how do i fix FACING problems QUICKLY?

[Navaros]

if i need to change the FACING of a unit, what are the tricks for doing this quickly and without needless cumbrance?

it always takes me FOREVER to do this properly because it's hard for me to SEE which way is FORWARD since each man is so small and even when he IS facing forward, i can't make that visual distinction.

i really hope there is some sort of trick for fixing the facing. preferably something that lets you be able to SEE your units closer and/or in a magnified way. even if i am zoomed-in on a unit i still can not see it well enough to fix the facing quickly.

note: i woulda made this topic in the MP forum since i consider this to be an advanced tactic and one necessary to have mastered for MP games yet i can not start topics there even tho i can post there and many of my topics already got moved there. so if any of you Mods wanna move this there too, i'd appreciate that.

[HicRic]

Facing one's units isn't really too hard. Alt + right click changes this (although I'm guessing you knew that.)
As for working out which way they are facing, hold down alt and hold down the right mouse button. Now Put the cursor a little in front of the unit. If they aren't facing that way, you'll see a ghost of the unit that looks different to their current facing.

I find that helps me alot. :) I hope that kind of helps you out

[Navaros]

yeah i know how to do that but that's not where my problem lies

the problem is i can not SEE which why is FORWARD because my infantry men are too SMALL. it's not so hard to change the facing of Cavalry units because the horses' butts are quite distinguishable from their front sides.

but with infantry units their there is not much visual distinction between their front/back sides so even with the Ghost in my screen i often still can not SEE which way to the Ghost needs to FACE :(

[squippy]

Roll mouse wheel to zoom in and out. But I find this a surprising problem - do you have a small monitor, like 15?

[Navaros]

monitor is 17 inches and i play in 1024x768

i suppose that if i changed my resolution to 640x480 then that would make it easier to see but i'm hoping for a better solution than that

having to scroll the camera wheel every time may be my only viable solution, but that process is VERY time-consuming and cumbersome so i was hopeing there's a better way. ie: something that zooms the camera in AUTOMATICALLY. double-clicking on a unit will not do this.

this problem is compounded by the fact that as you are moving the Ghost, then your ACTUAL UNIT is still visible and those pixels block the Ghost's pixels, often making a reasonable visual distinction impossible to make :(

[Duke John]

The flag of the unit is always in the middle of the front rank of the unit. This might be difficult to see if the unit is only in 2 ranks, but it's an easy way to quickly see which way the unit is facing.

Cheers, Duke John

[Leo]

Also if you have one rank that is shorter than the others, this should be the one in the back.

[Puzz3D]

It can be quite hard to tell if the men in a unit are facing forward or backwards because of the way the sprites flip around when viewing them from different angles. I use three different ways to get a unit to face front which are all faster than inspecting the unit visually. I either redraw the unit, move it slightly in the direction I want it to face or rotate it with ALT right mouse button. You can't go by the flag bearer because he isn't always in the center of the front rank.

[SpencerH]

Facing can be a problem. I cant count the number of times I've set up a nice defense (just right) only to realize that I've got several groups of spearmen with their backs to the oncoming enemy.

[WorkNeglecter]

doubleclicking on the unit chit gives you an over the shoulder view. That solves your problem.

[HicRic]

Perhaps this is a problem more relavant to MTW. I've not played that, but I have played STW a lot, and I've not had any trouble at all seeing which way my units are facing.

Sounds like an annoying problem http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/angry.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (WorkNeglecter @ April 20 2004,10:18)]doubleclicking on the unit chit gives you an over the shoulder view. That solves your problem.
I'm surprised no one mentioned that earlier.

[SpencerH]

For me its simply a matter of not paying attention when setting up. I spend more time sorting my lines where I want them but sometimes click and drag the wrong way depending on my perspective.

[Fanty]

Zitat[/b] ]monitor is 17 inches and i play in 1024x768

i suppose that if i changed my resolution to 640x480 then that would make it easier to see but i'm hoping for a better solution than that

640x480 doesnt help. The oposite is the case.

Its not like in AOK, where resoltution change was like zooming.

In MTW, everything on the screen will allways be the same size, independant from the resolution.

In 640x480 you will just see a bunch of colorfull pixels crawling around. ;)

So higher you chose the resolution, so more clear you will see the units, so more far away from your camera you can see details like facing.

