Using Nukes For Political Points [Tropico 4, 5 & 6]
The Tropico series isn’t about war. You can get invaded, but you can’t really declare war or invade anyone — even if you can establish a (silly, cute) fascist regime that brutally stomps out all resistance. Nukes work kind of like in MGS5 instead of C&C. Constructing a facility will stop nations from attempting to invade your island nation, and it increases your standing with conservatives and militarists!
Yes, Tropico’s nukes are for political points. In a way, that makes these the most accurate representation of nukes in gaming. They exist solely to look nice and look dangerous, and for the military-industrial complex to coo over. I mean, maybe they have a point? Those explosions are really big…
Point And Click Catastrophe [Starcraft]
One of the coolest nuke delivery systems comes from Starcraft. The Ghost Operative is a unit that can sneak toward an enemy base, then uses a laser to call-down a nuclear strike from the sky. These nukes are specifically used for destroying enemy buildings, and they’re a lot less versatile than the Red Alert 2 nukes, which you can freely target anywhere on the map.
But there’s something so satisfying about bamboozling your opponents, sneaking past their defenses, and dropping nukes straight onto their most useful buildings. Nukes have to be built in silos, then launched by Ghosts on-foot. If they don’t aim for the full 15 seconds, the nuke launch will be cancelled.
When the launch initializes, a big red marker appears on the map for everyone to see — it’s a perfectly humiliating method for crushing your enemies if it all works out. It might not be the biggest boom, but it has the most impact.
Who doesn’t like giant explosions? Not all of these nukes explode, but they’re all impactful. Those are just a few of the coolest and weirdest nukes in video games.
