ThunderHQ / Nuclear Escalation
Nuclear Escalation Overview
There’s more to Nuclear Escalation than dropping a nuke. Fight for the airspace, help your team on the ground and bring your aircraft home.
Nuclear Escalation Guides
Choose the guide for the job you need to do.
- 01
Nuclear Escalation Overview
Learn how the mode works, what to attack and how to get back for another flight.
- 02
Aircraft Selection and Loadouts
Pick an aircraft and loadout for the job, with flying advice for six aircraft.
- 03
Understanding AI Air Defenses
Find the SAMs and guns protecting your target, and learn when to attack or turn away.
- 04
Radar Detection and Missile Warnings
Understand what your warnings mean and spot the threats your RWR can’t show you.
- 05
Missile Evasion and Countermeasures
Use flares, chaff and defensive flying against the right threats.
- 06
Air-to-Air Combat
Cover attacks, protect returning teammates and stop enemy fighters from controlling the route.
- 07
Ground Attack Operations
Choose a target, use your weapon properly and get out of the defended area.
- 08
Mission Planning and Flight Routes
Choose a target, find a route past its defenses and keep a way home.
- 09
Managing Multiple Threats
Keep track of SAMs and enemy fighters while you’re attacking ground targets.
- 10
Advanced Combat Tactics
Time your attacks with suppression and fighter cover, then follow up on the result.
- 11
Mission Progression and Objective Priorities
Choose the next flight by what your team needs and what’s happening on the map.
What should you do first?
Start with an aircraft you know and give yourself one job. Attack a ground target you can reach, or cover a teammate on their way to one. You’ll learn more from an attack you survive than from carrying every weapon you can fit and dying before you use it.
For your first few flights, stay near friendly support. Leave the carrier group and heavily defended airfields alone until you’re comfortable finding targets, using your weapons and getting home.
Back to contents ↑Joining a battle
Choose Air Realistic Battles, then open the submode panel beneath To Battle! and select Nuclear Escalation. You need an aircraft with a BR of at least 8.7. Matchmaking uses the standard 1.0 BR spread.
You can respawn, so the battle is built around repeated flights rather than one life. Enemy aircraft, ground units and airfields all contribute to the team’s score when destroyed. Taking out the main base doesn’t automatically end the match—keep watching the score and the battlefield.
Back to contents ↑Southeastern City now in random battles
Southeastern City joined the random battle rotation on October 16, 2026. That update also moved some mission objects after event testing and fixed the brief jumps in aircraft position when tank columns appeared.
Check where the objectives and air defenses are when you join. Don’t rely on positions you remember from the test event.
Back to contents ↑Knowing what to attack
| Target | Why it matters | When to attack |
|---|---|---|
| Depots and supply convoys | Keep the enemy frontline supplied. | When you can hit them without flying through several defended positions. |
| Artillery and tactical missiles | Attack friendly ground forces from a distance. | When you find an exposed battery and have a clear approach. |
| Air defenses | Protect objectives and the routes leading to them. | When they’re stopping your team from reaching a target. |
| Enemy aircraft | Intercept your attackers and contest the airspace. | When they threaten the aircraft or route you’re covering. |
| Airfields and ships | Important objectives with their own defenses. | When your team can support the attack and deal with those defenses. |
Getting comfortable with the mode
Find your way around
Locate the front, choose a target and find a friendly airfield for the return. If the approach looks bad, turn back and try somewhere else.
Get comfortable with one weapon
Stick with one bomb or missile until you can select it, aim it and use it while still watching where you’re flying.
Work with a teammate
Cover someone’s attack or follow them in after they deal with a SAM site. Tell them what you’re attacking and which way you’ll leave.