I play 1280x1024. And thats the limit of my Monitor (a 19 one). Otherwise I would even go 1600x1200. I tested that out of curiousity, it looks the same like 1280x1024, simply because my monitor skips the pixels wich are too much.....

[Gregoshi]

Moving to Jousting Field.

[Dionysus9]

I've been asking for a facing indicator for years (a little ghostly arrow that points in the direction each unit is facing and a bigger "group" arrow that shows facing for groups). CA has never expressed any interest in the idea.

I can sympathize with your problem because I spent the first three months of my total war career in complete ignorance of unit facing. It wasn't until some kind soul told me my muskets were mooning them that the lightbulb went on.

If you hold the right mouse button down while also holding ALT, you can get a "ghost" of how your unit will be facing when you release the right click.

Also, if you move your army as a group using ALT-Left click, allthe units will retain their facing and less micromanagement is required.

[Navaros]

an arrow that hovers AT THE FRONT of your units perpetually to show you which side IS front would help ASTRONOMICALLY.

i've read all the advice in this thread and the only thing that has helped a bit was the flag bearer thing. double-clicking on a unit to get a better view does not help me see which side of my unit is front and which is not any easier :(

[Sulla]

Doubleclicking a unit ALLWAYS makes you look over the shoulder of that unit. Rest is experience. At some point and after many games you will KNOW what way your units are facing. In a flightsimulator (combat) I think they call it situationel awareness.

Sulla

[Puzz3D]

I never double click on a unit to check facing. It's too disorientating. It's much quicker to use ALT + right click and push the cursor out in the direction you want the unit to face. If you want to redraw the unit or group, holding SHIFT will allow drawing on ground that's already occupied by another unit. Don't forget to try the right click toggle when redrawing units and groups to get two different choices of unit depth and spacing. If you use ALT + left click to move units and groups the final facing is the same as the initial facing so there is no need to recheck all the units after they arrive at the destination. One tip here is that you don't have to wait for a rotation move to finish before giving a linear move command to a unit or group. Also, if you want to about face a unit it's better to simply left click directly behind it rather than rotate it because the individual men will turn in place and not march around to swap sides.

[Nigel]

I usually go by the position of the flag in the unit. It's not perfect, but good enough for me most of the time.

The key-combos I find most useful when trying to keep my army in order are the ALT+left which maintains relative unit position when moving the whole army and SHIFT+drag which allows to drag the ghost of a unit even is some other unit is still standing at the targed position.

I haven't come across the right click toggle, yet. Could you explain that bit more, Yuuki? That sounds like an interesting one http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/handball.gif

[Orda Khan]

Without going into detail Nigel, as you draw out your line of say 4 units and you want them 4 ranks deep, do you notice a large space appear between units? Try drawing out your line until units are 5 ranks deep, space between units is still too large....now right click ( don't release alt ) watch those units change to 4 deep closely spaced http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Same applies when you you have depleted units, they are arranged more evenly

.....Orda

[KyodaiSteeleye]

Can't say i've ever really had a problem with facing. Even if i have made a mistake, a second look at the flags is generally enough. The ghosting thing is quite a good idea, or on set-up, use a set formation. Also knowing when alt-dragging a unit which side to start on is helpful (i think its from the right if you are behind the unit, and from the left if in front...).

[Nigel]

Thanks Orda,

I tried it out and it seems to work. Prticularly usefull if you want to arrange units with different number of men in them. makes them arrange more evenly and also avoids the formation of annoying long columns.

Could be useful http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

[Orda Khan]

Dragging out your unit from left to right ( when behind the unit ) puts them in correct position

.....Orda

[Kalle]

Quote[/b] ]
it always takes me FOREVER to do this properly because it's hard for me to SEE which way is "FORWARD" since each man is so small and even when he IS facing forward, i can't make that visual distinction.


This has never been a problem for me, but then again i wear glasses, maybe you should go try if you need it too http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

I have never heard of this being a problem either from other players but maybe that is me needing some hearing aid, i doubt it though http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

When playing with a reasonable florinlevel, lets say 10k, there is a very easy way to tell what direction ur men are facing.

When the enemy hits ur troops and your men stand firm you can be sure they were facing the enemy.

If on the other hand you see your men start to run away as soon as the enemy closes lines with you, you can be sure your men were facing the other way http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

And when your troops are running for their lives you can be also be sure of what way they are looking since they look the same direction as they run http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/bigthumb.gif

Hope this helps :)

Kalle