Killer techs for 2020 scenario

[GreenGoblin]

I know there are many 2020 vets out there. Would be great if you could share your knowledge on which tech paths are most useful/interesting.

[D.B. Cooper]

One of the most game changing techs for me is really simple and you can have it after just one year into the game.
Thermobaric weapons!!!! Research it as soon as you can, as it leads to the best missile in the game for a LONG time….


The Rivet Missile class. Once Thermobarics is unlocked you have two Rivet missiles to choose from, both are pretty much the same. They are just as small as other missiles but carry 5x the punch and better ones are available later. You also get two Thermobaric ICBM’s. While not near as powerfull as a nuke, they can travel 10k miles or more and are very cheap to produce as they require no Uranium which is a major plus.

Personally I think the Rivet is overpowered but wouldn’t want it to be changed.
This simplifies my missile production and saves me a lot of money.
I don’t need a full stack of jets anymore. Just two jets loaded with Rivets can wreak havoc on the battlefield.

[D.B. Cooper]

Meet the US Navy's X-45 Drone. Carrier based very long range and they get better the more you research.
The major bonus here is they dont have pilots so you can just use them as bait. If im going to bomb a city
with AA i'll send a few of these in first to draw thier fire while my bombers swoop in and leave.

[GreenGoblin]

Meet the US Navy's X-45 Drone. Carrier based very long range and they get better the more you research.
The major bonus here is they dont have pilots so you can just use them as bait. If im going to bomb a city
with AA i'll send a few of these in first to draw thier fire while my bombers swoop in and leave.

Nearly a billion dollars to build? That ain't cheap.

[Zuikaku]

Meet the US Navy's X-45 Drone. Carrier based very long range and they get better the more you research.
The major bonus here is they dont have pilots so you can just use them as bait. If im going to bomb a city
with AA i'll send a few of these in first to draw thier fire while my bombers swoop in and leave.

Nearly a billion dollars to build? That ain't cheap.

You can use Ju-87D Stuka en mass in the 2020. It is cheap to build and you can saturate enemy with overwhelming numbers

[D.B. Cooper]

I dont know. The US is making a few hundred million a day profit, and at $500 Million a year maintanence, they are relativly cheap to
produce and maintain, thats $1.4 Million a day maint. Still cheaper than even the jets we made back in the 80's.
I could build 100 of these only spending a hundred billion "not much for America" and it only add $140 Million a year maint. cost.
To have 100 jets loaded down with Rivet missiles would be pretty unstoppable. But really i would only need 10-30 of them at a time.

So right now in my game a year into it, with the ministers running things and being at war. Im profiting about $2 Billion a day, if i dont build things.
Thats $730 Billion a year profit and 100 of them would cost less than a quarter of just one Billion per year...i know it seems expensive compared to
WW2 or smaller modern countries, but by the time you can research any of the newer techs $1 Billion just seems like chump change.

Dont get me started on the stealth bombers or the ships that are costing like $16 Billion a year to maintain...those suckers can sink to the bottom
for all i care, lol a US B-2 Stealth Bomber costs over $104 Billion a year to maintain if that puts it into perspective. Thats $285 Million per day
compared to $1.4 Million a day. Lmao its getting worse the more I look into it. Seems like i could either have 203 of these drones or 1 B-2 Bomber....

My math might be wrong, but i could have 4060 drones or 20 B-2's... and I have had over 20 B-2 bombers in a game before no cheats.
These are my two best bombers starting out as the US in 2020 and as you can see the maint. cost is crazy high and $200 Billion to build a B-2.
As the US in 2020, my first priority is to reduce the military budget while at the same time not losing anything. Which is difficult to do.


My favorite plane tech to get at the start of of 2020 sandbox is the F-15K Strike Eagle though, while more expensive they have very high ground and
air attack values and can hold size 12 missiles, which is huge at the beginning. I use the F-35 CV for my carriers and global operations.

[Pravda]

I just got the game and I want to start a SW California game. Just looking at what units I have, I noticed that huge increase in military unit costs and maintenance from SR2020. An M2A4 used to cost 210M, now 1,176M and maintenance was 133M, now 627M.

I don't see the economy being able to support nearly as many military units as in SR2020.

Can you comment on this? Does Ultimate have the same feel with these new prices, yet pretty much the old economy?

[mfisher12]

Dont get me started on the stealth bombers or the ships that are costing like $16 Billion a year to maintain...those suckers can sink to the bottom
for all i care, lol a US B-2 Stealth Bomber costs over $104 Billion a year to maintain if that puts it into perspective. Thats $285 Million per day
compared to $1.4 Million a day. Lmao its getting worse the more I look into it. Seems like i could either have 203 of these drones or 1 B-2 Bomber....

My math might be wrong, but i could have 4060 drones or 20 B-2's... and I have had over 20 B-2 bombers in a game before no cheats.
These are my two best bombers starting out as the US in 2020 and as you can see the maint. cost is crazy high and $200 Billion to build a B-2.
As the US in 2020, my first priority is to reduce the military budget while at the same time not losing anything. Which is difficult to do.

I need to understand this better. Your screenshot shows the B2A costing $104bn/year to maintain and $208bn/unit cost. Playing as Egypt, I purchased the B2 (it seems to have superior penetration abilities compared to other strategic bombers and I'm making a killing selling petroleum). I've only now started to build my first squadron, and the tech readout says that I'm paying a bit over $162bn/unit and $81bn/year maintenance. What makes the difference in maintenance costs?

[D.B. Cooper]

My economic difficulty was at normal
Military difficulty was at very hard

[number47]

Your GDP/c makes difference on unit cost/maintenance...

Overly simplified formula: ingame cost = "cost from .units file" * "country GDP/c"

[D.B. Cooper]

Thank you for the info, great news now all the more reason to keep supressing my people.

[mfisher12]

Your GDP/c makes difference on unit cost/maintenance...

Overly simplified formula: ingame cost = "cost from .units file" * "country GDP/c"

Thanks for that. So, in other words a poor country won't pay as much for the same units as a wealthy one.

[D.B. Cooper]

I just got the game and I want to start a SW California game. Just looking at what units I have, I noticed that huge increase in military unit costs and maintenance from SR2020. An M2A4 used to cost 210M, now 1,176M and maintenance was 133M, now 627M.

I don't see the economy being able to support nearly as many military units as in SR2020.

Can you comment on this? Does Ultimate have the same feel with these new prices, yet pretty much the old economy?

You know i really didnt notice it as much until I started breaking down the numbers, I have only played as the US and it does seem like its more expensive to maintain the same size army in Ultimate vs 2020.

I remember having over 20 B-2 Bombers at a time, plus a full size navy, and I would even have troops spread around the globe. "just in case"

Now it seems like i can barley afford a single invasion force, with air and naval support. It hasnt restricted me much because i like to play with as few units as possible now, but I do miss being able to pre- position my units around the world. I could have 3-4 groups of units spread around the world before, keeping most of my military deployed at all times.

Not that this is a bad thing though, it was pretty unrealistic playing that way, and now its fun to worry about sending most of my units overseas and not knowing if someone will declare war, leaving my troops far from home not able to defend.

edit: I must say though on normal difficulty i find that making money is easier now, so that can make up for the extra costs.