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Paratroopers are quite possibly the most maligned unit in the game, completely ignored by most players and underutilized by the rest, myself included. This stems mainly from the fact that it has a very situation-specific specialty, is weak offensively, slow and not overpowering defensively, and comes with a little researched, optional tech. Despite their drawbacks, the paratrooper and its modern paratrooper successor do have their uses, though, which I’m going to attempt to expound upon. First, the basics:
Paratrooper
Cost: 90
A/D/M: 4/9/1
Tech: Advanced Flight
Range: 6
Abilities: Airdrop, Zone of Control
Modern Paratrooper
Cost: 110
A/D/M: 6/11/1
Tech: Synthetic Fibers
Range: 8
Abilities: Airdrop, Zone of Control
As you can see, both types of paratrooper are essentially infantry units, so why would you bother to build either when you can build infantry? Airdrop is the only plausible answer. Yes, infantry or TOW infantry can do these same things via helicopter, but means 100 extra shields devoted to two units to do the job of one (or four to do the job of three with the helo’s increased capacity) and is susceptible to enemy interception. The drawback to airdrop is that it requires the unit to be in a city with an airport. For this reason, and trade, I like to rush at least one airport ASAP once the front moves, even on my own continent. This is surprisingly easy with the implementation of civil engineers, especially when playing a militaristic civ. Assuming airports in the right places, there are four major uses for which paratroopers are ideally suited:
Instant Mobile Defense
Your armor has just taken a city which became engulfed by enemy borders. It was a bloody fight and you’ve just got a handful of beat up units to hold it against the inevitable counterattack. The quickest way to get reinforcements to your new city is to airdrop three or four paratroopers in and hold the town until next turn, when you can move your attackers in to heal and maybe get that mech infantry unit there. Admittedly, this is the one case where helos are significantly better, if you can make the extra investment in shields and support, since they can be loaded and rebased within a much farther range, and don’t require an airport. This is the only use that won’t add to WW slightly by ending a turn in enemy territory.
Second Front Harassment
There’s nothing the enemy hates worse than your units deep in its territory. Drop a column of paratroopers as deep as you can at the end of your turn, especially early in the war, and your main offensive column will have that many fewer attacks to absorb before pressing on the offensive. The AI will pour attackers at these guys, who are pretty stout defenders, until it can wipe them out. In some cases, this will leave the tiles adjacent to your stack littered with wounded AI slowmovers. You’ll get plenty of elites this way, but I wouldn’t recommend picking off a weak AI unit in hopes of getting a leader unless your armor can open the path back home the same turn. You should have Battlefield Medicine by the time you’re using paratroopers, so drop enough of them together and you’ll almost always have a full strength unit on top while your others heal. Needless to say, if they’re going to be there a turn or two, pillage and fortify. See the general guidelines below for tips on how to use this most effectively. Caution: save the drop for last, not only to see if it’s still necessary, but to avoid overunning your dropzone that same turn, effectively wasting a move.
Resource Denial
My favorite use of the paratroopers is very similar to the Second Front Harassment.
The bad news: Fascist Hiawatha’s pumping out infantry faster than my tanks can kill them and I’ve got a few more turns before I can get enough cities on tanks to overwhelm him.
The good news: Hmmm, he’s only got one source of rubber.
The bad news: It’s behind three rows of mountains and I have no bombers handy.
The solution: A good ol’ fashioned resource denial airdrop. Drop your paratrooper column right on top of his resource, or as close as you can get, then pillage and fortify. Not only do you deprive that drafting bastage of his rubber, you keep his uberfast workers from hooking it back up as soon as you move. Naturally, since the AI does recognize the value of resources, you’re going to absorb a lot of the attacks this way, just like opening a second front.
Offensive Force Augmentation
I generally don’t like this one, but it does become necessary at times. Once you’ve located that out of the way, crappy little AI town defended only by a couple of spearmen that you really don’t want to waste cavalry/tank/MA attacks on, send in the airborne. This is about the only time I recommend using these guys offensively, though the MP is the equal of cavalry in offensive strength. Remember that regardless of what you’re using as your main offensive unit, you only have a finite number of attacks you can make with it in a given turn. This tactic allows you to stretch that number as far as possible. It’s particularly useful when that out of the way town is lightly defended because of a natural barrier, which will sap even more potential attacks from your force just getting there.
