Weasel's WW2 Mod

2007-01-01, ww2_weasel,

Why the Complicated Airborne processes; you ask.... The idea behind Airborne is Force projection of units and material into an enemies back yard. In WW2 Airborne units were asked to hold out for 3 days. In some instances it was twice as long or longer in certain Airborne Campaigns during the war. The idea was to capture the objectives; then a desperate race was on with unforgiving timetables that needed to be met in order to relieve the Airborne units on the Ground. I believe I've setup an EDEE Game equivalent to the prior predescribed sets of qualifying criteria. All that is needed are a few well thought out Scenario's to bring this aspect of the WW2 mod to the Player. [Probably best used with Temperate Climate units.]

How to use Airborne. The scope of this Tutorial is to cover: A player gaining the necessary knowledge to understand how to use Airborne, Air Transports, Gliders, towed guns, jeeps, in a coherent manner. Note: Air Transports are synonymous to SkyTrooper and Light SkyTrooper.

Included How to use Airborne mission. Begin this mission after fully reading this Tutorial. Start up saved game: How_to_use_Airborne.esg.

Note: If the game seems sluggish; save the game then exit the game. Reload the saved game and continue on from there.

With loaded "How_to_use_Airborne.esg" saved Game. This saved Game will allow you to practice Airborne deployment mechanics. But for now; at first acquaint yourself with the units [Airborne, Air Transports, Gliders, Towed Guns and Jeeps]

We'll start off with one of the more complex setups of the Airborne forces. The Glider; is morphed from Jeep or AA Jeep. The Jeep can tow one of 3 different types of Guns. Highlight the Infantry Gun and open up the Units Tree on the far right hand side Menu Tab. Drag & drop the Infantry Gun onto the Jeep. We're doing this as the Jeep has many Default loads to choose from. Chances are we wouldn't load the Infantry Gun into the Jeep.

Here is the resulting Loaded Jeep with Infantry Gun.

Right Click on Jeep and Select "Embark onto Glider" or press "Shift M" on the Keyboard.

Illustrated above is the Resulting Glider from the Morphed Jeep.

The next step is to Drag and drop Glider onto "SkyTrooper". As this is a tutorial; you really could've selected the Load from Skytrooper option. As there were enough Skytroopers for all Cargo types in Airbase.

Illustrated above is the SkyTrooper with loaded Glider and Cargo.

Illustrated above are the 3 different types of towed guns which can also be used for Airborne purposes. So it is possible to provide sufficient stopping power; for the Airborne Infantry to use as support weapons for mission critical tasks.

Notice the Glider can move up to 8 spaces. This technically extends the SkyTrooper's range with the addition of the Glider. You would be able to send a SkyTrooper to the fringe of enemy lines and release the Glider; so the SkyTrooper would not sustain AA Damage. Also helps to close in on mission critical objectives as well.

The Above crash warning is an EDEE game mechanic that comes on when an aircraft is registered as a low fuel candidate. The Glider has been setup so it will not crash.

Note: For the Glider alone; you may disregard this type of warning message.

Unload the Jeep; by morphing the Glider back to Jeep. Right click on Glider and select "dismount Jeep" or press "Shift M" on the Keyboard.

The SkyTroopers & Gliders could have moved further than depicted in the illustration above. This should help you understand the far reaching effect of a Large Airborne Force jumping and gliding down in to your or your enemies vulnerable Supply lines. Now Drop the Infantry Gun, 20MM AA, and 50mm Anti Tank Gun. This is the end result from using the Glider Feature with Towed Guns.

Note: After morphing the Glider you may drop the "in cargo" unit; but the jeep will not move for 1 turn. This is the result from morphing unhosted.

Now let's focus on the Light SkyTrooper. Right click on the Light SkyTrooper and select "Load" or press "L" on the Keyboard.

Illustrated above is a loaded Light SkyTrooper.

There are a few options when it comes to Airborne ejection from Light SkyTrooper. You may drop the Airborne unit or right click on Light SkyTrooper and select "Unload (Pre-Mv)" or Manually move the Airborne unit off the Light SkyTrooper.

To change from Airborne unit to Paratrooper unit; right click on Airborne unit and select "Discard Parachute" or press "Shift M" on the Keyboard.

Illustrated above are morphed Airborne units now turned into their respective Paratrooper counterpart.

Illustrated above are variant payloads not already mentioned for the SkyTrooper.

If you can manage to endure this process; a new dimension of EDEE has now opened up for you. Hope you enjoy this feature as much as I do.

Admittedly this feature is not for all Folks; some prefer an easy game play experience. As such; there are AI_Air_Transports that carry only the Paratrooper type. The AI will use these for it's Parachuting purposes; foregoing all Airborne Morphing and other enhanced subtleties. These Aircraft will not carry Glider.