Paratroopers are perhaps the most useless unit in the game, but I'll try my best to cover its potential.
Assessment
Paratroopers already at lvl 1 cost more than a lvl 3 Motorized infantry (assuming this isn't the Allies doctrine), being outclassed economically and militarily at everything but stealth and goods cost in comparison. It takes an Infantry to reach lvl 6 to reach Paratrooper's food cost AT LEVEL 1. Again, only goods cost and stealth (It's even a worse comparison if this is the Comintern Doctrine). With the comparison with Commando, it cost more Rare materials and money. And this time, only goods cost is its only redeeming quality.
I haven't mentioned the Allies doctrine that much, because it makes the Paratroopers barely tolerable. And I won't mention it again since this is a unit available to everyone.
Value
Where do I begin? It doesn't have much to show, being outclassed by Commando's except for infantry fighting (by a small margin). For whatever reason, the developers decided that Paratroopers should only move slightly faster than a Commando at lvl 1 and then equalize speed on the 2nd, then Commando moving faster on the rest of the levels. For a light-packed unit for parachuting to be outpaced by anti-armor infantry, is embarrassing.
Then it comes to what is known for: its aircraft. And no, it's not that worth it either.
1. The conversion cost makes it completely redundant to use it as a reaction unit. It simply cost a lot for one unit to change into an aircraft and vice versa. Manually. And then it performs like a poor man's Mech unit, except it's not poor, it's wasteful.
2. You need plenty of airstrips. There goes your rare materials and goods.
3. It is extremely vulnerable to fighters, making it even more useless.
4. Once it lands, it has a mobilization phase, where it can
A. Be bombarded by artillery.
B. Let your enemy know that you're using paratroopers, losing any future element of surprise.
5. It has an awful HP, weak against armored units or even air force (they do like 1 dmg at 100% at lvl 1), making armored cars even a better para flyswatter.
6. Even just using the paratroopers at its infantry form only, it is overpriced and redundant when you have Commando's
All in all, an extremely situational unit and one where I do not recommend for new players this unit other than Island hopping, and that's a sad niche task for a unit to be compared to a Commando. But other than that, it does have some function as an infiltration army, especially under Allies Doctrine.
I was going to go on a rant on how to make paratroopers relevant, but that falls under the "Suggestions / Criticism" forum. Click here to what Bytro could do to save this unit from complete uselessness.
Edit 1: Freezy brought up a good point of how paratroopers can be used. However, it's a very situational use against narrow-sighted players.
Assessment
Paratroopers already at lvl 1 cost more than a lvl 3 Motorized infantry (assuming this isn't the Allies doctrine), being outclassed economically and militarily at everything but stealth and goods cost in comparison. It takes an Infantry to reach lvl 6 to reach Paratrooper's food cost AT LEVEL 1. Again, only goods cost and stealth (It's even a worse comparison if this is the Comintern Doctrine). With the comparison with Commando, it cost more Rare materials and money. And this time, only goods cost is its only redeeming quality.
I haven't mentioned the Allies doctrine that much, because it makes the Paratroopers barely tolerable. And I won't mention it again since this is a unit available to everyone.
Value
Where do I begin? It doesn't have much to show, being outclassed by Commando's except for infantry fighting (by a small margin). For whatever reason, the developers decided that Paratroopers should only move slightly faster than a Commando at lvl 1 and then equalize speed on the 2nd, then Commando moving faster on the rest of the levels. For a light-packed unit for parachuting to be outpaced by anti-armor infantry, is embarrassing.
Then it comes to what is known for: its aircraft. And no, it's not that worth it either.
1. The conversion cost makes it completely redundant to use it as a reaction unit. It simply cost a lot for one unit to change into an aircraft and vice versa. Manually. And then it performs like a poor man's Mech unit, except it's not poor, it's wasteful.
2. You need plenty of airstrips. There goes your rare materials and goods.
3. It is extremely vulnerable to fighters, making it even more useless.
4. Once it lands, it has a mobilization phase, where it can
A. Be bombarded by artillery.
B. Let your enemy know that you're using paratroopers, losing any future element of surprise.
5. It has an awful HP, weak against armored units or even air force (they do like 1 dmg at 100% at lvl 1), making armored cars even a better para flyswatter.
6. Even just using the paratroopers at its infantry form only, it is overpriced and redundant when you have Commando's
All in all, an extremely situational unit and one where I do not recommend for new players this unit other than Island hopping, and that's a sad niche task for a unit to be compared to a Commando. But other than that, it does have some function as an infiltration army, especially under Allies Doctrine.
I was going to go on a rant on how to make paratroopers relevant, but that falls under the "Suggestions / Criticism" forum. Click here to what Bytro could do to save this unit from complete uselessness.
Edit 1: Freezy brought up a good point of how paratroopers can be used. However, it's a very situational use against narrow-sighted players.
The post was edited 3 times, last by Therworldtube ().