Tight Formation

[captainbloodloss]

Is there any real benefit to using the tighter formation available to legionaries and other Roman units when using Darthmod (It's protective formation in Darthmod)? I've noticed several things that make me question it's effectiveness: a) The units jump right out of the tight formation to fight anyways b) They don't seem to gain any offensive bonuses and c) They also don't seem to gain any defensive bonuses.

All that this tight formation seems to do is shrink the formation and make it easier to flank.

Note: I have not thoroughly tested these observations and they may very well be wrong, that is what this thread is for.

[unfortunate crow]

If your talking about Testudo, it will greatly increase their resistance to missile fire.

It's practically required when fighting against the scythians or parthians.

[captainbloodloss]

Sorry, I should have been a bit clearer. I am not reffering to testudo. The formation I am talking about simply moves the men in closer together and is not classified as a special ability, it takes the place of the unit's loose formation. So the unit has normal and the tighter one.

[Nitemare16]

The realy only advantage of the tight formation over the other formation(loose)is that it makes a perfect line.Also put units on guard formation and they wont attack the enemy until the enemy attacks them.
Hope this helps.

[unfortunate crow]

They take a hit to their defense in loose formation.

[MattErickson]

I noticed that too, I tried to go to loose formation in the SPQR mod to cut down losses from missle fire and they just clumped tightly together.

[Octavium]

Losse formation is useless for fighting, trust me, my line of 5 Desert Axemen easily routed 3 Legionary, 1 First Legionary and 1 Praetorian Cohort which were in loose.

[Prince_of_Macedon]

I don't think 10 Desert Axemen could beat even 3 Legionary Cohorts lol

I really don't know the answer to the original question. I always leave my melee-troops in tight formation. I've always believed that they can resist the enemy's charge better.

[Cybugger]

And they look so much cooler in tight formation imo.

And they seem to be more resistant to charges (from personal experience).

[LuciusCato]

In the SPQR mod changing to Loose formation for Romans make form "shieldwall" fighting shoulder to shoulder etc, makes them like a Phalanx but less vunerable from the sides or rear. Its also more historically accurate than the Vanilla, why are the Roman ranks so widely spaced?

[Domitius]

The tight formation helps, especially when charged by cavalry. This formation prevents the unit from splitting, which would make it resist the fighting afterwards better. When the unit is splitted it will only get worse if other units reinforce the first one. Your unit will also be more vulnarable to attacks from the flanks.

[Octavium]

Barb, I'll send you the replay, other factors probably influenced morale, but my line of 5 desert axemen easily routed a line of romans similar to that described above, it was in an online match, granted, in the desert.

[Prince_of_Macedon]

Barb, I'll send you the replay, other factors probably influenced morale, but my line of 5 desert axemen easily routed a line of romans similar to that described above, it was in an online match, granted, in the desert.

Hey Octavium,
Got your replay, and I'll watch it when I get back home. I love me some replays! =)

[captainbloodloss]

Just for clarification, the "loose formation" in SPQR actually makes the legionaries get closer together. It's not a glitch or anything, it's just that the name for the button was not changed.

And the yes Octavian, vanilla loose formation is useless for fighting, but am referring to mods such as DarthMod and SPQR. Sorry for the confusion.

[Octavium]

I play V1.5, for the record. I don't know about DarthMod and SPQR.