About _Dropzone.

[idefix44]

May be am I stupid, but I realy have problems to understand how the _Dropzone works.

How to use it?

Wich rules?

Wich effects if chutes are dropped at an ennemy location? At a friendly location?

The X_Dropzone can it be a dead-end?

A road must go from X_Dropzone to CityA or from CityA to X_Dropzone?

 

I'm sure that I forget a lot of questions, so if your answers can be the more complete as possible you'll make me happy.

More, english isn't my natural language so it can explain my difficulties to understand some fine details in your answers/explanations...

 

Best regards.

 

[sniperton]

Honestly, I've never used this feature, but I think the key point is that you have two types of ground forces in DCG: units and troops.

 

Units (tanks, vehicles, etc.) are visible to you, they move and fight. Troops are invisible, and they are static. DCG works in a way that each location has some invisible troops allocated (see the territory.dcg file in your missions\campaign\[whatever] folder). An #:0 allied/axis ratio means that the location is controlled by Red, 0:# that it's Blue, and #1:#2 that the location is contested. Moving and fighting (visible) units raise/reduce the number of (invisible) troops by killing enemy ones and bringing in own ones.

 

Paratroopers are troops, not units. 

 

 

Transports rotate from airfield to airfield. If, however, there is no other field to transport supplies to and the paratroopers option is checked, the transports may be assigned to drop paratroopers. They'll drop them at any enemy location within the action radius (more likely airfields than non-airfields to try and secure them).  Paratroops will capture/secure a location but will not advance.  So unless they drop right on the airbase, you're okay. 

 

With version 3.21, a new road location type was added, paratrooper “dropzonesâ€.  This location is a trigger for paratrooper drops. 

 

So I think _Dropzone works a bit like _Station (but it's an .rds location, not .rls): when a train "drops" vehicles at a CityA_Station, those vehicles will arrive at CityA. Similarly (but Paul should confirm it), if you create a CityA_Dropzone, then your paratroopers will arrive at CityA. I guess it's all the same whether you specify "CityA to CityA_Dropzone" or vice versa. 

 

I hope Paul will correct my mistakes and clarify better how Dropzones works.

[idefix44]

Thanks a lot Sir sniperton.

Waiting Sir Lowengrin's words now.

[sniperton]

My "Option B" guess is that you can add _Dropzone to any road location (except perhaps airfields). So you can have a "normal" road structure like:

 

CityA to CityB

CityB to CityC_Dropzone

CityC_Dropzone to CityD

 

In this case _Dropzone would only mean that CityC will be a paratrooper target as well (while CityA, B and D not).

 

Dear Paul, bring light into the darkness in my mind!

[Lowengrin]

_Dropzone works as any other road location EXCEPT that it tells DCG that it'll be a paratrooper target.  Either side will attempt to drop on it if the other side controls it (assuming they have a plane with paratroopers available).  The correct set up is as per sniperton's "Option B".  And as sniperton said, it only drops troops (numerical value not a column object) on the location.  Good for slowing the enemy at key points but the paratroopers won't move from there.

 

 

CityA to CityB

CityB to CityC_Dropzone

CityC_Dropzone to CityD

 

It cannot be a dead end.

[sniperton]

Thanks, Lo, for the clarification!

[idefix44]

Thx Sirs.