Malta paradrop questions

[OxfordGuy3]

Hi - I'm playing a game as the axis vs. RichardsD at the moment, and he's proving to be a tough opponent! Anyway, in the Med it's 24 Dec 1940 and I've been STR and TAC bombing Malta for a number of turns, and after attacking it with a TAC and STR this turn Malta has gone red, though his GAR still has 9 steps (at quite low effectiveness, though, has gone orange) and 3 entrenchment. The airbase is currently vacant (was occupied by a Bomber, but I severely damaged it and chased it off to Egypt, though it's probably mostly repaired now, and could fly back). I think he has a FTR in Egypt, but that would probably have to be shipped in, which would be risky with my subs about. The port and airbase are undamaged. There's a sub lurking next to Malta, but I haven't seen the RN in the Med for ages and the game is reporting an Africa supply number of 26. A significant portion of the RN (2 BBs, 1DD and a CV are off the coast of Norway, which is another story altogether...). I sunk one Brit BB earlier in the game of Bergen, and the northern Sub.

I have a decent mixture of German and Italian TACs, STRs and FTRs in Sicily and southern Italy, a paratroop unit at 87 effectiveness in Messina with Hoth (+5 effectives, +1 Attack) attached. The Italian surface fleet is poised near Malta and I've just received my 3rd Italian BB reinforcement. Messe is also in Sicily supporting the Italian air force and navy.

The question is - should I try to paradrop now? The airbase is at full strength, though, and estimated damage is 0:5 - eek! Should I try to reduce the airbase and/or port first? In the case of the former, would reducing the airbase reduce it's FLAK effectiveness? Am not sure I can wait that long, though,as RichardsD could just fly the bomber back and I'd have to start attacking that all over again (although the lost PPs in bomber repairs will hurt the Brits severly). I could hit it the airfield with an Italian TAC and a German FTR this turn, but is there any point? Is it also worth attacking the GAR in Malta with my surface fleet? The predicted damage seems negligible, though...

BTW I assume the paratroop will only have 2 supply when dropped, so will only be able to reinforce 2 steps a turn?

Any advice would be welcome, this is my first CEAW game for ages, I only played with GS 1.0x before, and that had no paratroops! Thanks

[GogTheMild]

Hitting the airfield will not do anything. I landed there in the Gog v Kragdob AAR, which may be worth a look at. I would say go for it and take your chances on the drop losses. You will only have supply 1. If Malta is red you can now hit it with 2 TACs per turn, which will wear down its entrenchment.

[OxfordGuy3]

Hitting the airfield will not do anything. I landed there in the Gog v Kragdob AAR, which may be worth a look at. I would say go for it and take your chances on the drop losses. You will only have supply 1. If Malta is red you can now hit it with 2 TACs per turn, which will wear down its entrenchment.

Thanks. Do I still need to attack the GAR with a STR intermittently to prevent it the city repairing, or should the splash damage from the TACs take care of that? Will the GAR still have 3 supply with the city I the red? Do I need to STR bomb the port to reduce supply to the GAR?

[Kragdob]

In order to lower supply possibility for the unit (from 3 to 1) you need to reduce the city to the red, not the port. You can do it with TACs (-1 per each attack) but using STRAT will speed the process (up to 4 lost). When city drops to 1 it becomes red and unit inside will be able to supply only 1 step per turn.

[OxfordGuy3]

In order to lower supply possibility for the unit (from 3 to 1) you need to reduce the city to the red, not the port. You can do it with TACs (-1 per each attack) but using STRAT will speed the process (up to 4 lost). When city drops to 1 it becomes red and unit inside will be able to supply only 1 step per turn.

Okay, great, Malta has gone red this turn after a number of turns of combined TAC/STR bombing, so I guess can switched to mostly TACs now. I've only been bombing the city, not the airfield nor port.

[Morris]

If a Axis para conquer the airport first ,& was destroyed by allies attack later , Will the Allies non para unit be able to conquer the airport back ?

[OxfordGuy3]

BTW I did drop in the end, took 5 step losses on the drop, and another step attacking the already weakened GAR (which at least also lost a step), though I guess it could have been even worse. The battle for Malta is not over yet, though...

[Diplomaticus]

Even when I bombed Malta itself to 'red', I found that the gar in Malta appeared to have supply '3'. I assumed this is because (illogically) the port of Malta was itself unbombed. Can someone verify this for me? In other words, as Axis, when Malta's in the red and I click on the British Malta *gar* it shows as being in supply '3' even though Malta city itself shows as supply '0.' This is a huge factor if you ever want to think about trying to conquer Malta.

[OxfordGuy3]

I'm not 100% sure about the supply situation, but I know the GAR wasn't able to reinforce by more than 1 step a turn after I bombed it into the red, and I assume that meant it only had 1 supply? Perhaps it takes a turn to show on the counter?

[Morris]

If a Axis para conquer the airport first ,& was destroyed by allies attack later , Will the Allies non para unit be able to conquer the airport back ?

any one answer my question ?

[richardsd]

If a Axis para conquer the airport first ,& was destroyed by allies attack later , Will the Allies non para unit be able to conquer the airport back ?

any one answer my question ?

not sure what you mean, but a land unit on Malta can attack and follow up a destroyed para thereby getting a 'normal' land unit on the airfield

to be fair I haven't checked this works on every airfield, but it does on the ones I have tried

[OxfordGuy3]

If a Axis para conquer the airport first ,& was destroyed by allies attack later , Will the Allies non para unit be able to conquer the airport back ?

any one answer my question ?

not sure what you mean, but a land unit on Malta can attack and follow up a destroyed para thereby getting a 'normal' land unit on the airfield

to be fair I haven't checked this works on every airfield, but it does on the ones I have tried

But what if the last step of the para is destroyed by a air or naval unit? Would you then have to use a paratroop to retake the airfield?

[pk867]

I will have to do a HotSeat, the airfield may revert control to the faction controlling Malta if the airfield is empty at the end of the turn. Do not quote me on that.

You may need a para to retake the airfield. Since the airfield is attached to an island.

[richardsd]

I will have to do a HotSeat, the airfield may revert control to the faction controlling Malta if the airfield is empty at the end of the turn. Do not quote me on that.

You may need a para to retake the airfield. Since the airfield is attached to an island.

pretty sure it reverts, lets see