Nuke
Nuclear missiles in DEFCON are used to score kills, destroy enemy units, and destroy buildings. They can only be destroyed by an enemy Missile Silo that is in Air Defence Mode, or by another Nuclear Missile's explosion. Nuclear Missiles can be disarmed mid-flight – so as not to accidentally strike allies, or to prevent a mistake in targeting – though there is a delay of 100 in-game seconds. Though all Missiles have identical properties, the three Missile types differ by their range and delivery method, and are not interchangeable between the three platforms.
A Missile will reduce a city's population by 65%, with a standard deviation of 12.5%.
ICBM[]
Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBM) are launched from silos and have no range limit. Missile Silos take 240 seconds to launch one Nuclear missile, so it is advisable to launch this type of missile in conjunction with other forces as to fill in the gaps between launches and strikes. Syncing silos is difficult, but highly profitable.
When this type of missile is launched, an alert will be dispatched to the other players in the game and the exact location of the silo will be revealed, meaning that opponents in the game will be able to retaliate against that particular silo.
Players begin with 60 ICBMs, at 10 per Silo.
MRBM[]
Medium Range Ballistic Missile (MRBM), is fired from submarines, and has a shorter range than the ICBM. Upon launching this type of missile, an ICBM-like alert will be dispatched to all players. The alert will also detail the general location of the launch area, though not revealing the exact location of the launch site(s).
However, to launch a MRBM, a submarine will have to be surfaced, and therefore highly vulnerable to counterattack. Submarines are both fragile and slow.
Players begin with 60 MRBMs, at 5 per Submarine.
SRBM[]
The Short Range Ballistic Missile is fired from Bombers and has the smallest range of the three types.
A Nuclear Missile launch from this type of unit will not trigger any alerts to other players, which can be helpful if a stealth attack is preferred. Note that although empty Bombers can reload spare missiles from Airbases or Carriers, they cannot transfer missiles to other platforms. Conversely, Airbase and Carrier spare missiles can only be transferred to vacant Bombers.
Players begin with 44 loaded Bombers, and 68 spare Missiles.