CasualHardcore

I’ve been playing Defcon a fair bit. OK, so much that I see missiles flying when I close my eyes. I’ve met with some success online, but I think the influx of demo players skews the results somewhat in my favour.

Game balance is very delicately poised in Defcon. All players start with the same forces. The only varying influence is the player’s deployment and the geography of the chosen Super Power. Europe, for example, is very tightly confined, which makes defence much easier, but also means Russian Radar has very good information of the location of your defences. North America has access to both the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, which means your naval forces must generally be split between the two.
As the balance is so delicate, most of the game seems to revolve around finding a single point of weakness and focusing on that. Generally, the first major contact with the enemy will be a naval encounter - winning this initial encounter is crucial … removing the enemy navy allows you to plant your submarines and carries near your opponents coast, while simultaneously removing the threat of their navy. Subs provide a potentionally devestating nuclear capability, while your carriers provide a flexible launch platform for bombing strikes. The offensive difference in capability provided by naval superiority is often enough to ensure victory, even if only a particularly pyhric one.
The underlying structure of Defcon reminds me somewhat of Chess … the initial opening moves can detemine the ultimate winner of the game. Deploy your pieces, set up your position and watch the missiles fly.