Advanced Infantry Movements

[Tantive]

I've been reading the forums for months, but today first time I made a post, and straight out with something to contribute! (I hope)


Actually this is something I started doing in Rome Total War, to get very organised infantry movement..and it kinda moved on to Medieval.

Say you have a vast army, but due to whatever constraints, moving one unit to an appropriate rank completely disorganises your troops, and even has the possibility to get involved in battle..unwillingly.

Use the shift button when issueing orders. Most of you will know its use, but don't truelly understand it's magnificence. It basicly allows you to program all your movements of your troops, positioning, rank depth, target.
This also shows the importance of the right placing and organisation so your troops and manouver correctly to reinforce. Keep some minor gaps in your reserve troops to manouver. An Example!

Example Videos



gah, can't put space in formations, have to edit. Hold a while

(nevermind the actual troop roles, . is an empty space)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
......................................
OOOOBBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
OOOOBBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
......................................
......................................

And for instance, you want the L's and the O's to switch place, and instead of running through your formations, first off, pause the game.

Select Unit O, and while holding shift, position it with the rightmouse drag in the gap above so you get this.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OOOO..............................
OOOOBBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
........BBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
......................................
......................................

Then so it moves in the gap orderly, now let it thin its rank out (keep using shift during these procedings!)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OOOOOOOO.......................
........BBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
........BBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
.......................................
.......................................

O is facing forward, but now let it move order through the gap, facing this way, again using the right mouse drag...and let it have exactly the same depth only its looking this way now

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OOOOOOOO --->................
........BBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL
........BBBBBBMMMMMLLLLLLL

Do the same steps for L but behind the formation.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
OOOOOOOO --->................
........BBBBBBMMMMM...........
........BBBBBBMMMMM...........
.............<----LLLLLLLLLLLLLL
.......................................

Let it walk again while using rightmouse drag to the right position so ultimately get it like this. (Keep using shift! And do it one Unit at the time to fully program)

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.......................OOOOOOOO
........BBBBBBMMMMM..........
........BBBBBBMMMMM..........
LLLLLLLLLLLLLL...................

Using the rightmouse drag everytime you want it to face a certain way keeps unit cohision

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.............................OOOO..
........BBBBBBMMMMMOOOO..
........BBBBBBMMMMM..........
LLLLLLL.............................
LLLLLLL.............................

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
.......................................
LLLLLLBBBBBBMMMMMOOOO..
LLLLLLBBBBBBMMMMMOOOO..
...LL.................................
.......................................

When you've done it, each unit at the time, while using shift...it's entire movements are now executed when you bring the game out of pause.

Your army now moves cohesivly into the right position..and you can focus on the battle with your other units.


If people found this unclear, I can make pictures of it, or maybe even a video showing how.

Does this help anyone?

[Antlion]

what's the point in doing this again?

[Tantive]

using minimal amount of space to manouver your troops without them loosing cohesion, and them running through each other.
Oh and, giving the order only once, so they follow it all down to the letter...then the rest of your attention can be directed elsewhere.

Theres a side effect which may or may not be desirable at times, but between each step from moving from one position to another...the unit waits untill everyone is in position, no man gets left behind. (this was actually more noticable in rome total war, in medieval its quite transitional)

[Sodbuster]

I don't really get it, but I'll mess around with it in game. It looks like it could be really handy in Online battles where timing is everything. It can be hard to maintain formation without the pause button.

[Azim]

It looks like a very neat idea, but frankly, I don't think I could remember this, or do it in real time. The only time I would want to use a tactic this complicated is on multiplayer, and in multiplayer it has to be real time. This trick is still pretty nifty though. I'd like to see a video.

[Antlion]

yeah a video would be nice. I never care if the unit goes through another one, as long as they make it to where i want them.

[Wheelchair]

Probably drawing this out in Paint would be more viable... not a jumble of letters

[Tantive]

Here's a video of it in action, I'll make another one where I show the positioning

[Tantive]

Heres one with the battle in motion, and doing some related movements using shift.

[Juvenal]

I think this was well worth a thread.

I have been playing RTW since release, but I never thought to organise moves in quite this manner (even though I do use way-points).

I was impressed with the way a unit was changed to column as it changed facing so that it could just march straight off without spending a lot of time reforming.

I also like the way that the desired facing for the end of a flanking manoeuvre is included as part of the order chain.

[NobleNick]

The OP is a demonstration of using waypoints. A good demonstration, at that.

+rep.

[Tantive]

You can even put an attack order in the end of the chain.
If anyone noticed in the second video, when the general made the spearmen rout, and they were heading for the forrest...I clicked attack on the first group, then held shift and clicked attack on the second group. Now the cavalry will hunt down the entire group, and move out to the next one when eliminated!

If it wasent the end of the battle, you could have the light cavalry hunt down a lonely group of routing units...and chain movement orders to quickly return to the main army's formation for resting. The group does it thing, and returns safely.


These movement orders work incredibly well in towncenter battles. Say you had melee guys fighting a messy battle, and you want archers to join the fray close range. The chances are doing it normally, you accidently walk with archers through the battle and get them involved.
If you give their orders correctly, using different formations when moving, they'll do it organised, efficiently..and cause mayhem when deployed at the end location.

( In the second video, I purposely didnt use an attack chain at the end, because of the cavalry. I baited with either the general or spear unit to be attacked, then when they were occupied, I ran to attack the flanks.)

[Azim]

If anyone noticed in the second video, when the general made the spearmen rout, and they were heading for the forrest...I clicked attack on the first group, then held shift and clicked attack on the second group. Now the cavalry will hunt down the entire group, and move out to the next one when eliminated!

Amazing! This stuff is really useful. No need to micromanage units anymore.

[HighLord z0b]

Good info +rep

I do use shift to order troops around the flanks like you did with your general in the second video but not too much with infantry.

Is it just me or do we not get to see the actual orders in the first video, only the execution of the orders? I think the units moving behind the line is especially useful, as you could do that to move troops whilst the front lines are fighting without getting them into battl.

[Tantive]

Is it just me or do we not get to see the actual orders in the first video, only the execution of the orders? I think the units moving behind the line is especially useful, as you could do that to move troops whilst the front lines are fighting without getting them into battl.

Yes I didn't film the order part there, because my shift button was being obstinate for some reason. (wireless keyboard, I had to restart the battle a few times and delete the recordings)

So I just went with the result first to oooh and aww
I can make more videos if you guys want, using the same principles but in different situations. Any specific requests?


(anyone who used the info gathered here yet in battle?)

[kapow32]

nice, this is some useful stuff

[Ambro]

I already use shift to que up different formation but thanks to your guide i'll now be using it much more. Moving your units around each other without disrupting the others is definitly somthing im gonna start using now as I never thought of that, I can see this being very beneficial to my spearmen and archers.

Also how did you make the videos, ill post some of mine if I can found out how to do it.

[Tantive]

I used Fraps to record ingame. You can download the demo version freely from the internet, the full version...well that needs some creativity, or just money

[Toorima]

This will really lower the epic-battle-stress-level of mine...Thanks!

[Tantive]

Anyone who's done these manouvres in battle yet? Or better yet, a multiplayer battle?