Paradropping overseas?

[Phelan]

Situation: Ge had taken Vichy so was in control of Algeria and Morocco. I put a few paras in Morocco and started intense bombing of Gibraltar and was then ready to drop my paras but Gibraltar was not a viable target. It wasn´t a question of supply or range, I had enough supply and there were green, eligible target hexes lit up further away than Gibraltar.

So, what stops the paradrop?

[cpdeyoung]

What was Spain's orientation and state-of-war?  There are no British hexes around the Rock, except the hex itself.
 
Chuck

[Phelan]

Spain was neutral, but the Rock was actually empty of troops thanks to my airforce carpet-bombing it. (Is it impossible to para onto a unit, btw?)

[cpdeyoung]

I believe an occupied hex is unavailable for air drop, and this is close to reality.  I think the Rock itself is a mountain hex and not air assault-able.
 
Chuck

[Phelan]

Right. So, I loaded up for an amphibious invasion instead, only to notice Gibraltar is only invadable from the Atlantic side. Makes it a little hard since my supporting fleet is in the wrong sea

Seems like the designers only want an attack through Spain to work, bit of a shame when I´ve planned so for it.

On a side-note: I believe that having an invasion force loaded triggers combat with all forces in the sea zone, as opposed to the normal random way it works where usually only a portion gets involved. The effects are rather harsh when one side has all his ships on raiding and gets faced one at a time with the other side... LOTS of Commonwealth ships littering the bottom of West Med atm.

[Tomokatu]

Is it impossible to para onto a unit

That's the reason in a nutshell. [:)]
You have to eliminate the garrison unit first (which makes paradropping irrelvant) and then use a single unit amphibious assault to take the hex.
I suggest a concentrated naval bombardment - and if you (Axis) have taken Morocco, add some air and only launch your amphib assault after all the naval action is complete, to save the attack on your soft convoy.