Marine and Paratrooper any good strategies to use them? Debate here!

[Cavalry]

Marine and Paratrooper the units that are always considered well..... not very amazing. So does anyone have any clue why you build one(epsecially paratrooper)?

I had changed the stats to where marine was 16 attack 10 defense and Paratrooper was 14attack 12defense, then I downloaded the patch and it screwed the mod/editor up even with downloading the "correct" editor.

So, are there any good strategies to using them with the default stats are not?

Here are some ideas I had:
Put 4 Marines in an army(once you build Pentagon) and using 'em for an amphibous assault on a foes deep large far away cities. They will be safe as long as you can the transport safe.
That startegy is far safer than just dropping troops on the foes train tracks and getting trampled by tanks or modern armor.

Now Paratrooper......
Hmmm hard to think of a good idea, except maybe just maybe build an army and then drop on a mountain in a tip of a pennisula that is somehow close to you city.

Anyone have any great strategies to use these stat challenged units? Hope to see some soon.

 

[Ohwell]

Uh, dude, the marine gains an attack bonus on amphibious assault, you didn't need to change it...

The paratrooper, well, I don't know other than taking cities...

And either of these units don't work in armies...

 

[Cavalry]

How big is the marine amphibous attack bonus?

 

[Beamup]

Well, Marines are required in some specific situations - such as a one-square island with a city on it. In MP, they would be required a lot more, since humans will sometimes just line their shore with workers or some such, so you can't land.

Paratroopers I have actually used once. I had a city just across a strait from the island I wanted to attack, and my transport fleet was halfway 'round the world. Sent over a bunch of paras and dropped them all in - since the target in question didn't even have Riflemen yet, it worked beautifully. I think they'd be a lot more useful if they could be dropped off Carriers, say, but that would require a good bit of extra code.

 

[Albert Einstain]

Hey, marines and paratroopers are VERY cool if using them right. Especially paratroopers. Marines cool when you want quickly take the city. Tactic is simple: you should have following forces:
1. 3 Carriers
2. 12 bombers on carriers
3. One transport
4. 8 marines on transport
5. 2 Battleships to keep their ass safe.
All this out of enemy territory, range 2 from thier borders - out of view. So enemy doesn't know that I am here. In the same turn I bomb enemy costal city with 12 bombers and then attack with all marines from transport. In most of cases I take the city. Now is turn of paratroopers. One should have 5-6 helicopters with paratroopers in them. Make rebase to newly occupied city and fortify them there. So city is secure now! Paratroopres with helicopters are very good to secure newly conquered cities, since you can transfer them by rebase mission to any city in the same turn you took it. The point is that paratroopers is the best defensive unit one can transport by helicopters after all infantry is upgraded to mechinf. BTW, marines is the best attack unit one can transport by helicopter. So if there are some enemy forces near the city or some workers to catch, you can use air transported marines or paratroopers.
So, paratroopers and marines are VERY cool when using with helicopters and bombers. BTW, paratroopers in helicopters can be used to protect your island city under attack. You can do it immediatly.
What's your opinion about this tactic?

 

[eyrei]

Originally posted by Cavalry
How big is the marine amphibous attack bonus?

They do not get a bonus directly. They do ignore city walls and bonuses due to city size when making an amphibious assault unless there is a coastal fortress.

I like to use marines to take and raise major enemy coastal cities in the modern age. I will load 3 transports full of them and pick one of the AI's oldest and largest cities. I will attack, obvious taking major losses against mech. infantry, but when I do take it, I immediately raise it. I particularly like to do this to cities with wonders, if I do not feel I can make a successful landing due to the sheer size of the AI's army. The damage this does to a civ is definately worth the loss of units.

 

[grumbler]

I sometimes use a helo-born combo of marines with a few paras thrown in for defense in small island hopping/mop-up ops.

