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T3 Strategic Missile Launchers are static units built to cause indirect attacks from an extreme range via the use of Nuclear Missiles. They are often deployed and launched late in the game when the players' economies are well established.
Gameplay 
Edit
Strategic Missile Launchers (or SMLs) are designed solely to cause extensive damage to an area, especially towards enemy installations without exposing armies to enemy attack.
However, they are extremely costly and take a while to build but this often not the case especially when players' economies have been fully developed by the time they become available.
The Tech 3 Strategic Missile Launchers have a hefty cost of 15000 Mass, as much as a Cybran MonkeyLord. It also actually takes relatively little time to construct. When built, the individual missiles then have to be built before they can be used (which add to the economic strain as well).
Missile Construction Edit
Each strategic missile costs 12000 Mass and takes 5 minutes to build. Although it is possible to assist the launcher, it is usually not recommended.
Tactics Edit
Missiles launched do not go quietly. Every time a missile is launched, the voiceover will announce to every ACU and a unique nuclear symbol will be visible when zoomed out. This can either serve as a warning for the enemy to take action or to inflict psychological damage if used as a show of force (albeit an expensive one) at best.
Missiles are also immune to AA defenses but only SMDs serve as the only saviour for the ACU on the business end of a nuclear warhead.
Although a strategic missile launcher is very expensive, it is not a bad idea to build just the launcher, a common tactic to make your opponent panic by focusing on missile defense, breaking his/her concentration and wasting his resources on the long run.
It is important to note that the opponent would need defenses at anything they want to defend or risk losing it to a strategic missile hit. This gets economically more pressing with each defense and anti-nuke costs almost as much as the launcher.
Missile Defense Edit
see T3 strategic missile defense
As SMLs become more heavily used, an ACU should also consider building nuclear missile defenses to defend themselves from incoming missiles themselves.
Although cheaper and faster than SMLs, SMDs can hamper your economy quite quickly if not managed quickly but it's surely the only way to avoid devastating strikes inflicted on your essential infrastructure.
Launcher Destruction Edit
Keep in mind that a strategic missile launcher will detonate for 10000 damage within a 6m radius when destroyed. Take into account where to build around this as the blast damage may take out key structures or even cause a chain reaction if it destroys energy producing units or storage.
Differences Edit
There are absolutely no differences whatsoever. Only the launch time of the missile varies significantly. Below are approximate launch times for each faction's missile:
| SML | Launch Time
(s) |
|---|---|
| UEF
(Stonager) | 4.2 |
| Cybran
(Liberator) | 8.3 |
| Aeon
(Apocalypse) | 12.1 |
| Seraphim
(Hastue) | 10.8 |
|
Seraphim (Yolona Oss) | 7.2 |
Launch Time is rounded by 1 decimal point
As is apparent, it takes an Aeon strategic missile almost three times longer than a UEF's to launch from the strategic missile launcher. When attempting to snipe a commander or group of enemies, these extra seconds can mean a large difference in outcome.
An exception worth noting is that the Cybran missiles are equipped with EMP warheads, briefly powering down all structures within the blast.
