ThunderHQ / Nuclear Escalation
How to Play Nuclear Escalation
Here’s how to get through your first flight, from choosing weapons to landing and rearming.
1. Set up your aircraft
- Make sure your preset meets the mode’s entry requirements. Use its Air RB rating when choosing your aircraft.
- Bring weapons you’ve unlocked and know how to use. Check your countermeasures before spawning.
- Pick your job before filling the hardpoints. Fighter cover needs air-to-air weapons; a ground attack needs weapons for the target you’ve chosen.
- Take enough fuel to reach the target, attack and get home with some left over. Heavy loads and long stretches of afterburner can use much more fuel than you expect.
- Look at the spawn cost and airfield status before committing. If an aircraft is locked at that field, check your other available fields.
2. Get the important controls within reach
| Control | What you need to be able to do |
|---|---|
| Secondary weapon selection and firing | Switch to the weapon you want without firing the wrong one. |
| Weapon camera and seeker lock | Find the target and tell when the seeker has a lock. |
| Sight stabilization and target designation | Mark the point you want to attack and clear it when you need a new target. |
| Laser controls, if fitted | Turn the laser on and keep the target in view while the weapon needs guidance. |
| Radar, RWR and countermeasures | Read a warning, change radar settings and release flares or chaff without searching for a key. |
| Bomb salvo and fuze settings | Drop the number of bombs you intend and give yourself clearance from the blast. |
3. Take off and plan your approach
Before takeoff
Check fuel and weapons, then find a friendly landing field on the map. Keep a second one in mind in case you can’t return to the first.
Get settled
Retract the gear and flaps within their speed limits. Build speed and look around before opening a weapon camera.
Read the approach
Find your target, nearby air defenses and friendly aircraft. Decide where you’ll turn away after the attack.
Know when to turn back
If you can’t find the target, can’t get a lock or have a threat you can’t deal with, break off. Flying closer usually makes those problems harder to solve.
4. Make your first attack
Find the right target
Make sure it’s hostile and still alive. Look around it for air defenses and other aircraft before focusing on the attack.
Line up
Select your weapon and get the camera, sight or designation ready. Give yourself room to turn away if the shot doesn’t come together.
Fire or drop
Wait for a valid firing or release indication. A weapon’s maximum range on the stat card doesn’t tell you how well it will work from your speed, height and angle.
Get out
Turn toward the exit you chose. Keep guiding the weapon for as long as it needs, but don’t forget to fly the aircraft and watch for threats.
5. Use the right method for your weapon
| Weapon | How to use it | What usually goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Unguided bombs | Settle into the run, use your available sight or bombing computer and release with enough room to escape your own blast. | A late turn or change in speed throws off the drop. |
| TV- or IR-guided weapons | Open the seeker view, lock the target and wait for a valid release. Know whether your weapon needs any support after firing. | The camera is pointed at the target, but the seeker hasn’t locked—or it’s locked to the ground beside a moving vehicle. |
| Laser-guided weapons | Designate the target and keep the laser and line of sight on it until impact. Leave room to turn without blocking your targeting pod. | Terrain or your own aircraft masks the target before the weapon arrives. |
| Coordinate-guided bombs | Mark a stationary target accurately and release inside the weapon’s envelope. | The aimpoint stays where you marked it while the convoy drives away. |
| Manually guided missiles | Keep the missile and target in view, steer the weapon and keep flying the aircraft. Practice this before trying it under fire. | A Bullpup is treated like a Maverick and left to guide itself. |
| Anti-radiation missiles | Find the radar emission, get the required lock and launch. Watch for the radar shutting down afterward. | A silent radar is mistaken for a destroyed site, or an ARM is used against a target that isn’t emitting. |
6. Get home and rearm
Head back while you still have fuel, countermeasures and a flyable aircraft. Find an operational friendly field and check for enemies before setting up the landing. Friendly air defenses help, but they won’t make every approach safe.
After landing, let the aircraft repair and rearm, then check your fuel and weapons before taking off again. If you’re shot down and that aircraft is locked at its departure field, look at the other fields on the respawn screen.
Back to contents ↑7. Fly the nuclear mission
Check the aircraft is available
Look at the nuclear option on the spawn screen. It shows the required escalation level and points, along with the aircraft you’ll fly.
Pick the target
Choose an enemy objective that matters to the battle. Check where friendly units are before planning the drop.
Get help on the way in
Ask for fighter cover and help with the air defenses along your route. Have somewhere else to go if that approach closes.
Set up the drop
Select the nuclear weapon and check its arming and release indications. Follow the carrier’s sight and delivery cues rather than using the same release height for every aircraft.
Watch what happens next
Check the target and the team score after the strike. Be ready to keep playing if the battle is still going.
8. Fix the thing that went wrong
- Died before firing? Try a different route, a more exposed target or an attack with support.
- Weapon missed? Check the lock, aimpoint and release conditions, then work out whether you stopped guiding it too soon.
- Hit the target but got shot down watching the impact? Spend less time in the camera and get moving toward your exit.
- Made it home but achieved little? Choose a target closer to the active fight for the next flight.