This page covers the two weapons that break stalemates: paratroopers, which ignore the pipe network entirely, and guns, which delete troops at a distance. Both are powerful, blunt, and paid for in troops.
A paratroop order lifts troops out of a cell you own and drops them on a nearby target — without pipes.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 20 20 troops removed from the source cell |
| Landed | 10 10 troops arrive at the target (paratroops cost twice what lands) |
| Range | At most 2 cells away (in any direction, counting diagonals) |
| Target | Land cells only — water cannot be targeted |
| Side effect | Every pipe in the target cell is cleared on arrival |
The 2:1 exchange rate is the price of ignoring terrain and supply. You pay 20 troops at the source to put 10 on the ground. The source cell must be yours and must actually have 20 troops beyond any reserves you have set there.
Whatever pipes existed in the landing cell — enemy supply lines, your own, either — are wiped the moment the drop lands. This is what makes paratroopers the anti-stalemate weapon: dropping on a forward cell cuts the flow that feeds the front behind it. Landing on an enemy-held cell also means those 10 troops immediately fight whatever is there (see Combat).
A gun shot trades troops for fixed damage at a distance.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Cost | 5 5 troops per shot, removed from the source cell |
| Damage | 2 2 troops destroyed in the target cell |
| Range | At most 2 cells away (counting diagonals) |
Guns do not move troops and do not capture anything — they are pure destruction. Use them to shave down a defender before a push or finish a wounded stack.
Shots land at resolution time each tick; a target cell emptied by someone else first just wastes the 5 troops.
Rejected orders — a water target, or not enough troops to pay — come back as a short message above the order bar (see Reading the screen).