Standard Group Formation Guide
Basically, leading a large army is the same as leading a few men; it's only a matter of breaking down the numbers.
(Sun zi, The Art of War, chapter 5)
Waging war can be a hectic matter. Especially in the heat of battle, it is easy to lose track of parts of your troops; this may result in an unnoticed cavalry attack to your flank or an infantry unit sneaking up to your general, decimating his bodyguards with firearms while you are busy somewhere else. To make things more manageable, the Total War series allows you to merge several units into a group that can be given orders which will be followed by all contained units.
Additionally, when a group is formed, a set of standard formations are available to cover standard situations that may be encountered in the field. As this feature is documented sparsely (especially in the Empire installment of Total War), this guide is supposed to give an overview of which formations are available, their descriptions (that are available in the mouse-over popups in-game), their result (using a sample army) and a short discussion whether and how the available formations can be used to help you organize your army.
Grouping
I'm sure most if not all of you are aware of the grouping feature, but I'll include a description for completeness sake. I'll keep it short, feel free to skip to „Standard Formations“ though.
Unit selection
Units can be selected by either left-clicking them on the field or clicking their unit card on the bottom of the screen. A unit can be added to the current selection by holding Ctrl and selecting it. Additionally, several units can be selected by holding the left mouse button on the field and dragging the green selection box over the units that should be selected.
Creating a group
When several units are selected, you can press Ctrl-<number> to create a group from the selected units; this group will be selected again by pressing the number key you used to define the group. You can alternatively press the „group“ button or the „g“ key; in this case, the group's number will be the lowest available one.
Standard formations
As soon as a group is formed, it can be given a standard formation. In the deployment phase, this will cause the units to be positioned according to the chosen formation immediately; during the battle, the units will march to the positions they need to occupy to build the formation.
The standard formations are accessible by clicking the „formations“ button (to the left of the movement arrows in the button panel). This displays a new set of buttons from which the desired formation can be chosen. For each button, a popup is available showing the formation name, a short description and a hint how to use this formation.
However, if you're anything like me, you haven't ever hovered over every button long enough to see them all; also, it is a matter of try-and-error which formation suits you most (if any). In the following, the available formations are listed, along with their descriptions; additionally, I assembled an army and tried out each formation, so a visualization for the effect of each formation will be available.
The sample Army
This is the army I put together (British, late period, large funds):
- 1 general
- 2 Regiments of Horse (melee cavalry)
- 2 Light Dragoons (missile cavalry)
- 2 6-lber Horse artillery
- 2 24-lber Howitzer Foot artillery
- 2 Grenadiers
- 2 Greenjackets (light infantry)
- 2 Guards (Elite infantry)
- 4 Line infantry
The army is supposed to be diverse rather than realistic, since the important thing was to show the positioning of each unit type within the group after applying the formation.
Legend to unit positioning diagrams
Formation list
Note that all text from now on is not mine but taken from the popup description of the mouse-over (some more or less paraphrased).
Single line standard
Description: This arranges your grouped units into a single line.
Tactical: A single line will be easier to break through if charged;it is useful if there are few units to manage and will give you a wider firing area.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-4
Sample army position:
Single line, cavalry left
Description: This arranges your grouped units into a single line with cavalry on the left flank
Tactical: Used in attack or defence; strengthen your left flank and use that flank to lead an attack
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-5
Sample army position:
Single line, cavalry right
(this is analogue to single line cavalry right; the unit positions are exactly mirrored)
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-6
Double line standard
Description: infantry and artillery are placed in the first line, cavalry in second
Tactical: Infantry and artillery support each other and cavalry is kept as reserve to support defence and attack enemy flank.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-2
Sample army position:
Double line screened
Description: First line: light infantry and light cavalry; second line: infantry and artillery
Tactical: If ambushed, the first line takes most of the attack and stronger units are safe and ready to counter the attack; the first line is used to look for hidden enemies ahead of main group.
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-3
Sample army position:
Triple line standard
Description: First line: light infantry; second line, infantry and artillery; third line, cavalry
Tactical: The first line contains light infantry to look for hidden enemies; non-missile cavalry is kept in reserve to support defence and counter-attack
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-7
Sample army position:
(this is exactly like double line standard, with the melee cavalry positioned a line back)
Triple line integrated artillery
Description: First line: light infantry; second line, infantry and artillery; third line, cavalry
Tactical: The first line contains light infantry to look for ambushes; this is a defensive formation: infantry and artillery support each other; artillery cannot move as fast, if used for attack, this may leave holes in the formation which may be exploited by the enemy
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-9
Sample army position:
Triple line grand battery
Description: First line: light infantry, artillery; second line: infantry; third line: cavalry
Tactical: The light infantry in the first line is used to look for ambushes; can be used for attack and defence; the artillery grouping means you can concentrate barrages; can be used to destroy specific units or cover advance; in defence, can be used to defend your army's weak spot, mowing down attacking enemies
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-8
Sample army position:
Column infantry vanguard
Description: Units aligned in a column
Tactical: useful to move over bridges with strong infantry in front; can leave flanks vulnerable to attack
Keyboard shortcut: Alt-1
Sample army position:
Discussion
General points
- Cavalry is never positioned directly behind infantry
- The artillery positioning does not differentiate between cannons (i.e., direct-fire) and howitzers
- The general is always in the center backmost position
Advantages
- allows quick reaction to standard situations
- reduces micro-management of unit positions
- setting a formation keeps relative positions of the grouped units while allowing to change file and rank with RMB-drag positioning
Drawbacks
- not much variety between the different formations
- chances are, you still need to finetune the formation
(As a side note with regards to grouping in general, doubleclicking a group tab does not center on the group anymore, a feature I still find myself trying to use (it used to do that up to I think RTW); also, it would be very helpful if single units could also be assigned a number shortcut.)
Obviously, the more units are contained in a group, the more management burden can be taken avoided using the standard formations functionality; however, selecting the whole army to be managed using SFs goes against the point of grouping in the first place.
However, the groups I myself put together when playing largely consist of units of the same type (like Line Infantry or Cavalry); this in turn means that standard formations like „cavalry left“ aren't of much use. Up to now, I've basically only used „Single line standard“ and „Column“. But, after creating the diagrams in this post, I think I will try out the Integrated Artillery and Grand Battery next time I play; all in all, I am a bit disappointed though.
I'd be interested to hear if, how and how much you use standard formations. Hopefully, after reading this post, you'll give them a thought, maybe try them out for yourself (if you haven't already), of course judge for yourself.
Feedback warmly welcome!
Standard Group Formation Guide
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Originally Posted by mir24
