Commandos vs. Paratroopers

Commandos vs Paratroopers

A much asked question in COW, which is better, commandos or paratroopers? Commandos are the kings of infantry, with maybe the possible exception of mechanized infantry. Paratroopers worth has been in question, with low health and mediocre range. In this guide we will explore in which area's each unit has it's particular strengths.

BUILDING COSTS

GoodsMetalFoodManpowerRareOilCash
Commandos100025025087550003000
Paratroopers17501000500130005005000

Paratroopers undoubtedly cost more than commandos in almost every way. You can almost build two commandos for the price of one paratrooper unit. They also require oil, which is often more badly needed for tanks and planes. But commandos require 500 rare to build, which is not always in plentiful supply.

BUILDINGS

Buildings RequiredBuilding Time
CommandosCapital, Industrial Complex Lvl 1, Barracks Lvl 224 hours
ParatroopersCapital, Industrial Complex Lvl 1, Barracks Lvl 1, Airport Lvl 325 1/2 hours

One can clearly see that paratroopers take much more time and effort to construct the buildings necessary for their construction. It takes approximately 80 hours to build the buildings required for paratroopers, and only 36 hours to complete the barracks for commandos. On one even note, the time to build the two units is about equal.

STATS

InfantryArmorPlanesBuildingsnaval
Commandos1051.22.00
Paratroopers4.5-9.01.5-3.01.52.00.3

As you can see from the chart above, commandos trump paratroopers in every aspect except naval. It takes paratroopers working up to level four to even begin to compare to commandos. Plus, all that research makes paratroopers cost four times more than commandos.

TERRAIN

PlainsHillsMountainsCitiesOcean
CommandosRegReg+100%+25%reg
ParatroopersReg+50%RegRegReg

Commandos beat Paratroopers in the mountains and in the cities, but paratroopers have increased strength in the hills. Most of the time, commandos particular strengths will do you the most good, as extra hill strength can be gained from militia.

When to Build...

Commandos are best built for every game, no strings attached. They are the best infantry unit in the game, they even beat out elite infantry. While they are slightly expensive in rare to build, they are a treasure to have in any game. Commandos strengths lie specially in mountains and cities, attack power finally peaking at 17.5 attack power attacking in the mountains.

Paratroopers are a specialty unit, with very real weakness, but they can be used to great effect. While they are not as powerful as commandos, and a single infantry unit could knock them out of the sky, they have their use. they are valuable for island hopping, grabbing empty provinces, capitals, and just and causing chaos in the behind enemy lines. That being said, building paratroopers is a real commitment and costs a lot.

I hope this guide helps, if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below or feel free to PM me.

General Nightman, Intelligence Division

General Nightman

Retired Hero
"War is fought in three ways. Helping your enemy to lose, helping your allies to victory or helping yourself to win. Any way you take it, you are always helping someone."

Post a Reply

Please log in to post a reply.

25 Replies

Nice write up, but it ignores some of the greatest strengths of each unit.

As someone mentioned, paratroopers raise havoc behind enemy lines. Scout a city with an interceptor to make sure it's empty of militia or AT. Drop a paratrooper in. Build an airport, fly in more troopers and leap frog deep into unprotected enemy territory. Paratroopers are especially effective in establishing a beachhead on the other side of a river or isthmus. I take it as a given that dropping them behind the line means they're likely be killed before I can convert them or reinforce them, but they definitely have their place.

Commando make great infantry, but in my opinion, that's a piss poor use of their capability. They are far more effective as stealth units running wild behind enemy lines. I've taken the entire Eastern tip of the Kamchatka (over 8 counties) in 20 minutes by placing commandos in position ahead of time and stepping into the lands all at once. One minute it belongs to the other team, the next I have a beachhead in a mountainous area that would take days to travel, much less retake. I've taken a city, stepped out, let a huge searching army ride right by me and then stepped right back into the city. I especially like seeing a country that is going to fall, position my commandos in the country without taking anything as it's being conquered and then wait for the conqueror's army to roll past. They're a time bomb waiting to go off in a territory the conqueror is confident he's just cleared out.

If you have a good player that knows what they're doing, they'll eventually hunt them down and kill them, but not before you've ripped their infrastructure to shreds. I'll take 5 commandos loose in an enemy's back field over 10 stacked up into one army any day of the week.

Militia is much better in that role. By the time your commandoes are L2, you can have militia L4 - much harder to have the high-level AC's to spot them.

When the enemy is driven back, we have failed. When he is cut off, encircled and dispersed, we have succeeded.
- Alexander Suvorov.

MNet wrote:

Paratroopers are especially effective in establishing a beachhead on the other side of a river or isthmus.
I hope you're not trying to imply that the game has added rivers since 4 days ago?
Aeroplanes are interesting toys but of no military value.
— Marshal Foch
A pretty mechanical toy [...] the war will never be won by such machines.
— Lord Kitchener, on tanks

To start thanks for necroing a 3 year old subject. Lets start there, Commandos are no longer only able to be built in Capitals, also Paras have undergone some MAJOR overhauls in 3 years. Before bringing a 3 year old zombie back to life, you might think if it is worth starting a new post on the subject esp if the major part of the info is so out of date.

"Strategy is the art of making use of time and space. I am less concerned about the later than the former. Space we can recover, lost time never." ~ Napoleon Bonaparte
"Anyone who has to fight, even with the most modern weapons, against an enemy in complete command of the air, fights like a savage against modern European troops, under the same handicaps and with the same chances of success." ~ Erwin Rommel

No rivers, just narrow strips of water separating land masses. The point is still valid, as are all the points I raised in my post, but I stand corrected.

As for it being a 3 year old post, I didn't think about it and probably shouldn't have bothered. I was just sharing my thoughts on something I read, not realizing the forum police would come give me shit for it :-)

I'll be more careful in the future.

Post a Reply

Please log in to post a reply.

Back to Community Guides and Videos
Quick Launch