Game Features Information

[TakeshidaSo]

This is intended as begining source of referrance, for those who may not be entirely familliar with the games features.

Battle logs tell you about units honor and performance.
Custom battles lets you test, and design armies.
The smaller flags on units tells you their honor.
The zen coins on unit icons shows their fatigue status.
Your general is the first unit you buy.
General gives nearby units morale bonus, unless routing.
General dying subtracts morale, so more from nearby units.
Archers can cause freindly fire, guns dont.
Archers in 3rd or more ranks take an accuracy penalty.
Guns in 3 ranks rotate and fire one rank at a time.
Guns in 2 ranks fire both ranks at once.
Hold Position keeps missile units from being lured forward.
Hold fire lets you conserve ammo, and target your archers.
Hold Alt then clik target to make missile units melee attack.
Missiles start in skirmish formation, so wont stand ground.
Hold Formation raises Ashi's morale, improves them vs. cavalry.
Units in Loose Formation lose morale and effectiveness.
Units in Wedge Formation get melee attack bonus.
Units fighting against a Wedge get the same attack bonus.
Yari armed units get attack bonus against cavalry.
All units get attack bonus against cavalry in woods.
Units attacking an enemys flank get an attack bonus.
Units attacking an enemys rear get a larger attack bonus.
Units with friends on either flank gain a morale bonus.
Units with enemy in their rear lose morale.
Units with nearby routing enemy gains morale.
Units with nearby routing friends loses morale with each unit.
Hold Alt then clik ground to keep units facing unchanged.
Select unit, hold Ctrl, then select another unit to select both.
Hold Ctrl-Shift-(1 thru 9) to hotkey selected units.
Recall hotkeyed 'Division' with Ctrl-(1 thru 9).
'Stacked' movement orders when withdrawing from the enemy is one of the main causes of the 'Rout-Bug'.

[Alastair]

One thing to add: Ctrl-W makes your troops make an orderly withdrawl from the field. They march quickly. Unlike Rout, this command can be canceled at will, having nothing to do with the general proximity to the withdrawing unit.

[Catiline]

ctrl+left mouse creates a dragbox ala Command and Conquer allowing you to select units by geographical location on the battlefield rather than unit types or slecting them individually.

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Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows

[Steeleye]

And using the group button (or 'G' on the keyboard) allows you to wheel groups of units without losing formation.

That one took me ages to work out - doh!

[Kraellin]

cntrl-rgtclick allows you to shift a unit's or group's facing without having them move forward or back.
shift-click allows one to set waypoints for units or groups.
alt-wpga turns all highlighted units or groups into lesbians.
cntrl-w w f replaces all weapons of highlighted units or groups with chairs.
cntrl-p g a turns map into golf course
alt-g a y turns all monks into elmarkian monks.
cntrol-w c w makes all highlighted units or groups attack all wwf units immediately, regardless of which army they are in...including your own.
cntrl-u k makes you give up half your provinces in a campaign game.
alt-a u s s i e just does weird things...we're not sure what.
cntrl-e a just makes all your units pissed off and go into berserker mode while trying to spend all their koku on vapor
cntrl u s a tends to piss off other clans and make them attack each other so that your units can intervene
alt p o l i s h makes your units drop their weapons and inflict bodily harm upon themselves while doing so
alt b l o n d e makes all units in game stop and drool
alt u n interjects strange impotent white-clad units into the middle of confrontations to absorb damage from both sides.
cntrl u s s r forces all your provinces to dissolve in campaign.

K.


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I'm sorry, but i never apologize.

[radan]

Hmmn...nice tips Kraellin. http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/wink.gif

[KumaRatta Yamamoto]

Kraellin you forgot the most important:

Ctrl gsha shows the hidden naked geisha dancing cut scene while on the map http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

[TakeshidaSo]

Steeleye I dont understand how using G allows you to wheel a group, maybe you could explain that further. Also, since i hotkey units into 'Divisions' i dont use group or group formations. Maybe someone who knows any use for this feature could explain it further.

[Catiline]

If you have multiple units selected then use alt rgt click to change their facings they will all puvot around their individual centres to face the selected point. This can break up or change the shape of the formatiton. once the units are grouped together using alt rgt click will change the facing of the group as a whole, wheeling on it's centre rather than units individual centres

Hence if we have a formation made of units arrayed for example as 10x6 units (dis[played as xxx with > to show their facing)
the original formation might be something like, where point y is the place where you alt rgt click

x

x> x> x
x x


x x x
x> x> x>
x x x


Clicking whilst the units are grouped will the facing of the whole leading to something like this


x
xxx x>
v x

x x
x> x>
x x


x x
x> x>
x x

Lets see isf the justification completely buggers up those diagrams http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/smile.gif

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Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows

[This message has been edited by Catiline (edited 08-03-2001).]

[Catiline]

No didn't work, byut hopefully you gather what i'm trying to say

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Unless the Persians fly away like birds, hide in the earth like mice, or leap into a lake like frogs, they will never see their homes again, but will die under our arrows

[JAG]

LOL Kraellin very good tips http://www.totalwar.org/ubb/biggrin.gif

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Watch out for that. . . . . Dam too late!. . . the story of my life!

