Airborne units

[brumbarchris]

Is there a list of airborne capable units (airfield deploy-able only)? I know all infantry is like that but I recently found out that also some light AA units are also airborne and probably others, too.
So how can I quickly determine if a certain unit is airborne or not? It is not a visible property like Attack, Defense, etc.

Regards,
Cristian

[Naxor]

Little offtopic: I think it is quite funny to be able to air transport 88mm flak in AT mode.

[peterw]

You can only read the equipment file for checking which troops can use an air transport.

From memory I can tell the 8.8 flak can't use an air transport.

[brumbarchris]

Yeah, but I made a trial and indeed the 8.8cm gun can be airshipped if first switched into AT mode. Funny. I'll try and see if I can identify the equipment file.

Regards,
Cristian

[brumbarchris]

I did check the equipment file. It seems only units with the airborne ability are the ones with the "air glider" option in the "Usable transport" column. The strange thing, though, is many nations infantry units (mostly in the allied camp, like notably British and US infantry units) do not have this option. Not even the simple "glider" option; yet, undoubtedly, these can be shipped by air, too. So I do not really know what to make of it.

Another puzzling thing is that quite a large number of units have the simple "glider" option in that column (including some ultra-heavy units up to the Mause) without obviously being possible to ship them by air in the game. So does anyone what the simple "glider" option indicates in terms of unit ability? And why do the British and US infantry units still travel by air without having the "air glider" option marked in the equipment file?

[Razz1]

AIRBORNE UNITS USE THE GLIDER OPTION.

UNITS THAT CAN BE TRANSPORTED FROM AN AIRFIELD TO AN AIRFIELD HAVE THE TRAIT "AIR"

[brumbarchris]

So the Tiger or Pantger tanks are airborne, but cannot be transported from airport to airport? Becauae these units do have the glider option, but not the air option. What would airborne mean in this case? Because I am not aware of any ability of lifting any of these ubits in the air, under any circumtances...

[ThvN]

Hi brumbarchris, the (German) air transport options are a bit strange, here is the explanation from the dev:

Usable Transports and Transport Category

These columns are closely related, and together are used in the new transport support mechanics. Here is how it works.

1. Equipment file has two new columns which follow "Exclude from theatre" column. First lists transports the unit can use. Second is transport category. Transports in the list are separated by spaces. So "land sea rail" means that the unit can use land, sea and rail transports. A transport can have several categories too. So for example normal air transport can have "air" category, while glider can have "air glider" categories which means it can transport both infantry and heavy equipment. In general, the rule is: if unit's "usable transports" list and transport's "categories" list have anything in common, this transport can carry the unit. Example: infantry has "land sea air rail" usable transports. Glider has "air glider" categories. They have one item in common: "air". So glider can carry infantry.

2. If the two new columns are left empty, the game assigns them automatically. There are 4 default categories which are hard-coded in the game: "land", "sea", "air" and "rail". By default, all land transports get "land" category, all sea transports - "sea" category etc. Also, all leg and towed units get "land" usable transport, all ground units - "sea" and "rail" usable transports and all infantry units - "air" usable transport. This means that by default the game works exactly as before - but using the new transport system. When filling in new columns, don't forget to specify default categories in the list. Thus, by default Gigant will have "air" category, as long as its category column is empty. This happens because it belongs to air transport class. Now, if you put "glider" in its category column, it will assume this category. "air" will no longer be assigned automatically! If you want it on the Gigant too, you would need to specify "glider air" in its category column.

3. There is a new unit trait called "glider". Units loaded into such transport behave similarly to paratroopers: they can land on any hex, not just airport. But unlike paratropers, the landing occurs straight below the glider and no randomization takes place.

4. Scenario params screen in the editor changed. There are no longer sea/air/rail transport numbers and types on the second tab. Instead, "Transports" tab was added. Here you can select any transports and their numbers, up to five different types. So you can have several normal air transports and gliders at the same time.

5. When embarking a unit, the game will search for the first available transport suitable for this unit. The search is done in the same order in which the transports are listed in the Editor. So if normal air transport comes first, and glider next, the game will use normal air transport by default (for infantry, paratroopers etc.). But if you embark a tank, glider will be used, because normal transport is not usable for tanks. On the contrary, if you put glider first in the list, it will be assigned to everything (tanks, infantry, paratroopers etc.), until we run out of gliders. Then normal transports will be used.

So the Ju-52 is usually the default 'air' transport, and anything that uses it can also use the DFS 230. If you hover your cursor over the available transports the first in the list will be used if applicable, for example during the AK Caucasus scenario the DFS 230 is listed before the Ju-52 so any basic infantry unit will be put in a DFS first. These two normal 'air' transports can carry infantry/small guns without organic transport.

One thing to watch out for is that any limitations of attached transports (trucks, halftracks) also apply to the combination as a whole, so any infantry unit with a halftrack will be loaded in a 'heavy' Me 323 glider, as these can transport basically everything. So any unit that can't use the smaller ones will be loaded onto one if available, but if there are no Ju-52 or DFS available your paratroopers can still be loaded in a Me 323.

Does this make sense? If you still have any questions just post them.

[mautschi]

Hi, I hope it's ok to revive this thread. I just don't quite understand how (or if it's even possible) to field tanks with the trait "glider" as well as under "Usable Transports" in the glider Me 323 Gigant (assigned traits to the Me 323: glider/assigned transport category: air and glider) during the deployment phase?

When I've started the mission and want to transport a tank away from an airfield, it is loaded into the glider. But during the deployment phase I can only deploy paratroopers (probably because of the para-trait) in the DFS 230.

[bondjamesbond]

https://panzercorps.fandom.com/wiki/Infantry