Paratrooper

A Paratrooper is an Infantryman that is dropped from an Aircraft directly into the battlefield using a Parachute. Infantry jumping from a helicopter directly onto the ground from a very low hover are not Paratroopers.

Paratroopers can be used to make a surprise attack behind enemy lines. Their sudden appearance is difficult to react to, as the enemy is rarely prepared to be attacked from the rear. This allows Paratroopers to cause a lot of damage after making their landing, and keep the enemy off balance for some time - holding territory until other friendly troops can link up with them. On the other hand, Paratroopers are quite vulnerable during the drop itself and for some time afterwards.

ShackTac missions starting with a Paratrooper drop are somewhat rare, but often memorable. They are often executed at night. Paradrops are usually carried out by scripted Transport Planes flying over the drop zone and automatically ejecting their passengers. Parachutes may be either static or controllable, which affects the speed at which the paratroopers can regroup into effective combat units after landing.

On occasion, additional infantry can be paradropped into the battlefield during the mission itself as Reinforcements, close to friendly troops already organized on the ground.

EI paratroopers have also been seen in a few videos, though they are rare.

Deployment
Paratroopers must be deployed from Transport Planes, flying far above the battlefield. More rarely, they will be deployed from a large Transport Helicopter following the same general rules.

The plane itself is typically flown by the AI along a scripted path. This reduces the need to assign a pilot just for the straight long flight over the drop zone. Otherwise, the pilot will likely crash the plane or jump out himself after dropping the troops, in order to join them on the ground as quickly as possible. The paratroopers are typically dropped automatically as well, with some deliberate error introduced to the exact drop timing in order to make the landing site less predictable (and thus the mission more interesting).

The parachutes used in ShackTac come in two varieties: "Steerable" and "Non-Steerable". The first variety is typically used by modern elite paratroopers, and can be steered in mid-air to help each paratrooper determine their exact landing site. Non-Steerable parachutes cannot do this, forcing the paratrooper to land at a predetermined point based on the exact flightpath of the transport plane and the exact timing of the drop. The non-steerable variety is more commonly used in low-tech missions, such as World War II era missions. The type of parachute used in the drop can make a very big difference on the effectiveness of the paratroopers during the first few minutes of the mission.

After Landing
Once the paratroopers have reached the ground, they are extremely vulnerable. They are likely to be surrounded by enemy units on all sides - possibly even at a very short distance - and are likely to be all alone for at least the first few seconds or even minutes. Their first priority is therefore to seek out friendlies and form the largest groups they possibly can in order to present an effective fighting force. Until then, they may completely avoid any engagement with the enemy if at all possible.

Leaders, and particularly Squad Leaders, usually carry a Flare or some sort of Smoke grenade that can be used to mark their position shortly after landing. This allows any nearby paratroopers to rally at their position. Of course, the use of signals also exposes the paratroopers' location to the enemy.

Paratroopers who have landed close to an enemy position with sufficient force to make an assault will sometimes do so, making good use of the element of surprise to take the position quickly and remove a threat to other friendlies.

Until the entire ground force can rally together into a Platoon, the separate paratrooper groups may be forced to fight as cobbled-together Squads regardless of their actual assignments. Nevertheless, if a player locates his assigned Squad or Fireteam they will usually join that unit, even if they had been fighting in another unit for some time.

Continued Operations
By the time that the various Paratrooper units have coalesced into a functioning Platoon, the distinction between Paratroopers and normal Infantry essentially disappear. The two types of units have no fundamental difference in their operations beyond that point.

One potential difference, however, is that Paratroopers by definition are working behind enemy lines, and are unlikely to have a route out of the combat zone. Their ultimate mission is most likely to hold an objective against enemy counter-attacks, rather than being extracted. On the other hand, regular Infantry often find themselves in the same scenario by the end of their mission - they are simply more likely to have planned an escape and/or have vehicles with them that can facilitate an extraction.

Equipment
For the most part, Paratroopers are outfitted the same as any other Infantry, with a few notable exceptions.

Firstly, Paratroopers have a Parachute at the start of the mission. This item however disappears as soon as they touch the ground, and does not affect the remainder of the mission.

Paratrooper Leaders are far more likely to carry Flares during night drops and/or colorful Smoke during day drops. This enables them to signal their position to other members of their team immediately after landing, to facilitate faster consolidation of the unit on the ground.

Finally, Paratroopers are slightly more likely to carry shorter Carbines rather than full-length Assault Rifles, as they are both lighter and easier to handle during a paradrop. However, since M4 carbines are standard-issue for modern-day BLUFOR units in ShackTac as well as real life, regular ground Infantry are increasingly more likely to carry these as well.

Radios and Maps
In most Paradrop scenarios an interesting situation of confusion occurs immediately after landing, where troops must locate one another often in darkness. This is unique to paradrops, and does not occur in any other type of Insertion.

To capitalize on the dramatic potential, ShackTac paratroopers are sometimes equipped only with a limited number of Radios; Usually only Fireteam Leaders and above carry them, and sometimes only Squad Leaders and above. This means that locating one's unit after landing tests a paratrooper's observation skills, as well as each leader's judicial use of Flares.

Furthermore, Maps may only be limited to leaders. Alternatively, only Squad Leaders will have map markers. In especially early-era scenarios (e.g. World War II), Paratroopers may not even have an STHUD to help them locate other members of their unit.

Notable Videos
Below is a list of ShackTac videos featuring an Insertion by paradrop. This should include both missions that begin with a large force paradrop, as well as instances where a mid-mission paradrop is significant enough to be mentioned.

This list is not complete. Please add more examples if you find them.


 *  by Dslyecxi
 *  by Dslyecxi
 *  by Dslyecxi, one of the first videos featuring the Headless Client.
 *  by Dslyecxi
 *  by Dslyecxi features the largest vehicle airdrop so far in ShackTac, with 3 BTR-90s and 8 UAZs dropped in from Transport Planes shortly after mission start.