Civ 5

[Jackalope]

Did they have a bomb shelter? That will make it more difficult.

FYI, nuclear missles are considerably more powerful than nuclear bombs.

Against cities, you're going to need more than one nuke to reduce to to where you can take it easily - however, the real power of nukes is to not only weaken cities, but to also destroy surrounding forces. When I launch a nuclear attack, I usually hit as many cities as I am able to in the first salvo - oftentimes that cripples the enemy military to the point where I can take their cities at my leisure.

Ahh I didn't know that missiles were that different. I only used bombs. I think I only just discovered rocketry upon winning the game.

Also I'm not sure they were using a bomb shelter, I nuked 3 cities and they all dropped around the same amount of health. Maybe they were all using shelters but I doubt it.

Probably not. I've always had to hit cities 3-4 times at least to beat them down. I usually try to stockpile as many nukes as my uranium supply will allow and hit them all at once, with the idea that if it's not enough, I'll buy more on the next turn and hit them again, or immediately move in with ground or naval forces.

Nukes aren't an "I win" button, but they're very powerful game enders. Once I start launching, the game is usually over very quickly.

Oddly, I've never been nuked by an AI civ, though I've seen them nuke each other several times.