General Guidelines for Dropping in Enemy Territory
*Select the best possible dropzone. What’s your target going to be? Now look at the tiles adjacent and see what suits your needs best. Remember to use terrain to your advantage. I’ve just dropped eight paratroopers on a mountain behind one of your cities. With the defense bonus, that’s a defensive strength of 18. How many tanks did you want to send to clear them out? Sure, you can use artillery, but that’s just that many more bombardments you can’t use on my main stack. Next turn, when I fortify, that defense strength will go up to 20.25 (not sure where or if it rounds). Do the same thing with MP and the strengths are 22 and 24.75. Without some bombardment help, you’re going to have a tough time dislodging these guys even with modern armor.
*Scout your dropzone. If there’s an enemy unit or city on the tile you drop into, you lose the paratrooper (same applies to airdrops from helos), so be sure to do a recon mission over the area (jet fighter or helo), or at least pay attention to that tile during a bombing run. A recon mission will also give you an idea of what units are in the vicinity, though by this time the enemy should have enough railroads that you’ll see more hit you than are in the vicinity.
*There is strength in numbers. Rarely if ever will a single paratrooper achieve your desired goal. Dropping them spread out only works in a poorly developed region. Most of the time it's best to keep them in stacks.
*Don’t leave them hanging. Don’t drop your SFH stack, then “give it a turn or two to work”. Apply the pressure the very next turn. The quicker you get to them, the quicker you can get an airport rushed and do the same thing over again. If you can’t get to them soon, try to give them as much air support as possible. This is also a good setup for a bomber killing ground if the AI attacks with slowmovers.
One minor use of the normal paratrooper is for single turn defense production. I often find myself with a good many cities producing 90-99 shields, and just a few producing 110+, especially before nuke plants. Rather than waiting two turns for an MI, if I need warm bodies with decent defense now so I can keep pressing my offensive and not leave captured cities open to one measly cavalry unit sliding up the rails, it’s a good match.
Just to touch on paratrooper armies, don't use them. Unlike marine armies (the single baddest unit in the game
), paratrooper armies don't keep their specialty, so you just wind up turning them into a weaker infantry army for the same shield and support cost. Why bother.
All in all, both paratrooper units are too situation specific to recommend always using, but when the situation presents itself, they do the job well and add to the fun of a well coordinated modern war. Whether you research AF, the last “cheap” tech before entering the modern era, trade for it or just wait for SF, every player should try to recognize paratrooper-friendly situations and make use of them, at least once for the experience.
Paratrooper
Cost: 90
A/D/M: 4/9/1
Tech: Advanced Flight
Range: 6
Abilities: Airdrop, Zone of Control
Modern Paratrooper
Cost: 110
A/D/M: 6/11/1
Tech: Synthetic Fibers
Range: 8
Abilities: Airdrop, Zone of Control
As you can see, both types of paratrooper are essentially infantry units, so why would you bother to build either when you can build infantry? Airdrop is the only plausible answer. Yes, infantry or TOW infantry can do these same things via helicopter, but means 100 extra shields devoted to two units to do the job of one (or four to do the job of three with the helo’s increased capacity) and is susceptible to enemy interception. The drawback to airdrop is that it requires the unit to be in a city with an airport. For this reason, and trade, I like to rush at least one airport ASAP once the front moves, even on my own continent. This is surprisingly easy with the implementation of civil engineers, especially when playing a militaristic civ. Assuming airports in the right places, there are four major uses for which paratroopers are ideally suited:
Instant Mobile Defense
Your armor has just taken a city which became engulfed by enemy borders. It was a bloody fight and you’ve just got a handful of beat up units to hold it against the inevitable counterattack. The quickest way to get reinforcements to your new city is to airdrop three or four paratroopers in and hold the town until next turn, when you can move your attackers in to heal and maybe get that mech infantry unit there. Admittedly, this is the one case where helos are significantly better, if you can make the extra investment in shields and support, since they can be loaded and rebased within a much farther range, and don’t require an airport. This is the only use that won’t add to WW slightly by ending a turn in enemy territory.
