Paratroopers - Am I missing something?

[Smeghead]

So I ran into a brick wall yesterday when I decided to use paratroopers to take out all the pesky islands I couldn't attack due to my lack of a propper fleet.
I made some units, transports etc; tried them out once and everything worked out fine; troops dropped in the intended place and took the rest of the island within days. But after this initial success things just stopped working. Tried to airlift my troops away from the island but that didn't work so I had to move them to the next target by normal means.
So the next target was Sicily and I moved everything to Rome. I had the troops, the planes, full airsuperiority in Italy and all the regions surrounding it; I even had a some ships in the area scouting out the island. I made the order; assigned the troops and... nothing.
The troops just sat there in Rome doing nothing. I got no warning telling me something was wrong but instead everything said that the mission was proceeding as planned. After a month of this I decided to save the game and reload it; that caused the mission to trigger and the troops dropped on target.
Then tried it again on another island; everything looked good and the game told me everything was fine and proceeding as planned... but again the troops just say there doing nothing for days, weeks and months. This time saving and reloading didn't help.
So what am I missing? Is there a bug or is there something going on that the game isn't telling me?

To sum it all up: I always had the troops in provinces with airfields with the transports, the division template works for paratroopers because I got it working twice, I always had full airsuperiority in the region and every region next to the target and the game isn't telling me anything is wrong.

 

[Voigt]

Did you toggle air supply on for your transport planes after your second drop maybe? Transportplanes aren't allowed to have a mission active, when they are used for paradrops.

 

[Smeghead]

Did you toggle air supply on for your transport planes after your second drop maybe? Transportplanes aren't allowed to have a mission active, when they are used for paradrops.

I did not

 

[sekelsenmat]

You need air superiority above 70% in all air areas that the arrow crosses. Maybe a screenshot in the air screen? Having said that I also sometimes had strange refuses to paradrop.

 

[Harin]

Some things to consider:

1. If the airfield has to many planes the transport aircraft will not take off.
2. Range can be an issue. According to the WIKI:

If your target province lies within an air zone whose central node is outside the range of your transport planes, then it can cause an infinite delay and prevent paradrops. What this means is that, in a number of airfields, provinces might technically be in range of your transport planes, but your planes will never arrive at those provinces, because the target air zone's coverage node is outside of their range (or something like that). The Germany-to-Southern-England thing is a particularly obnoxious example, but it happens in a lot of other places too (the Pacific and South America, for example).​

​

Fortunately, you can get around this broken game mechanic by, well, breaking it further. When your para drop order appears on the Air map screen (same place where you assign Air Superiority and Ground Support missions), left-click the order's circular icon (probably looks blank), then right-click reassign your order to an air zone whose central node is closer to your airfield (this will usually, but not always, be the air zone your airfield is located in).​

3. Some people have reported on the forums that reloading the game fixes the problem. That is something you seem to have discovered.
4. Air superiority of 70% over every air zone in the path is required. Green air is less than 70% so do not be distracted by green air zones. Since air superiority can fluctuate, it may give the illusion the drop is broken, but then suddenly happen for no apparent reason.

Spoiler: Paradrops per WIKI

Paradrop[edit]

A paradrop order from an airfield in Germany to the Netherlands.
A paradrop is an attack by air on enemy territory. A paradrop may only be executed by paratroopers and their support equipment. Divisions with any battalions that cannot be dropped may not be used in a paradrop. Most kinds of line battalions will make a division ineligible for air drops if they are present in the division; see the division designer display on whether the division is para-capable.

A paradrop must start from an airfield with transport planes. Make sure that the number of transport planes is equal to or greater then the weight of the paratroopers. You must have 70% control of all air zones from the airfield to the drop location. If the airfield has planes over the capacity of the airfield the mission will not launch.

As there is aerial supply system in HOI4, a supply source, such as a large city, a port or a connection to the main front should be established as soon as possible in order to avoid the effects of being unsupplied. It is advisable to land paratroopers in an area near a supply source and to quickly assault that source, as supply sources tend to be well guarded. it is also great to use the new aerial supply system from waking the tiger DLC as it will allow paratroops to fight for long and hold the line against the enemy. Dropping atop enemy troops is an attack with hefty penalties and certain destruction if defeated unless the paratroops can retreat to adjacent friendly-controlled territory.

If experiencing problems with paradrops even when you have air superiority in the target zone, there may be another problem. If your target province lies within an air zone whose central node is outside the range of your transport planes, then it can cause an infinite delay and prevent paradrops. What this means is that, in a number of airfields, provinces might technically be in range of your transport planes, but your planes will never arrive at those provinces, because the target air zone's coverage node is outside of their range (or something like that). The Germany-to-Southern-England thing is a particularly obnoxious example, but it happens in a lot of other places too (the Pacific and South America, for example).

Fortunately, you can get around this broken game mechanic by, well, breaking it further. When your para drop order appears on the Air map screen (same place where you assign Air Superiority and Ground Support missions), left-click the order's circular icon (probably looks blank), then right-click reassign your order to an air zone whose central node is closer to your airfield (this will usually, but not always, be the air zone your airfield is located in).

The AI never attempts paradrops.

 

[SophieX]

Make sure, that your para-divisions are NOT part of an army, which have any orders.
Make sure, that your transport-wing have NO order to be refilled. ( means: no order to increase the number of planes in this wing )