Tactical map commands

[qtv]

Sorry, a few noob questions:

1)I have read that spear unit prefer formations 2/4 rows deep. Is there any hotkey/command to do this? I use drag select to select the area but is there a better way?

2)why when I drag select a formation does it sometimes end up with their back to the enemy?

3) Is there a command that will move a custom formation of mine (where I have individually positioned each unit) so they all stay in custom formation rather than, say, the default formations?

4)Is there any mod that enables all units to be made skirmish units? I sometimes use a cheap cavalry unit to draw a few infantry units after it, but every now and then I forget about moving the cav and the infantry catchup and kill it - which wouldn't happen if I could put them on skirmish mode.

5) Is there a way to make archer units retreat earlier when charged? Even on skirmish my archers are sometimes charged by cav and retreat too slowly to get back to the cover of spearmen even when they are not far away from the spear units. The enemy cav charge down for a long time and my archers wait until they are 20 metres away and only *then* decide to retreat

[The_Emperor]

Ok I will try my best...

1) I don't think there is, I end up clicking and dragging as well.

2) Because of the way you drew your formation out. If you drag a unit from Left to Right it will line up in the correct direction... Drawing the unit from Right to left, and they will all be lined up to do a Braveheart Mooney http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

3) If you deploy your army into formation and then hold ALt and click on the battlefield your entire army will move in that formation and deploy the same way... just hold down the spacebar and have a look at the units destination. (I'm not sure how you turn the formation but aparrantly you can do this as well)

4) If ordinary melee units cannot skirmish I would sugguest that you use more missile Cavalry in your armies instead of ordinary ones since they tend to skirmish nicely... and as for infantry, you may just have to manage them in combat.

5) Archers alway seem to retreat too late, my answer to this would be to always defend your archers with a screen of Infantry, that way you can be sure they won't get run down by the enemy.

[pdoan8]

1. I wish that there is a command for number of ranks.

3. Of course, you have to have all of your units (or at least, the ones you want to move) selected before doing the Alt + left click. Alt click will tell the troops to keep formation as well as facing. However, while they are moving, units will travel at its own speed. That means, faster units will arrive at the destination first. Another alternation is to group your units before Alt click. With grouping, all of your units will travel at the speed of the slowest unit so they will keep formation while moving. The good thing is: if you need to stop them at any given time, you still have more or less the formation you start with.

A few other key commands for moving multiple units:
- Ctrl + A to select all units.
- Ctrl + left click on unit icon or unit flag to add unit to selected group (a way to select multiple units)
- G to group or ungroup the selected units.
- Alt and drag with right mouse button: rotate or change unit facing. All units within the same group will rotate as a group and keep formation (rotate or change facing for the whole army as if it is one unit). Multiple selected units will rotate independently if they are not grouped (and the formation would be a mess).
- Backspace to halt or cancel order.

4. I agree with The_Emperor here. Mounted missile units are best for this.

5. I would do the same as The_Emperor. I rarely put my archers infront of the protective infantry wall.

[Imperial Buffoon]

There's also SHIFT+click (even if you only click once) to ignore friendly units when giving a waypoint or destination to the selected unit (I don't even know if it's in the manual).