. It appears (as either enemy structure on at least one difficulty or buildable structure, or both) in 5 Act One missions, 9 Act Two missions, 2 Special Ops missions, and 3 Origins missions, which make 19 in total. It is also the only offensive superweapon that appears in Act One.
      • Ironically, there are 6 missions where the Nuke Silo is available to both the player and the enemy. This is the only offensive superweapon that can be used by both the player and the opponent(s) at the same time or, for that matter, the only one that is available to sides other than its standard owner in missions; the same applies to the Iron Curtain Device as a support superweapon.

    See also[]

    External links[]

    References[]

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