Demo UI questions

[vallu751]

Hi,

I'm a bit confused at the new UI in the ETW demo. I've played all Total War games since Shogun, and I haven't had this much difficulty ever before.

1) I sent off a flanking group consisting of infantry and my general. The general was included for the morale bonus, I didn't intend to fight with him. When I saw enemy units, I clicked on them and watched my general charge into the enemy. The infantry then settled into position behing him and started shooting into the melee.

a) Suicidal generals are nothing new to TW games, but I'd like to know how I could order only my infantry to engage in the above situation?
b) Would I have to detach my general first?
c) If that's the case, then why do the groupings even bother to include different unit symbols and how they are arranged? Infatry in the front, cavalry in the rear or flanks would just result in the cavalry running into the way of your own muskets every time you order an attack.

2) This happened several times: I had an infantry unit facing so that it's line of fire didn't cover an enemy unit (let's say east with the enemy in north). I then clicked on the enemy unit so that my infantry would fire. Nothing happened. After I rotated my unit so that the fire area covered the enemy, my infantry then rotated the rest of the way and started shooting.

Am I just doing something wrong or is anyone else experiencing this?

3) Is there a way to tell a unit to react to enemies nearby? If I order a unit to march somewhere, I've noticed that my units keep on marching even if they're peppered on by infantry that moves right next to them. Sometimes that's what I'd like, most other times I'd want to order a unit to move without having to babysit.

4) Even the oldie Gettysburg showed the area of fire when rotating a unit, why doesn't ETW do this? All I see is the round thingies marking soldier positions, which is far less informative than the fire area. Can this be enabled from somewhere?

5) Can I waypoint actions? Back at Gettysburg I would often order an artillery unit to unlimber, move to a location and then limber. How can I do that in ETW?

[vallu751]

Hey, doesn't anyone know any answers? Or did I try asking too much with one post...

I quess a lot of my trouble comes from trying to get used to the groupings. Groups were present in a way in the previous TW games, but I never found them very useful before.

Can anyone even say if orders can be chained / movement waypointed? That would help a lot. I've tried ctrl-clicking, shift-clicking, but it doesn't seem to be doing what I want.

[quadalpha]

1a. Only select the units you want to attack with when you attack.
b. No, just don't select the whole group.
c. The group formations are useful for arranging your line.

2. I think the infantry is designed to wheel before firing.

3. React ... how? In general, units will try to do what you tell them.

4. I think the unit position is a pretty good indication of area of fire.

5. You can waypoint movement with shift but not actions, as far as I know.

Groups are mainly useful for preserving your custom formations when moving, or for organising yourself.

[vallu751]

Thanks Quadalpha!

2. I think the infantry is designed to wheel before firing.

Then I may be experiencing a potential bug. Or then there was a delay in carrying out orders, which could very well be intentional - even if annoying.

3. React ... how? In general, units will try to do what you tell them.

Heh, definitely. Let me be more precise: In many RTS games you can either give a "move" or "attack-move" order. Moving means a unit does what I've experienced with TW, they simply move to a location no matter what happens around them. Attack-move sets the unit towards a given location like a move order, but if enemies come within it's attack range or the unit is attacked, they engage the offending unit and continue movement after the engagement - provided that they are still intact of course.

It's basically just a way to reduce micro. It can be useful if you send flanking units somewhere you can't look at for the time being. Kind of similar to the old archer command to fall back if an enemy unit comes close.

5. You can waypoint movement with shift but not actions, as far as I know.

Okay, thanks.

[peacemaker]

yeah, about #3. True, that could help, but think about this:You need to rush through an area to get to more favourable ground but there's one unit of riflemen or whatever far away, would you have the whole unit(s) ignore going to their place and instead detatch and try to engage the far-away riflemen? I could see it being good as an option to turn on/off but definetely not a good idea to leave ALWAYS on

[quadalpha]

I see what you mean, but I'm pretty sure there is no attack-move order. TW isn't that kind of RTS.

[vallu751]

yeah, about #3. True, that could help, but think about this:You need to rush through an area to get to more favourable ground but there's one unit of riflemen or whatever far away, would you have the whole unit(s) ignore going to their place and instead detatch and try to engage the far-away riflemen? I could see it being good as an option to turn on/off but definetely not a good idea to leave ALWAYS on

Yeah, it should definitely be optional. Starcraft uses simple right click for a move order, and ctrl-click for a move-attack IIRC. Or pressing A and then right clicking. It should definitely be optional.

[vallu751]

I see what you mean, but I'm pretty sure there is no attack-move order. TW isn't that kind of RTS.

Or course, TW is quite a different game from most RTS games.

One could argue that intelligent unit commanders able to perform limited functions independently would be more suitable for a TW type game than the typical click-fests. But I'll let that rest. I was just a bit put off by the demo battle when I split my forces and found it very difficult to organize a flanking attack while holding the main line. And it was not because of any intellectual challenge, I simply couldn't browse and click around the map as quickly as I should have. Pausing a game is an option, but not in multi-player.

I for one hope that TW games would reduce click-festing and promote tactics.