I have a question about paratroopers--do they do anything towards a "destroy ground" target objective?

I just ran a mission where I had two Ju-88 bomber groups fly in to destroy two separate clumps of enemy vehicles and planes. then two flights of Me-323's fly in to drop paras on those positions.

I put "destroy ground" targets over the enemy positions so that 50% of both would need to be destroyed to get "mission complete."

I flew escort in a 190 and one of the Ju-88 flights was totally destroyed by enemy fighters, so that only one of the enemy positions was destroyed.

then when the 323's flew in and dropped their paras on the target zones, after a bit I got a "mission complete" notice on the screen.

so does dropping paras in a target area do something towards getting the destruction quota? considering all they do is run a bit and fall down with their hands over their heads, lol.

hmm weird, I made a test mission where I had a 323 drop some paras on a "destroy ground" target and it did nothing.

do paras do anything for mission targets, or are they just kinda there for something to protect/destroy?

Paras are good eye candy and bad for frame rate. That's about it AFAIK. They have no effect on targets.

Double-check that you actually made both Targets 'Destroy Ground'. If you somehow made one of them an 'Escort' Target, the dropped paratroopers could give you a 'Mission Complete'.

Also, make sure that both Targets are designated as 'Primary'. If not, then destroying only one Target can give you a 'Mission Complete'.

Aviar

nope they are both on primary, and were "destroy ground" and not escort or anything else.

I really don't know what happened, maybe a plane crashed into one of the enemy positions, even though I was keeping an eye on all the planes...weird.


yeah I guess paras are just eye candy huh.

on a related note, why does the AAA shoot at baled out crew? was this common practice in ww2?

well the AI shoots at any enemy targets.

in real life, I would imagine the AA gunners would shoot parachuting pilots because just a few minutes earlier the pilots had been trying to kill the AA gunners and their compatriots.

AFAIK Paratroopers are eye candy only.

They are bad for framerates only in an indirect manner: When small AAA fires at them the game fills up the memory fast. (smoke-trace related?)
The Maultier is very good at this e.g. - So memory fills untill 2GB is almost reached, then Java garbage collector kicks in resulting in a possible freeze for seconds. that is why you should NOT shoot at the little guys - they know how to take their revenge

If there is no AAA and no one shoots at them they have no impact on FPS - you can blacken the sky with them. Online servers will get a big hit when anyone shoots at paratroopers.
In real life paratroopers were shot at, sure. They're not coming for a picknick They themselves were often shooting on the way down too.

quote:

Originally posted by Ba5tard5word:
well the AI shoots at any enemy targets.

in real life, I would imagine the AA gunners would shoot parachuting pilots because just a few minutes earlier the pilots had been trying to kill the AA gunners and their compatriots.

I think it is against some code of honour, but in some manual it was written that 'don't bail out over a territory you just bombed'.

Thats from the USAF bomber pilot Manual.

If you had two primary destroy ground targets and one of them was accomplished then the mission is accomplished I believe. Thats probably the reason.

sorry to hijack, but ive been playing some of your missions icefire, and they rock! thanks

In Robert Stanford Tuck's (British ace) book he has a passage about how, on one of his first missions, he shot down a German aircraft, then circled, canopy open, and waved at the pilot he'd just shot down ala WWI. The pilot shot at Tuck with his revolver, after which, Tuck machinegunned him.

Sometimes the honour was there. Others, it was not.