Share your Shogun 2 battle interface tips

Who better to ask about the battle interface than the MP people? You have to give it more of a workout than we pause-happy SP players :gring:

As you may have heard, I'm writing a guide for Shogun 2. The guide's for SP only as I never play MP, and I want it to be as comprehensive as possible. In the battlefield portion I'm doing a section about the interface; there's a lot the game and manual doesn't tell you about it. Some I've found through trial and error, some I knew from past games, and some I've read about. But that's not enough - I want to show people the best advice, not just the bits I have found myself. So here I am.

Please share any advice you have on getting the best from shogun 2's battle interface. Beginner level, intermediate, advanced - nothing should be assumed to be too simple or too complex. Small tips or large tips.

Credit will be given for any information used.

(And if someone could tell me how to stop my units from automatically running everywhere when I give them a single click move order which changes their facing I'd be grateful for that too. It's driving me batty!)

Give all move orders while holding CTRL to stop them from running. This is absolutely necessary to not blow Kisho Ninja's cover.

That will save my sanity. Thanks.

No one else has any advice to help new players control their army?

I think Kocmoc covered it very well: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...ncluding-Video

Control single-click for walking!? Thank you!!!

Ah! That's a good thread, thanks for the link. I didn't know about assigning single units to F1-F4. Managing my general and oddball units just grew easier.

If anyone has anything to add I'm still interested. It seems like the game has a lot of hidden command functions, and that people have some individual preferences they find useful. The more info I can offer the more likely it is that players will find something that's good for them.

Not sure if this counts, but you can get the colour unit cards to help you distinguish between different types of units.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=443470

There are other versions too but I like this one.

Here's a fun tip for BEGINNERS.

To minimise microing, group them base on type. ie, same archers with spears, loan swords with elite swords and all cav together. Your general can be part of any one of this group. (to group units, select any units you want to group together and press "g")

This way, you have a group of archers protected by spears to engage in missile fights, a second group of melee infantry held ready for the main action and a third group consist of cav to distract or raid the enemy lines.

This will help you execute your plan easier should there be any sudden changes with little worry of clicking the entire formation into action and sending wrong units into the fray.

Play around with the default formation for each group for easier control.

don't know if everyone knows this or not but you can ctrl+double click a unit card to select all of that kind of unit in your army.

To enable and disable the melee mode for ranged units; press F key. Then you see the sword instead the bow when you move the cursor on enemy.
- This is good when you want to give a stab at the routing enemy and not waste arrows.
- In some cases you just want the archers to stop shooting (own units to back) and move towards the enemy.
- When your archers get taken by enemy cav; counter charge with one archer and move the rest to diffrenent directions. (eg; put one to slowdown and rest have change to survive.)

When charging with the cavarly groups you made by pressing G. Ungroup them by pressing G again and then charge and then press G again to group them.
- This way all the units will charge at the point where you clicked instead of charcing whats infront of them in group formation. (They often charge empty space or spear unit behind.)
- In some cases you might want to ungroup them for withdrawal too. If grouped they try to keep the formation and it may mean that they will be reforming in a place where enemy spear poke them.

Since Bait Tactic doesn't work as effectively now, I would recommend creating a formation(or try choosing some of the game default formations to see which one suits your style of play).

Basics of choosing formation:
1) Compare our army to the enemy's army. Look for things like who has more range units and who has more melee units ,who has the better position, whose unit is stronger.
2) Try to counter the enemy's units with yours.
For example: Swords against Yari, Yari aganist Cavalry, Cavalry against Bows, Bows against faraway melee units
3) DON'T spread out your army too far. Even if your army is larger, the enemy might focus there attack on one part of your army and crush it. This will result it unnecessary losses of men or even defeat.

Have fun creating your own formation as well. Try coming up with a couple of them. It might actually help you in battle!

Joggerx35