Moving units within an army

[BanzaiZAP]

Okay, we've gone over all sorts of in-game control features - here's one I'm stumped on.

This, by the way, is all taking place within the actual battle-simulator, and applies to any battle, both SP Campagin, MP and Custom. Does anyone know how to group the unit icons?

I know you assign several units into a group by control-clicking and hitting "G", but can you rearrange the icons on the bottom of the screen to represent these groups?

Normally, the icons are all grouped by unit type. Cavalry, then archers, guns, monks, etc. But if I split off a skirmish group (i.e. a spear, ashigaru, an archer, and a monk) is there some way to have those icons sit together? That way I know exactly which archers are in Group A as opposed to Group B.

That would also allow us to arrange the icons in order they appear on the front lines. (example: the first two icons are the yari on the laft flank, then two archers backing them up. Then two more yari in the center of the front line, then their archer support. Then two more yari/archers representing the right flank. Cavalry moved to the last positions, as they are waiting as reserves.)

Am I making any sense?

-- B)

[This message has been edited by BanzaiZAP (edited 01-20-2001).]

[solypsist]

As far as I know there's no way to redistribute the icons. In MP or Custom Battle, for example, your general is always the first icon, but I think in campaign game play iyour general could be spread out in any one of them.

[Puzz3D]

BanzaiZAP,

I'm not sure that I understand you because, when you hit 'G' to group some units, the icons are grouped together and placed to the right of the other icons. The next group created is placed to the right of that, etc. If you create your left flank group first, and methodically work from left to right, then the groups of icons should be in the same order that the groups of units are on the battlefield. Also, usually but not always, the units within the group are positioned left to right in the order that they were clicked on when forming the group. In order to get this icon positioning, you can't have any ungrouped units. I don't know of any way to independently move the icons around.

MizuYuuki ~~~
Clan Takiyama ~~~

[ShadowKill]

well like the others i am not sure what your are asking for but i set it up like this if i group my guys Somtimes i group them team A and team B so what i do is group one set and if that group icon on the bottom is on the right then i place that group on the right of the battle field and icons on th eleft i set my men on the left that way when it gets down to hyper clicking i know were my groups are and what is left in ech group does that help any?

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Fear not the sword to your front, but the blade at your back.

"Cutting down the enemy is the Way of strategy, and there is no need for much clever refinement of it"

"After a great fight between two mighty tigers, even a common dog may defeat the survivor"

Clan Shades
Shades

[Anssi Hakkinen]

It's not possible to rearrange the unit icons in battle mode (other than by using the "G" key, as Puzz explained), but it's very possible to arrange them prior to going to battle.

In custom battles and MP, this is straightforward: purchase the units in the order you want, rightmost unit first.

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"Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring, / With the very bluest stockings, / On the ground the haft set firmly, / On the heath the hilt pressed tightly, / Turned the point against his bosom, / And upon the point he threw him, / Thus he found the death he sought for, / Cast himself into destruction."
-The Kalevala, Poem XXXVI, verses 335-342

[solypsist]

I was about to make a post regarding grouping. I'm not in the habit of using this feature, mostly since I tend to use the banners at the bottom for troop selection. Is this use of grouping rather widespread?

[wigwam86]

i do not believe there is a way to do what you are asking. i hope in the expansion pack or in the new patch there is a way to group by # (i.e. i could click something like ctrl+# and when i want 2 refer to that group i click alt+#) this would be alot like starcraft or comand and conquer. it would make the game much easier

[Anssi Hakkinen]

The feature wigwam's talking about has been in the game since its first relase. RTFM.

Ctrl-Shift-number will assign selected units in a group.

Ctrl-number selects that group.

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"Kullervo, Kalervo's offspring, / With the very bluest stockings, / On the ground the haft set firmly, / On the heath the hilt pressed tightly, / Turned the point against his bosom, / And upon the point he threw him, / Thus he found the death he sought for, / Cast himself into destruction."
-The Kalevala, Poem XXXVI, verses 335-342

[wigwam86]

YIKES!!!! sorry if i pushed the wrong button! sheesh!

