Rule proposal: Superweapon limitation

Superweapon limitation 

This proposal is based on the continues discussion why or why not we shall start a war. The main factor is the immediate answer of: ‘I nuke you!’, with the counter argument: ‘Total Nuclear War’.

Now this is very disturbing. We are playing a RolePlay about a futuristic Warzone. With a decent history, the Lore and our own contributions. But things are pretty dull. We cannot deny it. We cannot attack, else we get the stereotypical dick-measuring of throwing nuclear/super weapons to each other. And this stagnates the game itself.

Now, even with the Lore we have followed, all the invasions thus far weren’t nuclear or any super weapon related. With a few smaller exceptions of the twin dirty nuclear bombs on the holy cities, and the hijacked Particle Cannon strike on the American Aircraft Carrier near Greece, in the campaigns that is. Other smaller examples like these are perhaps in the Lore, yet I don’t want to point them all out. Most of them are terrorist related, but all the major factions with the exception of the GLA, (nearly) didn’t use any superweapons at all. Why should we not follow this?

But of course, in a world politics were we all have a part in and that is a decent part of the RP, the muscle showing could be tempered with the use of super weapons. We got SW’s, (WMD’s, and) GP’s. (Now the GP’s are somehow limited by time. So does the most, if not all, WMD’s.)

The SW’s aren’t. However in real life they aren’t limited, and even not special generals abilities, I feel the urge to limit them, just like the GP’s. You can see this as somehow bound your factions or your hands. While, I see it not that way. I want to propose to limit all of us to these weapons. Perhaps even nerf some of the sub-superweapons, like Topol-M, Nuke Cannon, Russian Silo’s, Pandora, Nuclear Cruise Missiles, ICBM’s, etc.

These weapons can be really devastating. That’s not something we can deny. Even the tremendous range of the Topol-M Launchers are legendary. Yet these details, are the foundation of the MAD theory that I often hear. I will first take the liberty to classify the SW’s themselves:

Russia: Tremor AGAS
China: Nuclear Missile Launcher
USA: Particle Uplink Cannon
GLA: Scud Storm
ECA: Solaris Satellites
SAP: Hurricane Station

The SW’s classified as a legit WMD are from China, and the GLA. The other weapons are just kind of overpowered big ‘Kabloewy’ bringers. WMD’s are weapons based on Biological, Chemical, Nuclear and Radiological. Yet the use of a SuperWeapon comes with a cost of PR and international opinions of course.



The sub-superweapons are:

Russia: Topol-M, Nuclear Cruise Missiles and Silo’s
China: Nuke Cannon and Nuclear Cruise Missiles
USA: ICBM’s and Nuclear Cruise Missiles
GLA: Fear Toxin and Dirty Nukes
ECA: Neutron Bombs (Pandora) and Nuclear Cruise Missiles
SAP: No idea. Perhaps biologically based weapons?

We already can see that the most WMD’s classified weapons are in the sub-superweapon category. Most of these weapons aren’t limited, except the Fear Toxin Strike. This is already been seen as some kind of a GP, only available for the leader of the Liquidators.

Most of the, if not all, sub-superweapons aren’t limited. For example: cruise missiles, Topol-M’s Nuke Cannons etc. is very most likely to already exists in higher numbers. Therefore, limiting them would be not workable.

My proposal is that these weapons, the sub-, but also the Super Weapons themselves, limited to use. Why? This brings more strategy to the roleplay itself. Also, the choice to deploy such a weapon will be very risky. Besides losing public PR and other consequences, you have used 1 of your abilities/amount of this weapon.

Nerving sub-superweapons:
This contains the Pandora’s, Nuke Cannon’s, Topol-M’s, Silo’s, Dirty Nukes, Nuclear Cruise Missiles. We can of course stuck them full of precious Uranium and that kind of materials to generate a bigger explosion. But we also can imagine to decrease the numbers of these weapons are too hard to control. Therefore I suggest: we will nerf the capabilities of them.

Damage: by default: 2 kilometres in radius of damage where the warhead strikes. Dirty Nukes: 1 kilometre, because it’s main purpose is to spread the message instead of level the place. Therefore the fallout: 3-5 kilometres.

Topol-M’s and the Russian Silos have the longest range of them. followed up by Nuclear Cruise Missiles. I propose we limit the range of the Topol-M to 3-5 times the Howitzer Cannon (considering as the longest ranged base defence weapon by default) In this matter, the offender still has a decent advantage to protect their sub superweapons in case they are being deployed in an attack. It will be the job of the defender to deal with them. Building damage vs civilian: 80-90% success. Base structures by default like in game.

Note: the Russian Tremor AGAS is more like a giant Howitzer. It’s range is limited. Therefore I also propose the Russian Silo to be kept out of the range nerf. This sounds crazy, but more or less we could see a swap. Tremor as limited SW but the Silo as a super long ranged sub-SW. Else, the Russians would be very unlucky compared to other factions. Same should be for the ICBM’s (also Silo’s) and Nuclear Cruise Missiles). I suggest that the Nuclear Cruise Missiles, like the Cruise Missiles in common are 50% of the range, if not even less, than the ICBM’s and Silo’s. Balance issues.

The Fear Toxin is dropped by air, detonated on ground and/or even possible to mount them on a rocket. The Pandora is more or less a Super Artillery Launcher which by default contains the Neutron Bomb. Range: 75% of the Topol-M range (artillery vs ballistic missiles; the missiles should at least win this by range)

Summary: Damage nerf in common. Nerf the range of the Topol-M. Silo’s and ICBM’s aren’t range limited. (Nuclear) Cruise Missiles are range limited. Secondary damages as radiation and chemical strikes are greater than the primary blast itself naturally.



