Nuclear Option (PC Game)

This game is updated regularly which could render this page outdated.

Nuclear Option is a early access (Steam) large scale air combat game with a focus on striking a balance between realism and accessibility.

The game features fictional aircraft with realistic roles, weapons and flight physics, without the complex configuration found in DCS or the grinding found in War Thunder. As well as a review, this will also be a bit of a guide for newbies.

The game is centered around missions which are all executed on the same map - which to be fair is large and features varied terrain. Many missions are what you would expect, like destroying buildings and engaging in dogfights, but some ought to be called gamemodes - they feature far less specific objecives and larger areas of the map. The most popular in multiplayer by far is "Escalation" so I will focus on that.

Escalation (Most popular gamemode)

Escalation takes place across the entire map and involves a team based in the north and south both fighting eachother for control of the entire map by capturing eachothers airbases, which includes small airports/helipads inside of cities, and carriers in the sea. At the start of the game everyone is rank 0, meaning only slower aircraft mostly focused on ground attack are availible. Scoring kills and completing objectives allows you to level up to obtain specalised aircraft for a range of other purposes. You also earn money, which is required to buy Aircraft and Ordnance - providing a powerful insentive to survive your sorties.

As well as bases, both teams have ground units, some target other ground units, whilst some target Aircraft. Some are factories producing units. All of them are problematic.

Eventually Nuclear bombs are authorised allowing certain aircraft to launch Nuclear missiles or Bombs. They're slow moving compared to other weapons making it hard to hit a target with any defence, but if you hit - you can guarantee their death.

Aircraft

Even though it appears you get better Aircraft as a game progresses, that isn't strictly true. The Aircraft are really well balanced, they all have things they're good and bad at, and at least one thing they're the best at.

Note I will use some acroynms: AG = Anti Ground, AA = Anti Air/Air to Air, IR = Infrared (Heat seeking), M(s) = Missile(s).

Cricket

Small and slow turboprop with mostly AG weapons. It's easy to fly close to terrain, and emits little IR, making it easy to avoid locks of all types. However, once engaged its slow speed and lack of Jammer render it vulnerable especially at closer range. It's best suited to pop-up strikes against multiple ground targets. Aircraft engagements should be avoided.

Compass

Light attack jet with an mix of AG and AA weapons. It tops out at about Mach 1 at ground level and can pull 8Gs making it capable of avoiding most attacks. It is great at taking out defended ground targets and most Aircraft, but you'd need to do some Top Gun shit to escape a Revoker. Its high speed can make staying low harder than with the Cricket.

Chicane

An attack helicopter with mostly AG weapons, but no bombs. It carries more weapons than average. It has a stealthy design and can hover near terrain making missile avoidance easy, but it can literally be a sitting duck if fired upon from high altitude. It also features a automatic gun that is fired for you. It is brilliant for taking out ground targets of all types and can be a pest to Aircraft at range, but you should avoid most A-A combat.

Trantula

A large VTOL Support plane with two configurations - Transport and Gunship. When acting as Transport, the Trantula can deploy Radar, AA, SAMs and other ground Units anywhere you desire, which is extremely powerful. As a Gunship, the Trantula carries 20 AGM 48s and a 78MM Cannon with guided rounds, which will decimate ground units of all types at fairly long range. You can also carry 3 additional guns and even IR missiles for self defence, although an Air engagement should be avoided at all costs. It can be offensive if supported by other Aircraft, and it stands a good chance of staying in the Air after a missile hit.

Revoker

A Flagship fighter with mostly AA weapons, carrying less than average. The Revoker can easily go supersonic, even in a climb, and can pull over 10Gs with stability control off. It is capable of post stall manouvers and recovers quickly from them. It is the best Aircraft in the game for engaging other Aircraft, and it is also good for taking out specific ground targets at high speed from a long range. It requires frequent resupplys however due to it carrying few weapons and burning a lot of fuel.

Ifrit

A Multi-role fighter that is very versitile, carrying a lot of weapons of all types. The Ifrit is almost as fast and manvouerable as the Revoker, and features a stealthy design helping it avoid Radar. However, that same design creates a lot of drag when the AoA is high, meaning recovery from manouvers can take several seconds. It can take out specific ground targets, and most Aircraft with ease, and it can score many kills before needing a resupply - but it is not good at sustained dogfighting and should only deal with 1 target at a time.

Medusa

An Electronic Warfare Aircraft that fills a support role rather than being offensive. It can be equiped with targeted Radar Jammers and a Radar of its own. The former makes taking out SAMs a doddle and the latter provides your team with accurate locations of enemies. The Medusa also has a Laser and Anti-Radar missiles. The Laser can intercept most missiles from some distance, but is useless against anything else. Anti-Radar missiles are long range missiles that seek out Radars, allowing the Medusa to single handledly destroy the enemy's Air defences. It should avoid close range engagements at all costs.

Darkreach

A Bomber that only carries... Bombs, and Cruise missiles, with no way of defending itself. It is fairly stealthy when it comes to Radar but has a large IR emission. The Darkreach can easily destroy an entire base by itself, but it will be destroyed by enemy Aircraft without support. It should engage from range or very high altitudes.

Targeting

All Aircraft have the same targeting system that is based on opitical sensors and radar. Anything currently detected by your team appears on the map and HUD. You can select targets by clicking on them on the map, or looking at them and using a keybind. The map also allows you to set target filters so you can only select targets that match the filter. Selected targets appear on a monitor in the cockpit showing an onboard camera view pointing at your targets. If you select several targets, the camera points to the middle of the group.

