Turkey would get nuked out a lot. It would also disincentivize getting 2 builds.

Okay what if the nukes were limited in range? say every time you earned a nuke you created a nuclear armed build instead of a regular build, and the nuclear armed build could only strike within 2 spaces of itself. All regular diplomacy moves apply. if the nuclear armed nation is tapped it can not launch.

So like this?

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/146334

inb4 webDip gets invaded by Bush.

Why can't you nuke sea territories?

You should also be able to build nuclear weapons inspection units who are able to enter enemy centers (but not occupy) to make sure that nuclear units aren't being built. We can then add another turn to the game, the "summit" turn, where all active leaders meet in Switzerland to discuss nuclear unit policy and to agree to not build nuclear units for another year.

In the case of some longer games, such as games that last until the 1960s, you could build and develop long range nuclear units, who could target any province on the board but only have a 1/6 chance of hitting its target; otherwise, it could hit an adjacent province or center. At the same time, you could build "dead hand" nuclear response units whose job it would be to simply sit in home centers and automatically attack when another nuclear attack was detected. This would happen without writing explicit orders for the unit, so the unit is effectively autonomous and need not be worried about by other powers. Except, of course, when 1975 turn starts and there is a 1-20 chance of an error in a power's nuclear safeguard program wherein a nuclear unit or dead hand unit has a small chance of detonating at any time due to a lack of proper safeguards.

The game would get really interesting in the 1980s when STAR WARS units could be built, meaning that an entirely new outer space unit would be created that would shoot down nuclear units from off the board.

We can also conduct proxy wars on the Colonial board once a stalemate is reached on the Classic board in an effort to break stalemate lines.

Of course, once you start playing on the Colonial board, there would have to be agreements to now allow this type of nuclear unit to proliferate to third world powers. You wouldn't want nuclear units, for example, in the provinces of Karachi, Syria, Kashmir, Seoul, Shiraz, or Baghdad for obvious reasons.

This is too crazy... I think a more logical step would be a WWII variant thst allowed you to build planes. They would still only move one or two spaces but could go anywhere, but the obviously couldn't convoy troops across water like fleets do. And maybe since they can fly anywhere they can't be convoyed using fleets either. I think it would be a logical step and add a bit of strategy without changing the whole game.

Meant would only move one space.

Would people start with planes? I wonder what the initial set up would look like. Say goodbye to stalemate lines, though.

Perhaps it could be implemented to destroy stalemate lines or the could be preserved. One options, planes move 1 space just like other units, can go any where, can be convoyed BUT are automatically disbanded whenever dislodged.

A second option would be planes move two spaces but only have 1/2 power. This would be a much more radical change and would likely eliminate all stalemate lines. Planes being able to move fast would likely dominate the later stages but early on players may still opt for tanks with the increased strength.

http://www.vdiplomacy.com/forum.php?threadID=36542

A variant very similar to this was being made for vDip, but work on it stopped as the person making it didn't have enough free time.

There's also a nuclear variant being played on RedScape at the moment, although it's considerably different to what you're suggesting:
http://www.redscape.com/viewforum.php?f=103


Something to consider when suggesting an idea like this - webDip variants can't have more than two unit types (code doesn't allow it) so you'd have to ditch either armies or fleets.

Only two types... Boo. Don't change anything then.

This sounds similar to Supremacy and Supremacy2020

@Caballo- to make it even simpler I was imagining just adding a symbol to the existing units to specify they are WMD units. (realistically instead of it being a fleet, it would be a nuclear armed submarine, and instead of it being an army it would be a mobile MLS) I think I am going to write out rules, for it. then come back and post later or tomorrow.

relevant not-XKCD
http://comicjk.com/comic.php/237