[Anssi Hakkinen]

Sorry. I'm calm now.

But I'm still right

[BanzaiZAP]

Thanks Everyone! Domo arigato, gozaimasu!

Puzz3D is right, but I just wanted a little more control. To try it out, I did set up groups as Left Flank, Center and Right Flank, but it was still more cumbersome than I wanted. It works great for splitting off flanking/skirmish groups, but it's not what I wanted for major formations. I'll try setting up groups for Left Flank Spears, Left Flank Missiles, Left Flank Assault, Center Spears...... *sigh* what us control freaks will do for one less mouse click!

Anssi Hakkinen: You are totally right about thinking ahead when buying units in MP and Custom. Unfortunately, I have a real slowdem, and bad Maui connectivity, so I'm usually in SP campaigns. My kingdom for a cable modem service!

One more note: you blasted wigwam for RTFM, but us Americans got seriously shafted for the manual - many main controls were left out completely! My advice to American players is to download the European manual from the main STW website. So you should say RTFEuropeanM!

Actually, that's the REAL reason they're releasing Warlord Edition to North America instead of just the add-on - they're finally giving us a REAL manual! At least, they'd better! *sound of blades being sharpened*

-- B)

[wigwam86]

yes us americans were left in the dark so i do not know half the tricks to make STW life easier. i have downloaded the euro manual but it is tedious to load it up and search through when i'm looking 4 something.

[Shimazu2]

You are right at one thing wig wam, we americans are left in the dark....

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HHHHHHHOOOOOOOWWWWLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!! Happy hunting!

[This message has been edited by Shimazu2 (edited 01-23-2001).]

[Anssi Hakkinen]

I only now noticed the Dojo's powers that be (not you, dan-sama, the software ) had clipped my earlier post, which was about this thread's topic. Either that or I actually forgot to type it. Embarrassing when that happens.

Anyway, in SP campaigns I've found the unit order is the same as the order that you see near the bottom of the screen when you click on the army piece on the strategy map. You can rearrange these: drag & drop one of the individual units on the army piece (as if you were merging armies, but this works even if the unit is already part of the army). The unit should become the leftmost unit in the list (it also becomes the general, if there isn't one more skilled present). Through this, it's possible to arrange the units for tactical use, although it's so troublesome I rarely bother with it.

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"Never, youths, however wretched, / Nor in future, upgrown heroes, / Whether you have large possessions, / Or are poor in your possessions, / In the course of your lifetime, / While the golden moon is shining, / May you woo a golden woman, / Or distress yourselves for silver, /For the gleam of gold is freezing, / Only frost is breathed by silver."
-The Kalevala, Poem XXXVIII, verses 241-250

[Puzz3D]

solypsist: I used to use identical groups of hth units on each wing of my army which was in a wide formation overall. In that case, I found it was helpful to have the lefthand group's icons on the left and the right group's on the right. I went away from this arrangement because the formation was too weak in the middle, and susceptible to a center counterattack. Now I group my army in three lines front to back, and the troop types are different in each group. So, it's easy to tell them apart on the icon list. If I have a single archer or cav unit on each wing, I do like to have the icons oriented left/right correctly to avoid excessive scrolling just to select a unit. I only recently increased my scrolling speed above slow, and that has helped my online gameplay quite a bit. I had forgotten that this was an option.

I use grouping for advancing or setting up a defensive line, but go to individual unit management once engaged. Attacking by groups doesn't work out too well because the units get bunched up unless you've got the whole group in hold formation. Advancing by lines gives me better control over how far the troops advance. For me, moving the entire army at once often results in lead units going ahead further than I wanted them to. Moving backwards is not something you want to do in this game.

MizuYuuki ~~~
Clan Takiyama ~~~