Basra Clueless Paratroop Defense

[Omnius]

I was playing the Basra scenario of the Afrika Korps campaign and saw the dumbest defensive move of all time. Yeah it looked somewhat daunting to see 10 paratroop units show up all of a sudden, but without proper fighter cover it was really like shooting fish in a barrel. On my first turn of response I was able to reduce or kill most of the ten paratroop units. I was concerned about seeing a crowd of paras dropping on the 3 airfields in the northeast corner of the map but the AI wasn't that intelligently programmed. On the second turn some turned back to airfields to get replacements and few ever hit the ground as they were above friendly or enemy units. I was able to shoot down more of the surviving paras on that second turn.

This is the most incredibly stupid AI defensive move of all games of all time. It would have been smarter to truck them into the battle line, or better yet arrayed along the river line. Without proper fighter cover they were nothing but cannon fodder too easily shot down. Hopefully PC 2 won't have such an ignorant defensive plan. This really is a case of Artificial Ignorance!

Omnius

[hurly]

I was playing the Basra scenario of the Afrika Korps campaign and saw the dumbest defensive move of all time. Yeah it looked somewhat daunting to see 10 paratroop units show up all of a sudden, but without proper fighter cover it was really like shooting fish in a barrel. On my first turn of response I was able to reduce or kill most of the ten paratroop units. I was concerned about seeing a crowd of paras dropping on the 3 airfields in the northeast corner of the map but the AI wasn't that intelligently programmed. On the second turn some turned back to airfields to get replacements and few ever hit the ground as they were above friendly or enemy units. I was able to shoot down more of the surviving paras on that second turn.

This is the most incredibly stupid AI defensive move of all games of all time. It would have been smarter to truck them into the battle line, or better yet arrayed along the river line. Without proper fighter cover they were nothing but cannon fodder too easily shot down. Hopefully PC 2 won't have such an ignorant defensive plan. This really is a case of Artificial Ignorance!

Omnius

Well I can't speak for the Scenario resp Campaign Designers and beforehand that Mass Paradrop seems like a bonehead move. Which it probably is from a Strategic Standpoint.

But this is a short Campaign (20 scenario, 18 if you skip Malta and Caucasus) and you have to grow and build up certain units continously while preparing for the Final Battles.

So this Paradrop Move gives your Fighters and AA valuable Kills and Experiences to have a nice development Curve and probable Hero Awarding Process. (It's a big difference if you have a 4 Star Fighter or a 2 Star Fighter on some scenarios, just ask our fellow General goose_2 who still mourns the loss of his beloved Stormo !)

Afrika Korps is full of such Gimmicks which you can exploit if you handle them correctly and which can really hurt you, when doing it wrong. Just imagine you have not crossed the River by the Time the Paras come. That would slow your progress down big time. Or on the other Hand no Fighters with Ammo left or no AA available and you have to deal with (10+) Infantry landing in your rear or right into your frontlines. Still there would be heavy losses for the Paras. But they can also really hurt your troops especially Arty.

So I think it is a quite clever design to give your units Experience but can really cause some Problems and Losses while not crippling your Army completely.

Same goes for the Naval Landing over the Caspian Sea you will see soon, the Airborne Sneak Attack at Gazala up to the Surprise Attack in British India.

From a pure strategical Standpoint it borders on Kamikaze tactics, but it certainly adds some nice Flavour to the Campaign overall.

[proline]

If you're playing at a level far below your ability and steamrolling the scenario then I agree the paras don't really add much to the scenario. However, if you're already pretty bogged down they can force you to back off the front lines for a bit to free up units to clean them up. I'd suggest a higher difficulty level. Like you, I do hope the AI in PzC 2 will be more dynamic- knowing that this attack is coming and will be poorly executed cheapens the replayability of the game a lot.