So how to limit the weapons in common? Here is my proposal:
I count this in 2 months. 2 months in either our real life time, or the event in the RP itself. Participants should be carefully to not make a calculation mistake. It can happen that events overdue the time of 2 months. In that case, the former 2 months are legit and overrule the next 2 months.

Sub-SuperWeapons:

Amount of use (per 2 months)
Russia
-Silo: 4x
-Topol-M: 6x
-Nuclear Cruise Missiles: 6x

Damage: Topol-M and Nuclear Cruise Missiles are the same. Silo: 3x the Topol-M, as the replacement of a global deployable SW. The Tremor’s range is limited due it’s a big artillery platform.

China
-Nuke Cannon: No limit on the amount of this weapon. Range and damage nerf. Damage: 50%, and Range: 60% compared to the Topol-M

USA
-ICBM’s: 3x -> unlimited range. Damage: comparable to the Topol-M. (Yet less than the Russian Silo; SW vs sub-SW; balance)
-Nuclear Cruise Missiles: 4x (They got the Tomahawks)
-Aurora Bombers: 5x damage as default in game.
-Tomahawks: unlimited amount. Range: 225% Damage radius: 25% compared to the Topol-M

GLA
-Fear Toxin: limited amount (Nag). Range: depends on the way how it will brought to the enemy. By default 80% of the capacities of the original faction units. Damage: 300-500%, depends on the weather.
-Dirty Nukes. Requires Nuclear Material. Damage radius main blast: 1 kilometre. Fall out radius: 3-5 kilometres, depends on the weather.

ECA
-Neutron Bomb (Pandora) Damage: 125%. Range: 75% compared to the Topol-M. More modern then the old school Topol, therefore this weapon deals more damage. Yet this artillery cannot win it in range vs the ballistic missiles.
-Nuclear Cruise Missiles: 3x (low amount, Lore based. The ECA got other non-WMD’s classified weapons to deal heavy damage, don’t they?)
-Normal Cruise Missiles: 15x. Range 150%. Damage: 75% compared to the Topol-M

SAP
-Biological Cruise Missiles: 5x. Comparable to the Nuclear Cruise Missiles by default. I honestly lack information about this for the SAP faction.

Cruise Missiles in common:
The US/NAU is master with these weapons. Their range and abilities outmatch all other cruise missiles. By default, I propose that other factions who has this kind of technology/weaponry have range limits.

US Cruise Missiles (not the Tomahawks) Range: 8x Topol-M. but it is limited in amount of use. The rest: 4x and also limited. This gives the US the advantage they deserve



Now for the Super weapons themselves.
By default, the SW classed weapons (but this is not completely correct) are 5x the Topol-M as in damage radius, with the exception of the Russians. Their Tremor of course also has the 5x damage, yet not the range. They got the Silo’s to counter the range issue of their super weapon.

However the Superweapons have some differences. Most of them are surprisingly not classified as a WMD. Only China and the GLA are, because of the Nuclear and the Toxin payloads.

We take the Russian Tremor AGAS. Let’s say this weapon does 5x the damage then the primary blast of the Topol-M (radiation is not the result of the Tremor). How are the other super weapons compared to this?

Russia
Tremor AGAS damage: 5x

China
Nuclear Missile Launcher: 6x (mastered the Nuclear Missile of course)

USA
Particle Cannon: 3x (but with a controllable beam naturally. Don’t underestimate this. The Americans can control their damage area by this)

GLA
Scud Storm: 4x primary blast. (Secondary toxic radiation: 6x from the original target AKA +2 compared to the primary blast)

ECA
Solaris: 7x around Europe. 3x further out of Europe’s ‘sphere’. This is the result of the concentrated Solar Power Plants in Europe by default. Therefore, the satellites are more dense in that area than for example in the rest of the world. If the ECA uses the Solaris in or around Europe, then this also counts as 1 for outside this area. If they decide to deploy it outside the main European Sphere-kinda-ish, then this counts as twice for the ‘In Europe’s Sphere’.

SAP
Hurricane Storm: 7x around South America area/sphere. 3x further out of the sphere. More or less the same as the ECA Solaris. The SAP are masters of eco-friendly weapons and power plants. Therefore they are able to use this weapon pretty easy in and around the main SAP-Core. Outside it, it requires way more concentration to generate the storm. Therefore, it counts as twice compared to the inner use of this weapon.



Last, but not least
Of course the use of (Sub-) Super Weapons comes at a great cost. But this also depends on the choice of the weapon. However the Particle Cannon will scare the crap of normal people (‘big giant beam of light just came out of the sky!!’) it is considered less dramatic then the Chinese Nuclear Missile. But of course inside China, the propaganda machine covers as good as they can do. Yet the use of these weapons in common can result in international conflicts of distrust.

The main reason for this rule proposal is to kill the ‘fear for action’. Now we can move a little easier without getting our faction nuked to death so to say. The fear of MAD can be legit or not. In real life this issue is never 100% solid right or wrong. We only know that thus far this hasn’t happened yet, but also we are not sure whether it will take place or not. Scientists and highly educated professors never stop this discussion. Therefore, I propose this.

Bottom-line:

I managed that Russia still has the upper hand when it comes to a Nuclear War. This is also Lore based and on their arsenal.


Feel free to discuss this. I just based the limits on my own feeling.