Some questions were raised in the previous round of NWO. Dave was nice enough to compile a list of these questions and post answers to them. I have recreated that here, with some additional notes of my own as well as new questions.

Wings

1. What good is a wing?!
To be perfectly honest, not a lot. Expect 90-95% of the units on the board to be armies, fleets or nukes. However, it does serve a purpose. Wings are useful in navigating terrain that includes both water and land. It is especially useful in navigating around (or through) impassable regions. For example, if you plant a wing in the middle of the Himalayas and your enemy doesn’t have a wing, you are now able to support all your surrounding units or even airlift them right over the Himalayas without any chance of having that support/airlift get cut. Historically, good players have used wings to very quickly attack their enemies because of this ability.



Nukes

1. Am I right to assume that nuclear powers can fire nukes at any power they wish this time around, even if they are a B faction shooting at an E faction for example?

This is correct. While this was a rule test in a previous round, this restriction has been removed.

2. What is the difference between building a nuke for two seasons vs. passing a build and then building the nuke?

Build a nuke over two seasons means that unit ‘exists’ as a nuke-in-production. A passed build adds a banked credit to your total but does not count as a unit on the board.

If you lose an SC in the second year of production and have to disband, the nuke-in-production can still be placed, assuming you disband another unit. However, if you passed the build, there is no unit to place. Therefore, without an available build, you cannot build the nuke.

There is a value in either choice. Building a nuke guarantees its placement, while passing a build gives you more flexibility with the banked credit.

3. Can nuclear units get captured or dislodged?

Nukes cannot get captured. They can, in theory, be dislodged. They have a defensive power of 0, so any unit attacking them would force them to dislodge.

In practice around 90-95% of nukes are fired immediately upon being built. The remainder are fired in the second season. This is not a rule, this is just the general practice of using nukes. Remember: if you built a nuke, firing it means you have one less unit on the board and, hopefully, that means you have another build in the upcoming year. Therefore, you can get a cycle going of building and firing nukes every year, if you have the capacity that is.

4. Do nuked SCs only become neutral, or are they completely removed from the map? I know any voting status remains.

Nuked SCs are wiped off the map. Nuked voting SCs lose their SC value but retain their voting status.

5. Are nuke trades unconditional or can they be conditional?

Nuke trades are unconditional. For example, if Nation A writes:

“Send nuke tech to Nation B in exchange for 1 credit.”

and Nation B writes:

“Accept nuke tech from Nation A.”

The exchange succeeds whether or not Nation B actually sends the credit.

6. Can nukes be launched in build phases?

No. They can only be launched during spring or fall diplomacy (ie move) phases.

7. Do sea zones become impassable when nuked?

Any territory that is nuked cannot be entered during that season. So, if you nuked MNA in the spring, no units could enter until the fall.

8. Can you nuke the north pole?

Yes. You can also use this when counting territories for the purpose of range. For instance, if Canada has gained nuke technology with a range of 3, and builds a nuke in WIN, he could nuke ZAP by going through the north pole (NUN – NP – ZAP).