 

[Cavalry]

Now is turn of paratroopers. One should have 5-6 helicopters with paratroopers in them. Make rebase to newly occupied city and fortify them there. So city is secure now! Paratroopres with helicopters are very good to secure newly conquered cities, since you can transfer them by rebase mission to any city in the same turn you took it. The point is that paratroopers is the best defensive unit one can transport by helicopters after all infantry is upgraded to mechinf. BTW, marines is the best attack unit one can transport by helicopter. So if there are some enemy forces near the city or some workers to catch, you can use air transported marines or paratroopers.

The marine strategy that you posted works well. The paratrooper one is good however you could just build infantry instead since they have 10 defense. If you edit the stats a bit it would work well though.

They do not get a bonus directly. They do ignore city walls and bonuses due to city size when making an amphibious assault unless there is a coastal fortress.

That looks like a major bonus when attacking those gigantic cities indeed!! :soldier:

In my current game I have been building some marines to attack with my navy and carriers.

 

[eyrei]

Originally posted by Albert Einstain
Now is turn of paratroopers. One should have 5-6 helicopters with paratroopers in them. Make rebase to newly occupied city and fortify them there. So city is secure now! Paratroopres with helicopters are very good to secure newly conquered cities, since you can transfer them by rebase mission to any city in the same turn you took it. The point is that paratroopers is the best defensive unit one can transport by helicopters after all infantry is upgraded to mechinf. BTW, marines is the best attack unit one can transport by helicopter. So if there are some enemy forces near the city or some workers to catch, you can use air transported marines or paratroopers.

I would use infantry for the quick defense of cities. They do have a better defense than paratroopers, and you do not have to upgrade them for them to be effective defenders. I usually have a few sitting around in my interior that have not been upgraded.

 

[Cavalry]

I would use infantry for the quick defense of cities. They do have a better defense than paratroopers, and you do not have to upgrade them for them to be effective defenders. I usually have a few sitting around in my interior that have not been upgraded.

:enlighten This would work well when combined with Sun Tzu's Art of war. You can upgrade the mech infantry if you are connected to resources through the airport.

 

[Albert Einstain]

1. I never change default rules. It breaks game balance and make problems when sharing strategies with others.
2. After you can build mechinf you can't build new infantry. If you keep some unupgraded, what do you do when they killed?

I usually upgrade all my infantry to mechinf and use paratroopers for first turn defence. BTW, the next turn an airport can be rushed, and then you can transfer mechinf from your cities. This will free mobile forces for new tasks. And after the airport is rushed, you can use paratroopers in there to secure some heights arround.
The interesting thing is that I never seen AI using costal assault or helicopters/paratroopers. Computer is really stupid!
BTW, I feel lack of "pick up" missions for helicopters. It is strange, if helicopter can paradroop any foot unit, it should be possible to take it back. It will be great feature to save wounded troops. Like in the real life. Where should I post this proposal for Firaxis? There is an email for that purpose?

 

[grumbler]

Originally posted by Albert Einstain
The interesting thing is that I never seen AI using costal assault or helicopters/paratroopers. Computer is really stupid!

I've once seen the AI using a helo to drop troops, so while it's not exactly commonplace, the AI can do it.

BTW, I feel lack of "pick up" missions for helicopters. It is strange, if helicopter can paradroop any foot unit, it should be possible to take it back.

I agree.

 

[Cavalry]

2. After you can build mechinf you can't build new infantry. If you keep some unupgraded, what do you do when they killed?

You are right. You can't build infantry when you have mech infantry now. After loading my file I checked and they weren't there. I think one of the patches fixed a bug that allowed you to build all units even if obsolete.

 

[Albert Einstain]

Never heard about building obsolete units.

 

[Jason Fox]

Originally posted by Albert Einstain
The interesting thing is that I never seen AI using costal assault or helicopters/paratroopers. Computer is really stupid!

I've seen the AI use amphibious attack many times. I've never seen them use a paratrooper.

BTW, I feel lack of "pick up" missions for helicopters. It is strange, if helicopter can paradroop any foot unit, it should be possible to take it back. It will be great feature to save wounded troops. Like in the real life. Where should I post this proposal for Firaxis? There is an email for that purpose?

Don't know where to email it, but it's a great idea. Then I might actually build a more than one helicopter per game (and that one generally serves as a recon unit for bombers.)