Locking troops into a formation

[Norseman13]

I've been searching on how to control troops but can't find the answer to my question. Is there a way to say place my infantry in a shield wall, my archers at some distance behind in a loose formation, my cavalry on the flank and lock that formation together. 90% of the time the enemy just sits and waits and I'm stuck trying to move all these groups up separately in 3 different formation or in a follow me gaggle f%$) and rush to give orders to 3 or 4 groups all while taking enemy arrow fire. With the ability to lock them in a formation I cant just tell them to advance and they will center on the enemy in that formation and all I will have to do is adjust individual formations to fit the terrain that the enemy has deemed the site of their Thermopile style defense.

 

[Re1zMaster]

F1-f7 buttons on your keyboard. And 1-9 buttons to change troop type

 

[Pejot]

I've been searching on how to control troops but can't find the answer to my question. Is there a way to say place my infantry in a shield wall, my archers at some distance behind in a loose formation, my cavalry on the flank and lock that formation together. 90% of the time the enemy just sits and waits and I'm stuck trying to move all these groups up separately in 3 different formation or in a follow me gaggle f%$) and rush to give orders to 3 or 4 groups all while taking enemy arrow fire. With the ability to lock them in a formation I cant just tell them to advance and they will center on the enemy in that formation and all I will have to do is adjust individual formations to fit the terrain that the enemy has deemed the site of their Thermopile style defense.

Nope You cannot save unit placing and formations. There is a perk "one step ahead" in tactics tree that should allow You to place your army before battle starts but it doesn't work right now.

 

[ZydrateTheSmoothCriminal]

There is a perk "one step ahead" in tactics tree that should allow You to place your army before battle starts but it doesn't work right now.

Why is that even a perk anyway ffs.

 

[Nuts]

Why is that even a perk anyway ffs.

Perks are about to get a total makeover. I would bet this one won’t survive.

 

[Pejot]

Why is that even a perk anyway ffs.

I don't mind it being a perk cause it's easy to get. Problem is it's not working.

 

[Norseman13]

I have all the time in the world to place them since the enemy never advances. what I want is the ability to advance my troop in an orderly fashion like real soldiers without having to command all of them individual they whole time.
I understand how to control them, I just wanted to now if that technique was available and I didn't know. that being said I for one would want that to be an option

 

[sidiust]

I have all the time in the world to place them since the enemy never advances. what I want is the ability to advance my troop in an orderly fashion like real soldiers without having to command all of them individual they whole time.
I understand how to control them, I just wanted to now if that technique was available and I didn't know. that being said I for one would want that to be an option

Sadly, there is no "lock formation" option to keep them advancing in an orderly fashion in the way that you describe.

The workaround that I use to achieve something similar is
a) put infantry in shield-wall, set to follow me. I then move forward with the infantry until 150m or so out, at which point I either sit and wait while my archers do their thing, or I set the infantry to advance/counter-charge the enemy main body.
b) put archers in loose formation, and manually advance them using f1-leftclick. These are the only units I will manually push forward, and that too only until they're around 125-150m away from the enemy. After that, I either delegate, or put them on 'advance' command.
c) (only works if enemy is stronger or on-par) delegate cavalry command. The cavalry AI usually splits the unit into two, with each new unit protecting a flank. The cavalry advances slowly alongside your infantry, which is what you want. If the enemy is weaker, however, the cavalry will charge right away.

 

[AverageSturgian]

After manually setting the formation and the position you can press F4 which is advance.
-infantry will keep their formation pretty well-not perfect
-archers will stay at range
-cav will attack but not hunt the enemy when fleeing
-horse archers will come close, shoot, get back in range, then they behave like archers untill you press F3 to cycle shoot. (i assume you already know )
Keep in mind also that all units when they follow you will keep their formations if you first have set them. Example cav in a wedge will keep this wedge when following.
Combining these two is the only way to move as a whole.
Unfortunately as it has been already stated there are no fixed formations by keeping the right distances between different groups of units

 

[Norseman13]

eww horse archers