Ancient Chinese Formation II

**Whitey5150** · March 05, 2009, 12:42 AM

This is another attack formation I found named the geese formation which can trap soldiers with the middle of the formation and send them to their deaths.

it can also be turned into the strainer formation where the rear widens:

tell me what you think of these. and i know it would be a tad hard to try these in game, but i recommend it. see how it turns out.

**S-te-Fan** · March 05, 2009, 12:45 AM

COOL!

**jsktrogdor** · March 05, 2009, 03:40 PM

I could see that working, really interesting idea. Its basicly a 'V' formation right? (lol hence "geese formation" I just got that) Maybe place anti-infantry at the back of the formation and swoop around the sides with spearmen. It certainly would confuse the AI lol, I'll try it.

**Old_Scratch** · March 05, 2009, 07:52 PM

Those are some interesting formations, but I think it might be difficult to implement them in M2TW. I think it's possible but it would require a bit of micromanagement to remain mobile. I was thinking that in the strainer type formation it could possibly be quite powerful if you put a unit of hand gunners in the back of it so that can fire down the middle. If the enemy tries to go get them you can enclose on them and if the enemy tries to envelop the ends of the strainer you hand gunner can fire at them and quickly rout them. I'll have to test that out.

I find special formations are more difficult to use in M2TW because the units tend to be a little more disorganized than RTW. I had a few special formations in RTW similar to this that worked great, but I couldn't get them to work in M2. I'll give it a try though.

**Whitey5150** · March 05, 2009, 07:59 PM

yeah, ive ben trying to find only the formations that would be easier to make (not sure to handle while moving

) except the cone formation.

i know it might sound stupid, but id recommend these formations to be used for defense, not for attack. it would be easier to manage and it could have its own benefits. never hurts to experiment.

**Old_Scratch** · March 05, 2009, 09:11 PM

Originally Posted by Whitey5150

yeah, ive ben trying to find only the formations that would be easier to make (not sure to handle while moving

) except the cone formation.

i know it might sound stupid, but id recommend these formations to be used for defense, not for attack. it would be easier to manage and it could have its own benefits. never hurts to experiment.

You may have heard of this before, but there is an easy way to move complicated formations. In deployment, set your formation up and then make it a group with ctrl 1-9, but don't assign any of the auto formations to it. Now all you have to do is click anywhere and your formation will move and keep it's shape.

I actually had some success with the strainer when used with hand gunners in the middle, but it was very difficult to manage without a lot of micro. I found I had the same results though when just using my standard multi-line formation. I don't think M2TW allows the kind of control required to make some real life formations work, but it would be cool if it did.

I always wanted to use Hannibal's tactic that he won with at Cannae. It would require more advanced commands, like the ability to stay engaged and slowly fall back. It would be cool if you could set soldiers to either push ahead, hold their ground, or give ground while still fighting.

**Whitey5150** · March 05, 2009, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by Old_Scratch

It would be cool if you could set soldiers to either push ahead, hold their ground, or give ground while still fighting.

those last two i think you actually can, for holding their ground just set them to defensive stance, and for giving ground while fighting you can skirmish. i think thats right.

and when it comes to hannibals formation, you could possibly make a wider version of the strainer formation.

**jsktrogdor** · March 06, 2009, 05:08 PM

I suppose the real question is, does this ancient chinese formation get red wine out of a cotton shirt?

**Whitey5150** · March 06, 2009, 05:59 PM

Originally Posted by jsktrogdor

I suppose the real question is, does this ancient chinese formation get red wine out of a cotton shirt?

haha, ancient chinese secret huh?

**Seleucid king** · March 06, 2009, 07:01 PM

can we stop talking about something from Wayne's World 2 please?

**Whitey5150** · March 06, 2009, 07:22 PM

we're not, its an old commercial. lol

**jsktrogdor** · March 06, 2009, 08:09 PM

Back on topic: ive been playing around with it. Lol its hard to manage, the main problem ive been seeing is I have no cover for my archers on my flanks. Ive found its best to draw them into the trap by place archers there and pulling them out (off skirmish of course) as they chase them. The problem is I couldnt manage to get all of the enemy units into the trap. My archers were vunerable as were the backs of the troops, on the outside of the 'V'. Im gonna keep playing with it.