All weapons then automatically lock to selected targets. That doesn't mean you can fire. Weapons have an envelope of range, angle, and sometimes speed, all of which must be met to hit the target. You can use either a ring or range ladder view - the ring surrounds your crosshair and becomes complete and green when within the envelope. The ladder shows a graph with the max, ideal, and minimum range of your current weapon, as well as where the target is on that spectrum. You will also be displayed prompts in both modes like - OUT OF ARC (not pointing at target), TOO CLOSE, OUT OF RANGE, TOO SLOW, and SHOOT (in envelope). Don't blindly pull the trigger when you see SHOOT, as it doesn't consider terrain or anything else that might be between you and your target. When you do fire, you automatically fire once per target. So if you pick 5 targets, you'll shoot 5 times. For larger bombs you may want to only select one target to avoid this.

Bombs will display a timer telling you when you should release them, so that they reach the target.

Damage

Aircraft damage is most comparable to the car physics simulator/sandbox, BeamNG drive. The developer has pubically stated that he was inspired by it. Aircraft are made up of many parts that are attachted to eachother, each have their own physics which combine to control the whole Aircraft, and each can be damaged and even seperated from the rest. You have a HUD and usually a cockpit display showing these parts and their current health. You also have engine gauges in the cockpit that gives you more information on the effects of damage to the engines - if the engine is damaged, the gauges turn yellow and your maximum thrust is reduced. If it is damaged enough it will catch fire, and eventually fail - you will hear a warning about this. Damage to other parts usually results in altered flying behaviour, such as uncommanded pitching/yawing/rolling. If the cockpit is damaged, the avoinics displays stop working, although the systems themselves continue to work.

Most Aircraft will be unflyable after a direct missile strike. If a missile detonates near you, it's likely you'll be damaged in a way that effects performance. In some cases part can be damaged in a way that makes high speed or G flying dangerous, for example, if the wings are damaged a high G manouver might rip them off.

Stability Assist

All traditional (Not-VTOL) Aircraft have stability assist. This assist manages things like Pitch Trimming (which cannot be done manually) and crosswinds. Generally, with it on, when well above stall speed and not making any inputs the Aircraft will maintain its current attitude. With it off, you often find yourself needing to pitch up to stay level.

It also maintains a certain AoA limit. You often can't stall the Aircraft at speed with it on, but Aircraft like the Revoker will happily reach over 90 degrees AoA with it off, even at sevearl hundred knots.

Strategy

There are some things you should bare in mind when engaging targets.

Pop up strikes - the safest way to do ground attack

A Pop strike involves hiding under terrain until you are near the target, climbing above the terrain, releasing weapons, then hiding under terrain again. This helps hide you from enemy radar and AA for most of the attack, only exposing you breifly when you fire. This should be the default strategy for most ground attacks, and is usually the only strategy you can safely use against SAMs or targets well defended by them.

Remember that planes can't pull many negative Gs, so when you need to pitch down to actually fire on the target, you should invert the plane first.

Missile Avoidance

Many real techniques for avoiding missiles work in NO, but here are the highlights.

Optical - These are meant for ground targets and are easily out manouvered. Simply fly erratically.
IR - Make sure the missile isn't on your 6 o'clock, pull the power back as far as is safe, then deploy flares. These missiles are fast and close range so using terrain isn't always an option, but if to appears to be, you can use it to avoid using flares.
SARH, high altitude - Turn away from the missile, decend slightly and turn hard to place the missile on your 4 or 8 o'clock - then alternate between the two. Use full power. If the missile reaches within 3 miles, stay in a turn until you're in the notch (yellow line on map), then jam it.
SARH, low altitude - Use terrain if availible. Get as close to the ground as possible, fly within the notch (yellow line on map) and jam.
ARH, over 10 miles use the same strategy as with SARHs. Otherwise, get as low as possible as fast as possible, fly within the notch (yellow line on map) and jam. If you see an opportunity to place terrain within you and the missile, take it.

These aren't the only strategies that apply to these missiles, and many real life tactics can be used in NO, however engagements take place at quite close range in NO so many tactics don't work. This is what I have the most success with.

Guns, Guns, Guns.

It is easy to under estimate the power of guns, but most planes can be destroyed with one burst from guns, and when within a mile of a target missiles are likely to miss. Use guns if you're close.

Your biggest enemy is SAMs

Blowing up the enemy base is in of itself easy. You just fire shit at it and it explodes - but SAMs and AA in general will not only try to kill you, it'll kill whatever you fire in their area too. Early game therefore is often spent killing a lot of AA.

Don't forget your sensors.

Your radar contributes to your whole team's knowledge of the map. If you detect a target, everyone sees that. Don't downplay how useful recon can be.

Don't forget to go defensive

People are often obsessed with getting into dogfights, which is fine - but ultimately the enemey is trying to blow your base up. If you spot a set of cruise missiles heading your way, or a bomber, take them down. You'll be sorry if you don't when you try to resupply only to find the ammo truck has been blown up.

Factories also produce ground units, meaning your team's ability to defend itself from both ground and air targets decreases if these buildings are destroyed.

Plan

Don't just fly into the combat area and shoot missiles at random things, take a minute to look at the map and decide if there is anything valuable to destroy - maybe there is a SAM site preventing your team from pushing, or a Trantula is decemating your ground forces. Decide what you're going to take out when you take off and pick your Aircraft and Weapons accordingly.

You always need AA

Even if you're planning on taking down a convoy of ground targets with a volley of Lynchpins, you should generally always carry some sort of AA missile as the chances of someone else deciding to target you is quite high. You can, at least, force them to go defensive allowing you to escape.

You don't have to kill to be useful.

Forcing enemies to go defensive is extremely useful as they become completely unable to engage in combat as they do, and they're often forced to fly away from their target. Doing this is as simple as firing a missile - even if there is a 0% chance of it hitting, forcing enemies to defend gives your team more control.

Notes

06/11/2024 - Page populated.
04/12/2024 - Strategy section added.