Is that piece of junk toy rocket an atomic bomb ???!

[Tubig]

My nukes so far have killed all behemoth biters in its radius (though I have researched rocket damage up to ~4000 space science requirement). From what I read here, isn't that supposed to happen?

I am guessing that the OP read the specs of the nuke and posted without testing it in actual game play.

It looks like there is a lot more to it than the Damage=400, AoE=3 spec's would suggest.

I suspect that those are the spec's of each of the hundred or more sub-explosions that ripple out from the center.

[Tev]

I haven't personally got nuke yet (deathworld, so slow progression), but I wonder why are people so dismissive of "kills all spawners/worms/spitters, leaves behind damaged biters" rocket?

Spawners are always primary target. Worms are biggest threat when clearing spawners. Spitters in large amounts can also threaten you. The nuke seems extremely useful from the descripton to me, even though it leaves durable-but-useless biters behind.

It is important to realize role of biters, and as melee tanks they're sort of harmless on their own against moving target (you).

EDIT: I am however using destroyers for expanding, for (relatively) much slower turret creep leaving biters behind can be an issue. Everyone still turret creeping, huh?

[Hannu]

I haven't personally got nuke yet (deathworld, so slow progression), but I wonder why are people so dismissive of "kills all spawners/worms/spitters, leaves behind damaged biters" rocket?

It depends on settings and playstyle. I play usually with rich resources and relatively easy biter settings (big or very big starting area and normal expansion) and make huge bases. I have to clear several square kilometers (I have about 16 in my current map). It means tens of thousands of spawners. I have power armor MK 2 with many shields and legs and 100 destroyers so I am practically invincible if I keep moving. At such situation biter killing is not interesting or entertaining. It is just boring labor what must be done before I can make what I want. It is very annoying if there are almost working solution. If I have to clear biters and be cautious to avoid killing myself does it give significant advantage compared to flame thrower against spawners and destroyers against moving enemies.

I want to have biters. They create interesting unpredictable element into the game and alternative resource sink. But I do not want to play actual combat game. I want to automatize fighting and eventually get a situation when I have not to care about biters except by keeping defense line running.

Spawners are always primary target. Worms are biggest threat when clearing spawners. Spitters in large amounts can also threaten you. The nuke seems extremely useful from the descripton to me, even though it leaves durable-but-useless biters behind.

Surely, if you would get nuclear bomb well before power armor 2. But I as far as I know (I play still with 0.14 because I have a modded game in interesting phase) it needs much more research and you get it at late game when you do not have to think strategies anymore.

[vanatteveldt]

Surely, if you would get nuclear bomb well before power armor 2. But I as far as I know (I play still with 0.14 because I have a modded game in interesting phase) it needs much more research and you get it at late game when you do not have to think strategies anymore.

Well I'm not there yet in .15, but in a deathworld there are so many spitters and biters that you generally need to do multiple passes of running in, killing stuff, and running out before you die, even fully shielded with a full century of destroyer bots. So if one or two nukes can kill all the worms, spitters, and spawners, the shields+bots and some combination of flamethrower, laser, and discharge defense can handle the remaining biters easily. So I do think that it will make clearing out bases quite a bit easies... no idea of whether they're worth the cost, though.

(BTW, I just used the atomic bomb with full bonuses researched in creative mode and it also seems to kill behemoth biters, but maybe that's just creative mode (although a normal pistol shot does not instakill, and I don't see an obvious menu entry for a damage cheat). Agains a behemoth (12/10% resistance) it should do (400+920-12)*.9=1177 explosion damage, right? I don't really get why they are instakilled... or were they recently buffed somehow?)

[Rapier31]

I'm playing a Railworld game, and I've got MASSIVE bases to deal with far away. The nuke absolutely decimates these bases and EVERYTHING in them. Including all of the behemoth biters and spitters. I've also got U-235 fully automated along with the nukes themselves, so I'm not too worried about dropping 3 or 4 nukes into a base and running. I think the nuke is very useful and powerful. The graphics could be better, yes, but I'm thinking that's a moot point.

[Crymsin117]

Nobody complaining in this thread has any idea what they're talking about. No behemoth biters have ever survived a single a-bomb I've fired with no mods and no space research. I think they just read the tooltip damage and started whining without ever using it once. It kills everything. It's awesome. Thanks devs.

[FasterJump]

The nuclear explosion is pretty cool (kill behemots and everything in default world options) in a radius of about 36 meters (if 1 tile = 1 meter).
But I think this is the kind of feature you test once and enjoy it, but never use it again because it's way too expensive.

