Paratroopers & "Fortress Guns" - Help needed

[Kull]

I have two units that aren't working as planned, and hopefully someone out there has seen and solved these problems:

1) Paratrooper Won't Jump: (Bloody Coward!) There actually aren't "true paratroopers" in this scenario, but I want the special message (with graphic) to show that unit "x" has taken a particular city. Unit "x" is not in the normal paratrooper slot but has the correct flag. It's created by events in a nearby city and the target city is the only "empty" enemy city within it's paradrop range....and yet the darn thing won't jump! I played around with it's movement, attack, cost and defense, but none of those make a difference. What's needed to entice this unit to grab the city?

2) I've heard tell of "Fortress Guns" which are actually Move-1 air units positioned in a city/carrier/airbase that can't fly away without crashing but will attack enemy units in an adjacent square. I've tried positioning them atop "Land Aircraft Carriers" (Forts) both with and without Airbases underneath. In every case, the AI controlled guns commit suicide on the very first turn. What am I missing here?

[techumseh]

Dumb questions #1-4: Is there a state of war? Have you tried a "MakeAggression" event the same turn? Does the 'jumping' civ have other cities, ie. is this part of a "normal" war between two more or less "normal" civs? Are there other units in the base city, or will the jumping unit leave it undefended?

Re: "Fortress Guns", Alex the Magnificent pioneered this concept in his scenario on the Seven Years War in North America. They were naval guns as I recall, and had the submarine flag. Another possible answer is the role assigned to the unit, which may affect how it's used by the AI.

[Kull]

Originally posted by techumseh
Dumb questions #1-4: Is there a state of war?

Yes. The whole time this unit won't jump, units from the civ (we'll call them "Germans") are leaving that very city and assaulting nearby forts owned by the other civ (who we'll call "Belgians").

Have you tried a "MakeAggression" event the same turn?

No, but there was one a few turns earlier and the two civs despise each other.

Does the 'jumping' civ have other cities, ie. is this part of a "normal" war between two more or less "normal" civs?

Yep, plenty of 'em too. So it is a fairly normal war in that every other form of attack takes place except the paradrop. They are both AI civs.....

Are there other units in the base city, or will the jumping unit leave it undefended?

There are other defenders, but it DID fortify and defend. So then I lowered the "D" and upped the "A" and the darn thing marched out and hurled itself at one of the forts! I even tried placing it on an airbase and making it impossible to move normally (it was hemmed in by ZOC and an adjacent 0-move enemy "bomber"), but it just fortified and sat there.

Re: "Fortress Guns", Alex the Magnificent pioneered this concept in his scenario on the Seven Years War in North America.

That's where I first heard of it. Didn't you doing something similar with the Barbarian towns in Roman Civil War?

They were naval guns as I recall, and had the submarine flag.

I doubt that will work here - the forts are all far from the sea.

Another possible answer is the role assigned to the unit, which may affect how it's used by the AI.

I changed the role from 3 (Air Superiority) to 0 (Defend) without effect.

[techumseh]

Well, I'm out of ideas. But I'm glad you're finishing it.

[MagyarCrusader]

The AI is lame. Unless its too much trouble, try changing the unit slot.

I don't think there is anything you can do about the guns. The AI will move the air units every turn. The only thing I can suggest is making the airbase/carrier the "land gun" and the unit an artillery shell with missile properties, and use events to create an artillery shell at each location every turn.

[Boco]

Paratrooper Won't Jump: (Bloody Coward!)

I've got an AI-controlled para in the 64th slot of units. It'll jump into empty cities much of the time, [/I]but not always[I]. It's dirt cheap to build. Stats are:
Adwar, Hor, 0, 6.,0, 3a, 1d, 2h,1f, 1,0, 0, X7, 000010100000011

I have MakeAggression every turn, but I'm going to take it out shortly. I'll let you know if that affects paratrooper behavior. Para's role is attack? Other units in home base have Defend role?