What does "troops in the formation you are leading" mean?

[Louis Cyphre]

Hi everyone.

The phrase "troops in the formation you are leading" appears in many perk descriptions but the game doesn't really explain what it means.
How do I lead a formation? Is it the "follow me" command? Or does it apply to my entire army?

 

[Apocal]

Hi everyone.

The phrase "troops in the formation you are leading" appears in many perk descriptions but the game doesn't really explain what it means.
How do I lead a formation? Is it the "follow me" command? Or does it apply to my entire army?

For that character, if they are captain of a formation, their troops get the bonus.

In the case of the player character, it is when you lead a certain unit type in an army. For your companions, it is the topmost companion in any given group. For example:
Group IV companion1
Group IV companion2
Group IV companion3
Group III companion4

In that case, companion1 is horse archer captain and companion4 is cavalry captain.

 

[arduus]

When you enter the party screen you can see the Roman number in the upper right corner. You can click it and assign another formation if you want.

 

[Louis Cyphre]

In the case of the player character, it is when you lead a certain unit type in an army.

How exactly do I lead a certain unit type?

 

[Apocal]

How exactly do I lead a certain unit type?

When you join another lord's army and get into a battle, it gives you a choice of formation you would like to lead. From my understanding (I could be mistaken) that is when the player character's leader perks are applied.

 

[Louis Cyphre]

So it doesn't work if I just fight with my army alone? That's weird.

 

[Apocal]

So it doesn't work if I just fight with my army alone? That's weird.

?‍
Yeah, I agree.

 

[Olympeus]

For that character, if they are captain of a formation, their troops get the bonus.

In the case of the player character, it is when you lead a certain unit type in an army. For your companions, it is the topmost companion in any given group. For example:
Group IV companion1
Group IV companion2
Group IV companion3
Group III companion4

In that case, companion1 is horse archer captain and companion2 is cavalry captain.

Companion4 would captain the cavalry. He/she is the only companion assigned.

 

[Apocal]

Companion4 would captain the cavalry. He/she is the only companion assigned.

Ah ****, yeah, made a mistake there.

 

[hruza]

For your companions, it is the topmost companion in any given group. For example:

Are you sure it applies to companions in this way and not just to the player when he is assigned formation in the army he joins?

 

[Apocal]

Are you sure it applies to companions in this way and not just to the player when he is assigned formation in the army he joins?

Added automatic captain assignment to formations without a captain.

• To use this feature, assign a formation to a companion from the party screen.
• Once a battle starts the first companion/hero that is assigned to a formation is picked as the captain of the formation (this also works for AI parties).
• Captains provide formation-wide perk bonuses to their troops.
• If a captain dies or flees, the next living companion/hero (if there are any) within the same formation is picked as the new captain.

The code is there as well. If you're asking me to state 100% the code isn't bugged, I can't. Testing to see if the perks are being applied goes over my head.

 

[BoBB]

But it doesn't show in the pre-battle screen at the moment right? Are they going to add it for clarity? The UI is a bit lacking. In fact, I thought the code would be coming out in 1.52 because it didn't appear to be working.

 

[mylittletantan]

If you're asking me to state 100% the code isn't bugged, I can't

I debugged and set breakpoints in GetPerkEffectsOnAgent ( SandboxAgentStatCalculateModel SandBox.dll ) which tries to find the captain for the agents formation and if found applies captain perk effects. I got a companion and assigned it to a formation and it was then correctly the captain for this formation. I did not try assigning multiple companions to a formation but the captain selection code ( MissionDefaultCaptainAssignmentLogic TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.dll) looks solid and is used so I do not doubt that it works.

I also checked the player agent in a non army battle and it's formation is null since the player does not have a default nor got to choose a formation, which means it is never considered for captain by any formation in those battles.

Pre 1.5.0 the only time a formation captain was set was when the player got to choose at the start of battle.

 

[Lord Bryggan]

Wait, how is the companion captain picked? Is it first in order?

It's kind of important since I put my healer, engineer and steward in the archers to keep them safe. But I'd be missing out on perks if they were leading.

 

[mylittletantan]

Is it first in order?

Yes. In the code it searches for the first alive hero in a formation to pick captain. This means the companion at the top in party list (if we only consider the formation) is chosen and if it get's incapacitated it moves to the next alive hero in the formation. I tested by debugging and when the first companion got knocked out the next one was chosen as captain. So the patch notes are accurate.

 

[Louis Cyphre]

I also checked the player agent in a non army battle and it's formation is null since the player does not have a default nor got to choose a formation, which means it is never considered for captain by any formation in those battles.

Thanks for clarifying.
I hope that Taleworlds changes this. Combat perks for the player are kinda underwhelming when they don't provide buffs to the troops.

 

[Apocal]

I debugged and set breakpoints in GetPerkEffectsOnAgent ( SandboxAgentStatCalculateModel SandBox.dll ) which tries to find the captain for the agents formation and if found applies captain perk effects. I got a companion and assigned it to a formation and it was then correctly the captain for this formation. I did not try assigning multiple companions to a formation but the captain selection code ( MissionDefaultCaptainAssignmentLogic TaleWorlds.MountAndBlade.dll) looks solid and is used so I do not doubt that it works.

I also checked the player agent in a non army battle and it's formation is null since the player does not have a default nor got to choose a formation, which means it is never considered for captain by any formation in those battles.

Pre 1.5.0 the only time a formation captain was set was when the player got to choose at the start of battle.

Thanks for taking the time to do this.

 

[hruza]

The code is there as well. If you're asking me to state 100% the code isn't bugged, I can't. Testing to see if the perks are being applied goes over my head.

Thanks. Must have missed it in the patch notes.

 

[AlexanderJames]

For that character, if they are captain of a formation, their troops get the bonus.

In the case of the player character, it is when you lead a certain unit type in an army. For your companions, it is the topmost companion in any given group. For example:
Group IV companion1
Group IV companion2
Group IV companion3
Group III companion4

In that case, companion1 is horse archer captain and companion4 is cavalry capta

For that character, if they are captain of a formation, their troops get the bonus.

In the case of the player character, it is when you lead a certain unit type in an army. For your companions, it is the topmost companion in any given group. For example:
Group IV companion1
Group IV companion2
Group IV companion3
Group III companion4

In that case, companion1 is horse archer captain and companion4 is cavalry captain.

I dont't beleive it works like this. I think it only counts in army's , at the begiing of a battle when the lord's select which formations they will lead

 

[Apocal]

It counts in your party too.