Formations while marching

[Iskander 3.1]

Sorry if this has been asked about before but I haven't been able to find an answer yet so I'll just ask here.
When I am on the battlefield and I arrange my entire army into formation and group it, how come when I move everyone they don't always stay in the formation, and if they do, they don't always face the way they were facing before they moved? Sometimes they automatically slant which is a pain because it'll expose one of my flanks...

[Olaf Blackeyes]

Its one of the inefficiencies of the RTW engine, Formation movement is VERY HARD if not IMPOSSIBLE.
But if you think that's bad just see some of the pathfinding stories Ive gotten out of M2TW.
(Shudders)

[/Bean\]

There are some tips to help, but no cure, unfortunately.

For instance, you can hold down shift to see the unit desitnation flags, space bar to see the actual formation they will end up in, and if you group and drag rather than simple right click you should be able to move them, keeping in formation.

The bigger distance, the more obstacles and the difficulty of the terrain all help to disrupt the formation, so take these into account when moving large forces.

[Iskander 3.1]

Group and drag?

[/Bean\]

You understand group, right?

Then just right-click drag the units of the group where you want them lined up, like you do with any unit. Only these are units grouped, so it's like one big unit

[Rilder]

Yeah grouping units locks their current formation.

[Iskander 3.1]

Problem is when I do that, they all end up in one long line and I can't make a deep or organized formation.

[/Bean\]

There are group options on the HUD. Better still, download Darth's formation mod. That gives a much better range and even makes the AI use them.

[Iskander 3.1]

Oh wait I forgot to Ctrl+G. Doh!

[Iskander 3.1]

@Bean: good thing I'm not leading armies yet in BtSH!

[Rilder]

Problem is when I do that, they all end up in one long line and I can't make a deep or organized formation.

What?

Whenever I group my troops they stay in that formation unless you specifically move troops away from it.

(Make sure you don't include units that are far away from the main army though, that screws stuff up)

Also: Another tip, holding the alt key also helps if you want to change formation direction or order them forward

[machinor]

If you arrange your army into a nice formation at the beginning of a battle and want it (meaning the whole army) to keep that formation while marching, there is a way: simply group all of your army into one group and have them march. That way, it will always keep the initial formation.

[Iskander 3.1]

Hmmm...what does alt do?

I can't believe I've been playing this for years and haven't quite figured it all out yet!

[antisocialmunky]

Don't order horses to move with infantry. That can really screw formations up.

[miotas]

i get the same thing in my game if i group my units, they decide they want to line up across the map, so what i do is i dont group them, i just set them up in formation without grouping and they stay in the formation i put them in.

also holding alt and telling your troops to move means they arrive facing the same direction they were facing before you ordered them to move.

[seienchin]

Hmmm...what does alt do?

I can't believe I've been playing this for years and haven't quite figured it all out yet!

Marching in formation and facing the same direction like, when you gave them the order. Like a sidestep for example

[Rilder]

Don't order horses to move with infantry. That can really screw formations up.

Only if you put them like 5 miles away from everybody else.

Am I the only one who doesn't have any problems with army control? It works bloody perfectly.

Group your units, Alt right click to move forward, or right-click drag to move them to a specific spot.

[seienchin]

Im also satisfied with the movements of armies. Its brilliant in Rome, if you know how to handle it. But its annoying that the Ai who wants to skirmish in the sight of 2000 enemy soldiers always destroys my order...

[antisocialmunky]

RTW can screw up formation if you're lagging in battle as well.

[Iskander 3.1]

Hey thanks everyone!

[/Bean\]

Everyone didn't do anything...was that a bad joke?

I don't have a problem with Rome's army movement. It's better than M2TW's anyway. I think Iskander just needs to learn and practice the tricks, rather than he has a problem with it.

[Iskander 3.1]

Haha nice one Bean. It's not a common occurance and I can easily kick Carthaginian butt with a legion. It's just annoying when it does happen because I have to scramble to get everyone back into position.

[SwissBarbar]

deploy your legion in the formation you like

start the battle

pause the battle

select all your units that are part of the formation that should stay as it is

group the units with ctrl + 1

click enter to deselect your group*

un-pause the game*

pause the game

click "1" to select your unit

drag the formation where you want it to move to

un-pause the game





at least when I do that, it works


* I don't remember exactly, if these two point are to be done in reverse order

[soup_alex]

Don't order horses to move with infantry. That can really screw formations up.

Strongly Agree. My horses never seem to want to wait for/move with the infantry, grouped or otherwise.

Rilder, thanks for the Alt-tip (also, have you flooded any good forts, lately?)

SwissBarbar, I too make extensive, perhaps excessive, use of the pause funtion during battle, particularly when trying to organise formations. Glad to read I'm not alone there.

[miotas]

i think i may have sussed out why it happens. if anyone in the units selected has been given a formation (single line, double line, etc...) then all of the units will decide to line up in that formation. even if it was only 2 units in a group of 10, all 10 will line up.
i've stopped using those formations now and everyone stays where they are put in the group.

[Rilder]

Rilder, thanks for the Alt-tip (also, have you flooded any good forts, lately?)

Actually not lately, DF has entered its typical wane, while EB and BF:Heroes hold most my time atm.

[SwissBarbar]

Strongly Agree. My horses never seem to want to wait for/move with the infantry, grouped or otherwise.

Rilder, thanks for the Alt-tip (also, have you flooded any good forts, lately?)

SwissBarbar, I too make extensive, perhaps excessive, use of the pause funtion during battle, particularly when trying to organise formations. Glad to read I'm not alone there.

Yes ;-) It's weird. But when you don't pause the game after or while grouping units, they don't stay in formation, but you can drag them as a line over the field....

Actually, since I'm always searching for good screenshot-situations, if I play a battle of 1 hour, 30 minutes of that were in pause-modus.

[mcantu]

press 'G' to group selected units...

press 'shift+right click' to move selected group in formation

[Iskander 3.1]

shift+right click! That must be it. Thanks all again.

And I definitely abuse the pause function too.