WarlordWarrior

[TakeshidaSo]

Thank you Catiline for your helpful information. I tested grouping units to try to recall some of the reasons I dont use it anymore, and have some cautionary remarks regarding this feature which some of you may want to consider. When moving a group without using Alt-Left clik, or reversing the groups direction, or using Clik-and-drag to reform the group; the groups units may march quickly to maintain its formation or switch positions by marching thru each other at a quick rate. So you may want to group and ungroup to perform some of these manuevers or use the Alt features to move the group. The Alt-Right clik feature will still require a group to switch places before it begins to move in its new direction, if you attempt to reverse direction in that manner, whereas the Alt-Left clik feature would keep your same facing and would not require a switch before the group moves. If the enemy is behind you and you want to about face, you might want to ungroup in that circumstance. I only tested this briefly with groups of 2 and 3 units, and I dont normally use groups, so maybe someone who is more familiar with this feature could add some additional insight.

[roan]

Quote Originally posted by TakeshidaSo:

Archers in 3rd or more ranks take an accuracy penalty.
[/QUOTE]

Is this also true when the archers are in loose formation? I always put them in two rows but read somewhere that in loose formation only rank 4 and more take a penalty.

Actually, archers in more than a row of 2 men deep, make more friendly fire kills.

And...muskets should be kept on close formation because:

1. They got bad morale. In loose formation they take a morale penalty thus rout more easily.

2. Difficult to manouver

3. More background kills

Tera

P.S.

There are some other tips like Wedge formation troops move faster etc. Usually these are only known by vets...but I find this post to be essential and very interesting. Thanks Take.


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Honour to Clan No Fear.

Visit my resource centre here! (http://terazawa.totalwar.org)
Evil is within us... http://terazawa.totalwar.org/emo.gif

[TakeshidaSo]

I'm sorry Roan, my comments shouldnt be taken as a literal authority on any subject, and are kind of rounded around certain edges. I only intended to give people some beginning ideas about game features they might not know anything about. I cant answer your question, except to say anythings possible, and that loose formation should allow a unit to move more freely and see more clearly from a third rank.

[NinjaKilla]

Very interesting thread, particularly from Steeleye and Kraellin.

I had a question and I've gone and flippin' forgotten it!

Grrr

!@*^

No, it's gone ...

[This message has been edited by NinjaKilla (edited 08-04-2001).]

[TakeshidaSo]

Its just as well anyway, by this time we'll have gone and flippin' forgotten the answer too!

[Kraellin]

here is what alt-rgt-click does:

if AAA is one unit and BBB is one unit and CCC is one unit and they are all grouped then:

AAA BBB CCC

might look like this, facing north, or towards the top of this screen. when you alt-rgt-click and put your cursor in front of the middle group and then move your cursor around, say to the right, the units would pivot on the central BBB unit and end up looking like this:

A
A
A

B
B
B

C
C
C

and are now facing east, or the right side of your screen.

it's like if your 3 units were a pencil that was set horizontally relative to your eyes and you simply rotated that pencil on its z axis (i think it's z)...you know...ya stuck a pin in the middle of the length of the pencil and spun it on the pin. that's what alt-rgt-click does.

K.


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I'm sorry, but i never apologize.

[Kraellin]

Addendum:

alt-ymca: turns all your units into Elmarkian monks with the exception that they all now dress like the Village People.

alt-tab: makes all enemy units puke due to 'funny aftertaste' in their mouths.

cntrl-caps lock: prevents enemy from taking any heads, or at least keeps yer hats and helmets from falling off if they do.

cntrl-pause/break: allows all units to run into the woods for a few minutes.

alt-esc: turns all units into Elmarkian units with Nike footwear.

cntrl-esc: makes your units units faster than Elmarkian units and automatically puts 2 H5 monk units at the rear of any Elmarkian units.

cntrl-@: sends email to all the enemy units on the field of battle with your next play-by-email attack/defense.

cntrl-alt-del: sends all units of all armies to oblivion...aka, mass seppuku.

cntrl-jfk: sends one musket unit to a grassy knoll to target enemy daimyo.

alt-tv: turns enemy units into couch potatos.

alt-cable: turns all enemy units into sex-starved couch potatos that are too fat and tired to do anything about it.

alt-xxx: turns all units into porn stars.

K. ;)


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I'm sorry, but i never apologize.

[TakeshidaSo]

You forgot Alt-Enter, which I'm not allowed to discuss further due to social constraints on good taste and asthetically pleasing dialog. Suffice it to say, it is quite literal in its meaning. I do hate to ask you this, but for your gross neglect in regard to this matter I must request you apologize.

[Catiline]

Bump

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Oderint dum metuant

[BSM_Skkzarg]

Ok... Alt-Enter is just SICK! ROFL.
However - Ctrl-Enter gives the geisha in the naked video a very satisfied smile.....

You know - this is juvenile, childish, and downright funny!!! Its good to act like a kid sometimes!

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BSM_Skkzarg
"A mind is a terrible thing to taste."

[Lord Aeon]

Serious question:

Is the Hold Formation bonus against cavalry singular only to Ashigaru, or does it work for samurai as well?

Also, anyone with info on the "cycle reinforcements" deal?

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"You have offended my family, and you have offended a Shaolin temple."

[TakeshidaSo]

It works for the YS's too. Hold Formation will weaken the units against non-cavalry opponents though.

[Pod]

Alt # .... All units form a circle and skin up