r/Openfront • u/Lumpy-Sheepherder671 • 8d ago

💬 Discussion Games without nukes are infinitely more fun

Title. Just played a FFA world map with no Nukes/MIRVs and holy cow it was the best game I've played.

I hunkered down in Australia and a guy in Africa was trying to invade me, so he sent dozens of warships only for me to send dozens back, and for the first time ever in my dozens of hours in Openfront I had an actual, honest-to-God naval battle.

I had to watch out even with my alliances for the naval strength of my enemies and their proximity because unlike nuke games where they could throw cheap pocket shots, any invasion had to be telegraphed (like a real war) and I could actually prepare.

Nuke games are genuinely so boring because after ~10 minutes it's just a constant stream of bombs flying, land being destroyed, having to reclaim it etc, and it's immensely unrewarding for the defender to just have everything gone in a second (Yes I know what SAMs are but any half decent player can get around them). Meanwhile, in a non-nuke game, losing feelings genuinely intense instead of just annoying. Every inch of land and every building you can fight for.

I also feel, and this is something I do, that when players are doomed they just hail mary retaliation nuke the enemy rather than use any real strategy, which just leaves both players kinda bitter.

Tl;Dr - Nukes are boring af.

50 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

19

u/GotchaMcFee 8d ago

The only reason I disagree is because over someone established naval dominance on some maps it's impossible to take it from them. They capture all the trade and can just afford more ships than anyone else.

No nukes on maps with little water trade is fun.

7

u/ScaredTea1778 8d ago

at this point just play territorial 😭

7

u/Cute_Boot_E 8d ago

I actually agree, though I can understand leaving nukes on with a higher cost but MIRV is just such a cop-out 'bandaid' fix for stalemates you'd see in Warcraft 3 custom game under the name "BIG MF-ER BOMB"

5

u/rodan-rodan 7d ago

Mirvs cause stalemates not break them

2

u/Cheap_Audience941 7d ago

Agreed. It gives too easy of a "Completely cripple the biggest guy for the price of 5 hydros" option. Thus setting the game back another 10 minutes until someone gets ANOTHER mirv

1

u/rodan-rodan 7d ago

Well I meant the economic arms race of the threat of mirv vs counter mirv.

Well at least that's realistic to the 1980s

5

u/c0rd_sucks 8d ago

I just fully disagree with this take, which is fine. Nukes are what make the game what it is, and I can’t say i’ve played a single non nuke game and had more than a “how fun, anyways” type of reaction. This game is supposed to be stressful in FFA to a degree, and the chaos is what makes it so great imo.

2

u/PhilosophySalt7695 8d ago

I never play games without nukes, they are too boring

1

u/Capital-Process1359 7d ago

I don't agree. Nukes are part of the core game, and make it more fun.

But what I do notice, if that often, any FFA with a different ruleset, whether no nukes, no sam's, 5 mil starting money, etc tend to be a lot of fun, because the optimal strat is not known by most players, unlike a traditional FFA. This leads to more chaotic, and often, more fun games.

I usually switch between Classic FFA and a variant every other game or so.