Please please please give paradrops some attention in your next War Effort patch

[unmerged(473838)]

I love this game. Been playing it for years, but there are so many gotchas with the paradrops. It's really frustrating to go through all of the effort of creating the paratrooper divisions and the transports, putting in place and then they mess up the timing of the whole attack.

Too frequently there's some gotcha that's holding them up, which throws off the timing of the entire operation.

The paradrops need to say if something is wrong... say it clearly right on the drop arrow.
- If the drop is out of range (due to the center of region bug)
- If air superiority too low in one of the regions - state the region's name! Sometimes its not clear which regions they will pass through.
- Not enough transports
- If the transports are doing something else.
- The destination isn't valid any more.
- No fuel
- Any other reasons!

Please consider reviewing it for bugs as well.
Right now I'm encountering some bug where I can't select the transports. The region they're in simply doesn't show up for the Paratroop order step 1. The tooltip says the province needs 50 transports. There are 600 transports there.
- I'm using airborne units that have already used these exact same transports twice before.
- The transports aren't assign to a region. They're not delivering air supply. All of the transports state "Standing by".
- Air superiority is at 75%.

I've tried restarting the game and have twice moved the transports to other airfields to see if that would fix them.
Please! enhance the tool tip that says it needs 50 transports. It would be great if it said why I can't use those transports because I can't figure it out.

 

[Herennius]

How many division do you want to paradrop and how much transport weight they have?

The info on 50 transport planes reads suspicious to me. A while ago the streamlining of air wings to size 100 also affected trasnports and greatly increased number of needed planes for both supply and paradropping (AFAIK, as compensation the IC price of transport planes was reduced). So it might be the case that the info is outdated, while not even the 600 planes you have are sufficient for the paradrop operation you are attempting.

I would recommend to post some screenshots and also if possible your savegame to allow better investigation.

 

[HugsAndSnuggles]

The tooltip says the province needs 50 transports.

That's the minimal amount you need for paradrop. I guess, the game simply does not acknowledge that you have any... maybe supply/fuel issues?

 

[unmerged(473838)]

That's the minimal amount you need for paradrop. I guess, the game simply does not acknowledge that you have any... maybe supply/fuel issues?

Supply was full green and fuel reserves were also full.

 

[unmerged(473838)]

How many division do you want to paradrop and how much transport weight they have?

The info on 50 transport planes reads suspicious to me. A while ago the streamlining of air wings to size 100 also affected trasnports and greatly increased number of needed planes for both supply and paradropping (AFAIK, as compensation the IC price of transport planes was reduced). So it might be the case that the info is outdated, while not even the 600 planes you have are sufficient for the paradrop operation you are attempting.

I would recommend to post some screenshots and also if possible your savegame to allow better investigation.

I used those same 600 transports to paradrop those same paratrooper units twice before. Once to do a d-day style drop and once to jump again behind enemy lines to cut supply. It was the third time I tried a drop that it stopped working. Same transport planes, same paratroopers... only 11 divisions instead of the original 18 were remaining.

I should have taken screenshots like you said, but I got frustrated and proceeded the game using the paratroopers as regular infantry. At this point Europe has been saved so I guess that I didn't really need the paradrop.

My original point, though, is that the game needs to give better feedback in the many paradrop error situations.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

fix range calc bug. also yes, if the paradrop isn't happening, there should never be a scenario where the game doesn't tell you why it isn't happening. range calc bug is one potential cause, but not even most common one

 

[unmerged(485085)]

I used those same 600 transports to paradrop those same paratrooper units twice before. Once to do a d-day style drop and once to jump again behind enemy lines to cut supply. It was the third time I tried a drop that it stopped working. Same transport planes, same paratroopers... only 11 divisions instead of the original 18 were remaining.

I should have taken screenshots like you said, but I got frustrated and proceeded the game using the paratroopers as regular infantry. At this point Europe has been saved so I guess that I didn't really need the paradrop.

My original point, though, is that the game needs to give better feedback in the many paradrop error situations.

Try deleting the transport air wings and then reforming them at the desired air field, then try to redo your paradrop order.

There is a known bug with transports getting stuck with a previously failed paradrop order. I've only seen this happen when trying to drop paratroopers into friendly territory without being in a state of war (the transports will always glitch if you do this), but other players have reported similar outcomes in other situations. Usually deleting and reforming the air wings releases the stuck transports. Sometimes only restarting the game and loading works.

I discuss this, as well as the general requirements for paradropping in this guide:

Steam Community :: Guide :: Paradropping Explained (Ver 1.12+)

An explanation of paradrop order requirements after the version 1.12 update....

steamcommunity.com

 

[bitmode]

- If the drop is out of range (due to the center of region bug)

My last two reproduction cases for this bug did not trigger it anymore, making me think it was fixed. What is a current airport-province combination where it still happens?

 

[unmerged(473838)]

My last two reproduction cases for this bug did not trigger it anymore, making me think it was fixed. What is a current airport-province combination where it still happens?

I saw this happen just a few days ago when trying to do a max range drop from England->France. Unfortunately, I don't remember the exact locations.

 

[unmerged(473838)]

Try deleting the transport air wings and then reforming them at the desired air field, then try to redo your paradrop order.

There is a known bug with transports getting stuck with a previously failed paradrop order. I've only seen this happen when trying to drop paratroopers into friendly territory without being in a state of war (the transports will always glitch if you do this), but other players have reported similar outcomes in other situations. Usually deleting and reforming the air wings releases the stuck transports. Sometimes only restarting the game and loading works.

I discuss this, as well as the general requirements for paradropping in this guide:

Steam Community :: Guide :: Paradropping Explained (Ver 1.12+)

An explanation of paradrop order requirements after the version 1.12 update....

steamcommunity.com

Ahhh, that's the work-around! I didn't think of that. Thank you for the idea. I will try that next time. It did indeed start happening after a failed drop.

 

[Secret Master]

You missed one indicator the game needs.

If the PARA divisions are in bad supply, they won't drop despite being given the order. You'll see the arrow in motion, but nothing happens. The game never tells you its because the PARA are in bad supply.

This often comes up when you try to PARA from an airfield with tons of planes on it besides the transports.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

You missed one indicator the game needs.

If the PARA divisions are in bad supply, they won't drop despite being given the order. You'll see the arrow in motion, but nothing happens. The game never tells you its because the PARA are in bad supply.

This often comes up when you try to PARA from an airfield with tons of planes on it besides the transports.

definitely useful advice, but also an example of a problem in ui. it's definitely something that an average ui would articulate.

 

[Secret Master]

definitely useful advice, but also an example of a problem in ui. it's definitely something that an average ui would articulate.

True story:

It's an issue I've known about for years, but when I haven't played the game in awhile and I come back, I always forget.

I swear far more when this happens than when I actually lose PARA on a drop.

 

[Synicus]

A Utube video advised to wait 24 hours before executing a drop if the troopers were newly created/reformed.
I've only tested them for starting wars, like capitulating France from Italy in a week or less. or crossing the English channel. (timing is critical)
I mostly play Japan and the range is too short for Asia/Pac.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

True story:

It's an issue I've known about for years, but when I haven't played the game in awhile and I come back, I always forget.

I swear far more when this happens than when I actually lose PARA on a drop.

para in game isn't as dangerous as historically, but we still have rightful expectations that it's a high risk job in the game. thus losing them isn't frustrating in the same way that "you can't do this order that's represented as valid but we won't tell you why either" can be frustrating.