Second Front Harassment
There’s nothing the enemy hates worse than your units deep in its territory. Drop a column of paratroopers as deep as you can at the end of your turn, especially early in the war, and your main offensive column will have that many fewer attacks to absorb before pressing on the offensive. The AI will pour attackers at these guys, who are pretty stout defenders, until it can wipe them out. In some cases, this will leave the tiles adjacent to your stack littered with wounded AI slowmovers. You’ll get plenty of elites this way, but I wouldn’t recommend picking off a weak AI unit in hopes of getting a leader unless your armor can open the path back home the same turn. You should have Battlefield Medicine by the time you’re using paratroopers, so drop enough of them together and you’ll almost always have a full strength unit on top while your others heal. Needless to say, if they’re going to be there a turn or two, pillage and fortify. See the general guidelines below for tips on how to use this most effectively. Caution: save the drop for last, not only to see if it’s still necessary, but to avoid overunning your dropzone that same turn, effectively wasting a move.
Resource Denial
My favorite use of the paratroopers is very similar to the Second Front Harassment.
The bad news: Fascist Hiawatha’s pumping out infantry faster than my tanks can kill them and I’ve got a few more turns before I can get enough cities on tanks to overwhelm him.
The good news: Hmmm, he’s only got one source of rubber.
The bad news: It’s behind three rows of mountains and I have no bombers handy.
The solution: A good ol’ fashioned resource denial airdrop. Drop your paratrooper column right on top of his resource, or as close as you can get, then pillage and fortify. Not only do you deprive that drafting bastage of his rubber, you keep his uberfast workers from hooking it back up as soon as you move. Naturally, since the AI does recognize the value of resources, you’re going to absorb a lot of the attacks this way, just like opening a second front.
Offensive Force Augmentation
I generally don’t like this one, but it does become necessary at times. Once you’ve located that out of the way, crappy little AI town defended only by a couple of spearmen that you really don’t want to waste cavalry/tank/MA attacks on, send in the airborne. This is about the only time I recommend using these guys offensively, though the MP is the equal of cavalry in offensive strength. Remember that regardless of what you’re using as your main offensive unit, you only have a finite number of attacks you can make with it in a given turn. This tactic allows you to stretch that number as far as possible. It’s particularly useful when that out of the way town is lightly defended because of a natural barrier, which will sap even more potential attacks from your force just getting there.
General Guidelines for Dropping in Enemy Territory
*Select the best possible dropzone. What’s your target going to be? Now look at the tiles adjacent and see what suits your needs best. Remember to use terrain to your advantage. I’ve just dropped eight paratroopers on a mountain behind one of your cities. With the defense bonus, that’s a defensive strength of 18. How many tanks did you want to send to clear them out? Sure, you can use artillery, but that’s just that many more bombardments you can’t use on my main stack. Next turn, when I fortify, that defense strength will go up to 20.25 (not sure where or if it rounds). Do the same thing with MP and the strengths are 22 and 24.75. Without some bombardment help, you’re going to have a tough time dislodging these guys even with modern armor.
*Scout your dropzone. If there’s an enemy unit or city on the tile you drop into, you lose the paratrooper (same applies to airdrops from helos), so be sure to do a recon mission over the area (jet fighter or helo), or at least pay attention to that tile during a bombing run. A recon mission will also give you an idea of what units are in the vicinity, though by this time the enemy should have enough railroads that you’ll see more hit you than are in the vicinity.
*There is strength in numbers. Rarely if ever will a single paratrooper achieve your desired goal. Dropping them spread out only works in a poorly developed region. Most of the time it's best to keep them in stacks.
*Don’t leave them hanging. Don’t drop your SFH stack, then “give it a turn or two to work”. Apply the pressure the very next turn. The quicker you get to them, the quicker you can get an airport rushed and do the same thing over again. If you can’t get to them soon, try to give them as much air support as possible. This is also a good setup for a bomber killing ground if the AI attacks with slowmovers.
One minor use of the normal paratrooper is for single turn defense production. I often find myself with a good many cities producing 90-99 shields, and just a few producing 110+, especially before nuke plants. Rather than waiting two turns for an MI, if I need warm bodies with decent defense now so I can keep pressing my offensive and not leave captured cities open to one measly cavalry unit sliding up the rails, it’s a good match.
Just to touch on paratrooper armies, don't use them. Unlike marine armies (the single baddest unit in the game
), paratrooper armies don't keep their specialty, so you just wind up turning them into a weaker infantry army for the same shield and support cost. Why bother.All in all, both paratrooper units are too situation specific to recommend always using, but when the situation presents itself, they do the job well and add to the fun of a well coordinated modern war. Whether you research AF, the last “cheap” tech before entering the modern era, trade for it or just wait for SF, every player should try to recognize paratrooper-friendly situations and make use of them, at least once for the experience.
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