Marching armies in formation?

I'm used to playing TW by placing my armies in formation, selecting them and right clicking where I want them to go. The entire army goes there and unites maintain their position relative to each other. If I do that in Shogun 2, my troops don't keep formation. I've read through the guides and one suggests using the preset formations, but that doesn't allow me full control over my army. Is there any way still for an army to retain any formation, without taking ten minutes for the smallest move?

Combined with units running without having been told to (what an annoyance) this game really seems unplayable compared to Rome....

I've come across the same problem and the only answer I've found was to chose between micro managing your march or using the preset formations.
If you want some more control without to much micro management you could split your army in more than one group. Use a preset formation for your mane group (the backbone of your army) and move the other groups where you want them to go relevant to the position/destination of the main group. It's a compromise but I'm happy enough with it. Holding space is invaluable with this to see where every unit will end up.

I've never had that problem. All you have to do is right-click and drag to where you want to go.

There is a problem when you made your own formation and want to get them to march to a certain spot while maintaining formation. Some units just want to go to somewhere else than where they were before in the formation.

I find setting my units in the formation I want the putting them in a group they then keep formation. When I go into battle I tend to ungroup as it makes the army easier to manage.

By selecting all your troops, or as many as you like, after you have set them in the formation you want; you can press the G key and they will form up, after they will move keeping that formation...
It's very useful, sometimes I organize my army in many groups, usually center and wings...
I hope this answers your question...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Peasant Phill

There is a problem when you made your own formation and want to get them to march to a certain spot while maintaining formation. Some units just want to go to somewhere else than where they were before in the formation.

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Actually, that's not true. I discovered early on that CA changed the way the game handles formations in SW2. In previous games, if you click a spot, your army will move there and keep the formation they had when you clicked to move. In SW2, they will keep the formation they had when you grouped them. No matter how many times you move the units around, every time you ask them to move, they will use the formation they had when you initially grouped them together.

It was suggested to me to move using the hotkeys (l ; ' /) or ungrouping and grouping them again.

So in essence, I must form my army into a single group to get the entire force to march in formation?

Thank you, I'll try it, seems a lesser evil. Why the hell CA broke the battle controls is beyond me.

I don't get what you are saying though, controls seem like the only thing that never changed since RTW XD

They have, though. As a simple example, in R:TW if I want to order my archers to charge, I hold down alt and right-click on the target. Now I must toggle the "melee mode" and then right click on my target. I need more clicks, and get less flexibility. By any objective measure, R:TW had superior controls, since it required less clicks and gave the user more control over what the units did.

Takes a second to do that and even alt-click, since needs 2 hands, takes as much...
Imo you just need to get used to the difference, I never had "flexibility" issues, and I play on legendary and multiplayer, so I can't pause any game...

Bottom left of the screen, the up arrow, click and hold, entire army moves directly forward the same amount, keeps formation.