Matrix Games Forums

Is this a thing in this game? I've never seen one, but they play an important role in some current conflicts and were at least planned for in Cold War naval strategy. Only thing I've ever seen are land based guns, basically obsolete by the 1950s.

I have missile batteries available.

They appear on the fortification list at the very bottom, under airbases.

Maybe it requires a tech, but I don't think I've ever gotten it.

Maybe what ought to happen is that your coast defense batteries just automatically add missile launchers as you develop the techs, maybe in numbers and sophistication proportional to the type of guns you had in there. I was just in San Francisco and I visited the harbor defenses on the Marin Headlands. There were a lot of batteries, for one thing, lots more than you ever see in RTW. The older batteries down by the water's edge were supplemented by bigger guns sited high up looking off to sea, and then those batteries were supplemented by missile batteries (and the gun positions were turned into tourist attractions). So an 8-inch battery would add a couple of tubes of HASM and maybe a light SAM, while the big 14-inch model would have a dozen SSMs and heavy SAMs.

Couldn't find a tech that expressly states it allows land based SSM batteries to be built.

Interestingly, there's an empty space at the bottom of the drop down menu of the different types of fortifications I can build at my bases. It is 1957 and I have missile tech level 8.

Ah, there's 25 Missile techs

After looking again, I'm wondering if it's possibly tech #15, "Effective Cruise Missiles: Anti-ship missiles can attack targets not spotted by the firing ship"

That one is very handy in the late game. You have a couple of cheesy DDs out on scouting missions and then you can fire your HSSMs from halfway across the ocean.

Yep, and it also adds the sub- and land-based batteries into my 'basket'