Ave!
I have decided to share my own experiences with MTW2 AI formations development. First of all, the AI formations will be in MTW2 still more (compared to RTW) integrated to the whole AI battle mechanics - the interrelations with settings in other script files and also hardcode seem to be plentiful.
The main obstacle to release stable AI formations for MTW2 is lacking information as for new flag main_line. This is obviously related to the lacking original script file, which is "packed" in data_0.pack file .... The syntax of this flag is a bit strange. Theoretically it appears to be very attractive, but because we dont know what we are doing with it exactly the resaulting implementation into the "RTW-style" formations is a bit contraproductive.
Well till yet I have been play with such formations only in one "special" MTW2 Demo custom battle. The same battle with the same units on other map was not functional.As for full game they are functional till the phase of deployment but after starting the battles the "unspecified error" message pops up...... No help is by means of tracing or enabling the error messages in MTW2 config file unfortunatelly.
Also to let the formations completely without this flag is not possible. The cause is maybe some setting in another script file, however one cannot ruled out that it is aslo some hardcoded feature, which is extremely important for game machanics and oat least one instance of this flag in AI formations must be.
What is still more strange is a way the "functional" settings of this flag (i.e. without syntax errors in log files) are changing the choosing the respective formations in deployment. It appears sometimes that the used units and their count is not the strongest flag now and that AI sometimes use the formation with "removing" the inapproriate block with the unit type which is not in army .... Strange, very strange.
Also, the battle which I have been able play in demo was playble as for gameplay, however there was massive "criss-crossing" behaviour of "slow" Landsknecht units when my Cavalry units attacked from flanks and/or rear. It appears that the AI is reacting in the first time appropriatelly to the danger, but then it is very slow with reforming to the original formation after the threat has gone ... This is maybe related to the concrete implementation of main_line in the concrete formations for phalanx units, which I have used, but it is also possible that this behaviour will be valid generally when we will use the old system of "large formations" from RTW....
If anybody else is doing some investigations in MTW2 AI formations and have some key as for the proper usage (and the "own" functional syntax) of main_line flag and will be so nice that will share this information with me, I would be very grateful and give to such man the clearly deserved credits for this.... Otherwise I am afraid that my own research has reached the limitation, which will be possible to surpass maybe only after unpacking the MTW2 original descr_formations_ai.txt file ....
Dont hasitate to write to this thread as for any info in this direction or some related information as for battle mechanics from your experiences with umodded MTW2 also. Bye Sinuhet