Swap Units Command - Where is it?

With the introduction of 1 unit per tile the AI seemingly has had difficult formulating the proper battle tactics. Hell, even I had trouble figuring out how to best use my units and I think a simple addition of a swap units command would help the AI and human players alike. By this I mean when you have two units next to one another they should be able to switch places.

I am not a coder but I would assume it cannot be that hard to code. It means you would be giving a command to two units at the same time so that might be tricky.

This would allow AI to move archers or siege equipment back if somehow they got mixed up in the front lines. It would be useful to human players as we will no longer have to vacate a spot to put a new unit in it.

Sorry if this idea has already been posted. Cheers!

It's in the game. If two units are next to each other, and both have movement points you just select one and tell it to move into the hex the other is occupying. The movement circle turns grey (instead of blue) and then the two swap spots.

You can do this by selecting a unit and right clicking over another friendly unit within movement range. Normal ZoC and movement range rules apply.

The caveat is to be sure the friendly unit is not fortified. You can tell it's a "legal" move when your reticule changes to a gray color.

The AI actually does this quite frequently, but it seems mostly for random reasons. It doesn't seem to move intelligently with it very often.

builer680 said:

You can do this by selecting a unit and right clicking over another friendly unit within movement range. Normal ZoC and movement range rules apply.

The caveat is to be sure the friendly unit is not fortified. You can tell it's a "legal" move when your reticule changes to a gray color.

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well dang there is my problem...I guess I never tried it with a non fortified unit...still it seems the AI does not take advantage of it particularly city states who fill their borders with units in odd formations

Yeah, the fortification thing threw me the first couple times too.

And as I said, if you watch the AI's moves, you'll see it do this pretty frequently, especially at higher levels such as Deity when it has an obscene number of units in a limited area.

The fact that it moves them in this manner does not mean it moves them intelligently though. It usually just looks like it's programmed to make some move, any move at all, and often just repeats the same unit swaps ad infinitum...

I never knew about the fortification thing... I just know that if the circle stays red when I mouseover.... if I try the swap in the reverse direction, it will fly.... so I just look for the grey (I always thought of it as white.. but whateva)

I just know that if the circle stays red when I mouseover.... if I try the swap in the reverse direction, it will fly.

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I suspect that units healing and on alert will also have this problem, and garrisons, since the interface seems very inconsistent in offering the exchange.

DaveGold said:

I suspect that units healing and on alert will also have this problem, and garrisons, since the interface seems very inconsistent in offering the exchange.

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Units that are Healing (Fortify until healed) or on Alert (unless they see an enemy that turn) are considered Fortified. As such, you're correct, you'll have to "wake" them in order to have another unit swap with them, OR select the Healing/Alert unit and have it swap with another unit that isn't Fortified. Waking is as simple as hitting the "F" key with the Fortified unit selected (this key also Fortifies an un-Fortified unit), so it's not a major deal I suppose.

Units that are garrisoned are considered Fortified for this particular concept, but I don't think they receive any defensive bonus, as they are in a city and are unable to actively "defend" when the city is attacked, rather adding to the strength of the city instead.

On a side note, a unit that is on Alert will un-Fortify when an enemy is spotted, losing its defensive bonus. I liken this to a guy on the walls/tower/trench (whatever fortification technique would be appropriate for the terrain) sticking his head up and saying "Hey guys look! It's a bad g... AARRGGGHHH!"

I don't see why it can't just move you to that unit upon its being Alerted while retaining its defensive bonus, as it isn't tough for me to imagine the men just peering over their fortifications without exposing themselves to the enemy. Maybe it's just me though. It's irritating in MP to the point where I just don't even use Alert, because of simultaneous turns it can get a unit killed. Not such a big deal in SP.

Units that are Healing (Fortify until healed) or on Alert (unless they see an enemy that turn) are considered Fortified.

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Don't assume they do the same thing. For instance, if you build a city on a fortified unit it becomes a garrison but if you build a city on an alerted unit it doesn't join the garrison and doesn't provide garrison benefits.

deleted, too harsh

The only warning I have for unit swaps is this:
If you're units are more than one hex away, and perform the unit swap action, each unit will to the other's original position. Let's see if I can make an example:

O . X <- One hex separates units. When you do Unit swap, your result will be:
X . O

Now let's say X has the medic promotion, and you want it to be directly behind O. You need to move O one hex toward X, then do swap unit:
O . X <- one hex separates unit
. O X <- Unit O moved one hex toward X
. X O <- Units O and X swap hexes.

I know this is an old thread,
... but Google listed it first in "Civ 5 unit swap" search.

Therefore, I wish to add clarification:
... The unit you have selected can be fortified/alert/healing/idle/whatever.
... The unit you are swapping with MUST be awake.
... To swap with fortified/alert/healing unit:
... ... 1) wake the currently selected unit (if fortified/alert/healing)
... ... 2) select the unit you wish to swap with (can be fortified/alert/healing/etc)
... ... 3) swap positions
Maybe, they will add 'autowake' to unit swapping in a future patch. 8)

RD-BH said:

Maybe, they will add 'autowake' to unit swapping in a future patch. 8)

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I hope not, because that will make it too easy to swap 2 units by mistake.

builer680 said:

On a side note, a unit that is on Alert will un-Fortify when an enemy is spotted, losing its defensive bonus. I liken this to a guy on the walls/tower/trench (whatever fortification technique would be appropriate for the terrain) sticking his head up and saying "Hey guys look! It's a bad g... AARRGGGHHH!"

I don't see why it can't just move you to that unit upon its being Alerted while retaining its defensive bonus, as it isn't tough for me to imagine the men just peering over their fortifications without exposing themselves to the enemy. Maybe it's just me though. It's irritating in MP to the point where I just don't even use Alert, because of simultaneous turns it can get a unit killed. Not such a big deal in SP.

Click to expand...

I try not to use alert for this reason when I really want continual fortification; click down to the extra commands button and choose fortify (the hard shield icon) from the same menu where you can choose to delete the unit (be careful!). The benefit is true fortification, with no waking on seeing an enemy -- useful when I don't need the benefits of an alert (e.g., he's a defender sitting in front of my city with swarms of bad guys descending -- "Yes, we can all see them. Now shut up and fortify.").