Before I test it, I expected that we would be able to put the nuke in the rocket, to remotely nuke a site on the map, with a very big explosion (real life nuclear explosions destroy everything in more than 1 km radius).
Also, the cost of 30 U-235 is stunning. Would you really use it, when you can clear bases just with few flamethrower ammo? In my opinion, uranium is a precious and limited ressource that cannot be wasted into a biter base.

Anyway, even if it feels not balanced, i's nice it is in the game already. And about the graphics, I think the developers will improve them later, at the same time they will work on the acid launcher tank cannon, so don't worry about the current ones.

[Ranakastrasz]

I packed my armor with shields and set it off next to me. I died instantly. It might not instantly kill behemoth biters, but I suspect that an entire hive cluster can be reduced to ash instantly.

[Daid]

The nuclear explosion is pretty cool (kill behemots and everything in default world options) in a radius of about 36 meters (if 1 tile = 1 meter).
But I think this is the kind of feature you test once and enjoy it, but never use it again because it's way too expensive.

Actually, now that I'm a bit further along in my game, I've used 8. It just saves a whole lot of time to clear out large enemy bases. As I have 3k of U235 now, it wouldn't make sense to just use that for fuel.

[Hannu]

Also, the cost of 30 U-235 is stunning. Would you really use it, when you can clear bases just with few flamethrower ammo? In my opinion, uranium is a precious and limited ressource that cannot be wasted into a biter base.

There seems to be much uranium deposits in normal settings and Kovarex process can convert U238 to U235. It seems to be very easy to get nuclear bombs if your computer can run large factories. In my opinion it is good tradeoff that I can use huge amount of game resources to avoid boring work as player.

[Nich]

Are you kidding me? I have radar coverage on about 2 square km and all i have are 2 tiny uranium patches totaling about 80k. I mined out 15k and only got 12 U-235. 7 of which I used to make rods. I am at the point of shutting down my reactor so I can get enough to just start enrichment.

[Kelderek]

Are you kidding me? I have radar coverage on about 2 square km and all i have are 2 tiny uranium patches totaling about 80k. I mined out 15k and only got 12 U-235. 7 of which I used to make rods. I am at the point of shutting down my reactor so I can get enough to just start enrichment.

I strongly recommend anyone planning to use nuclear power hold off on using any U-235 for fuel cells until you get the initial 40 and the tech unlocked to run kovarex enrichment. Just stick with steam or solar until then. The U-238 you acquire to get to that point should be enough to feed the kovarex process for a very high number of hours of gameplay (00s of hours I assume).

Also, map settings will always affect the way everyone plays their game. If you run a map with skant uranium deposits then you will be less likely to afford using it for bombs. As long as you are willing to venture out far from your starting location, you should be able to find more if you made an infinite map.

I personally love the new bomb as well as the uranium ammo. Combine those with some flamethrower fuel and you can clear out large areas nice and quick.

[t-lor]

Are you kidding me? I have radar coverage on about 2 square km and all i have are 2 tiny uranium patches totaling about 80k. I mined out 15k and only got 12 U-235. 7 of which I used to make rods. I am at the point of shutting down my reactor so I can get enough to just start enrichment.

Its RNG and your initial settings then, im oogling a 1m patch north of me, and theres even a 2m patch behind a big biter base. i couldnt care less about the uranium cost, the 20 blue chips required,is the only thing thats stopping me from complete going apeshit with nukes on these bugs. That having said, i must have fired at least 50 by now.
(and only blown up my own base twice :X)

[Ranakastrasz]

Are you kidding me? I have radar coverage on about 2 square km and all i have are 2 tiny uranium patches totaling about 80k. I mined out 15k and only got 12 U-235. 7 of which I used to make rods. I am at the point of shutting down my reactor so I can get enough to just start enrichment.

So, you get 12 U-235 per 15k uranium? Mine out the remaining 65k. 65/15 = 4.33 Then, multiply that by the yield, 12 per 15. 12 * 4.33 = 51.96.

In other words, you have plenty left to get the 40 required to start enrichment. But yes, shut it down until you get enough.

[Nich]

I actually made a solar/nuclear hybrid that sips fuel rods. The 20 rods I had left ended up lasting about 3 hours. Luckly I saw on KOS that nukes dont regulate like coal does. Up to 38 but these last 2 are taking forever

[Ranakastrasz]

I actually made a solar/nuclear hybrid that sips fuel rods. The 20 rods I had left ended up lasting about 3 hours. Luckly I saw on KOS that nukes dont regulate like coal does. Up to 38 but these last 2 are taking forever

Well, at least you are almost there. XD.

I assume you maxed out uranium mining and processing, so just leave it alone until its done.