Why are paratroopers not working?

[B24 Liberator]

I have used paratroopers in the past, so it's not like I don't understand how to use them or the game mechanics. Now my paratroopers just sit at the airport indefinitely saying "division still preparing". When you click the green check mark to activate the plan, nothing happens. I have 100% air superiority both in the starting airzone, and the airzone where my paratroopers are landing (directly adjacent to the starting airzone). Paratroopers seem completely broken now.

Did something change after BBA, and I'm not using my paratroopers correctly now? Am I missing something, or is this a legit bug?

 

[DukofDeth]

There has been a persistent bug since the earliest days wherein any late-game paradrops just sit there forever no matter how well the conditions are satisfied. THey even refuse to drop on the target when other ground forces have already taken it. I'm not sure if it hasn't been properly reported or they just can't figure out what is causing that. For me, paratroops always work early in the game but late-game seem to get stuck.

Time for an expert bug tracker. @bitmode - what do you know of this bug?

 

[GSP Jr]

Check the weight of your divisions and the number of Transports assigned, you now need hundreds of planes to 'lift' a division, just like real life.
If you hover over the arrow of the paradrop order there is a tool tip that shows how many planes are needed.


There is an existing bug that sometimes can keep a jump from happening that concerns the distance and placement of airfields, but it does not effect ALL jumps.

 

[DorostheConquer]

The distance bug occurs when you try to make a jump that would put the "mission node" (where your aircraft appear on the map, while running a mission) outside of your transport plane's range circle. The province you're jumping to may be in range, but if the airzone the province is assigned to is large enough, so large that the central area of the airzone is outside your range, you'll get stuck with a bug where the paradrop order will never complete.

You'll see it happen most frequently in Africa, Asia, and South America, where airzones tend to be a lot bigger.

This bug has existed since the game came out, and there's no real fix; you just have to build new airbases, closer to the airzone of the province you want to jump to.

 

[bitmode]

Time for an expert bug tracker. @bitmode - what do you know of this bug?

I concur with @GSP Jr, it is most likely a lack of transport planes. Far more transport planes are needed now both because each division takes up 45 and because divisions cant't jump one by one anymore. The corresponding warning in the tooltip of the drawn arrow is easy to miss because it does not render above water.

@DorostheConquer that bug seems to be fixed, at least I can't reproduce it any more.

 

[Cassus Belli]

I have used paratroopers in the past, so it's not like I don't understand how to use them or the game mechanics. Now my paratroopers just sit at the airport indefinitely saying "division still preparing". When you click the green check mark to activate the plan, nothing happens. I have 100% air superiority both in the starting airzone, and the airzone where my paratroopers are landing (directly adjacent to the starting airzone). Paratroopers seem completely broken now.

Did something change after BBA, and I'm not using my paratroopers correctly now? Am I missing something, or is this a legit bug?

You can sometimes resolve this by putting your transport planes back into reserves and bringing them out again.

 

[GothiousRex]

Since BBA, you need 45 transports per PARA division in the order (with an overall minimum of 50).
The transports can't have a mission assigned (ie. air supply) and its preferable that they either not be assigned to an air zone or assigned to the air zone that the drop zone is in.
Ensure that the transports can be assigned to the air zone that the drop zone is in. Pre-BBA, there was occasionally an issue where it let you select provinces in the air zone to drop, but the range calculator between the air zones had the range beyond the range of the transports and therefore couldn't be assigned to the air zone, I haven't seen this issue since BBA, but it may still exist.
Ensure that the PARAs are assigned to the mission, on occasion they may still be assigned to a front line, a defense order or a relief line order.

Did something change after BBA?

The number of transports required, 45 per PARA division in the order.

 

[Mister Analyst]

@GothiousRex is correct.

Reference HOI4 wiki page Defines NAir. These defines were added by the 1.12 Avalanche release:

NAir.MIN_PLANE_COUNT_PARADROP = 50
NAir.BASE_UNIT_WEIGHT_IN_TRANSPORT_PLANES = 45.0