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DEFCON

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Publisher: Introversion Software
Genre(s): Strategy
Home Page: http://www.everybody-dies.com/

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By: Martin Finbow Jul 10, 2007

Get those ICBMs warmed up in the bullpen

There are different units and structures available to you. Each item has its strengths and weaknesses, which you must come to understand very quickly if you wish to be the last man standing.

Land/Air Units

The full arsenal can be seen here - land, sea and air - all making their first moves.

Radar - these detect any enemies that are visible in the range provided. The locations of the radars are important to keep you aware of enemy units getting close to your location. The sooner you can see your enemy, the sooner you can fight back.

Airbase - bases supply your fleet of bombers or fighters. If you wish to see further than your radar boundaries, use the fighters to expand your vision while also being able to take down other enemy aircraft. The bombers are exceptionally effective at taking out any naval units that are cruising around your beaches to conduct sea-to-land attacks.

Missile Silo - the daddy of attacks. Aim the silos at the cities full of civilians, and watch the white blip and number of deaths you have caused with this destructive weapon. Remember though, as soon as you initiate a launch strike from the silo, that silo is then visible to your enemy. So whether you start off first with a silo attack to kill your enemy and be visible or hold back and see your enemy launch first and you attack back last, you're still going to be in trouble either way!

Naval Units

Intercontinental thermonuclear conflicts never looked so elegant. It's all too easy to become distracted by the whirling anarchy and not pay attention to your borders!

Submarines - with their ability to move underwater, invisible to most units, you can sail close to enemy shores, waiting for the level of Defcon to drop before they can plant their nuclear warheads into your enemies' grounds.

Carriers - these units are the only ones that are able to detect submarines with them being fitted with submarine sonars and charges. As well as being effectively defensive towards the submarines, they are also equipped with fighters and bombers, allowing your field of vision to be expanded and to attack naval ships coming from behind. While the carriers sound amazing with what they are equipped with, they are weak to battleships.

Battleships – the most massive ships of your fleet, supplied with cannons to not only destroy enemies vessels, but also cities in close range too. This is where their weakness lies though: don't expect long range attacks, as the Battleships are restricted to short range fights only.

Plan your attack first or else...

Cities of home or your enemies, depending on what side of the borders you're fighting from. Not that it makes much difference once the nukes start to fly.

Each unit compliments each other's strengths and weaknesses. If you just send in a fleet of one unit type, expect to wave goodbye in a short amount of time, but send in a mix of units and be prepared to be able to fight to the end!

When the Defcon counter reaches 3, you are locked off from deploying any more units and anything not placed is gone; allowing the start of the war with the control of the Naval units now in your control to initiate attack and sending your fighters out to scout out any oncoming forces preparing to initiate their fury.

Sounds pretty straight forward and easy so far? It's far from it, as you are not only trying to take down your enemy, but also trying to keep your part of the world protected from the enemy aiming to achieve exactly the same carnage on you!

Finally, when the Defcon counter reaches 1, the game can completely turn round. Your silos are now available for you to cause total devastation on the enemy. Again, it's not as simple as aiming your silos as soon as they are available. Depending on the type of player you are, you will either hold back and wait for the enemy to launch first, so you have another target you can aim at first, or try and destroy as much of the cities as possible before the enemy can fight back and attack the newly highlighted silos.

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Games: DEFCON

News: DEFCON v1.43 Released Aug 11, 2007