[QoL] Squads: Group Movement + RTS Style Control Groups

Learned about this from the best QOL mod thread and wow…started using this and it’s such a game changer. I’ve abandoned so many mid/late games when I decided I’d rather start a new game instead of drag 80 ships across the world to attack another continent and then back home. Haven’t tried it yet for land units, but setting up “fleets” of ships that you only have to micro when you meet enemies makes the naval game so much more fun!
 
Download Here

What is Squads?
At it's core, is a modmod for selecting and moving groups of units. It aims to solve the problem of moving groups of units from one place to another without getting their move orders cancelled from other units getting in the way. Additionally, RTS style elements such as box select and numeric hotkeys (ctrl+(num) to manage, double tap (num) to select and move) are implemented.

Please see the video below for a quick demonstration

Additionally, this modmod provides an interface based on military overview that allows one to keep track of, name, manage, and move groups of units:
View attachment 656577

Instructions
Interacting with Squads is done largely through two modes: squad management mode, and squad movement mode. Both modes can be exited using the esc key.

Squad management mode can be accessed by pressing "Manage Squad" with the squad you want to manage selected on the left side of the UI, or pressing ctrl+(num). In this mode, one can right click and drag to box select (workers are excluded in this mode to make selecting your army easier), or left click individual hexes.
When in this mode, units in the same squad will be highlighted white, while units in other squads will be highlighted orange. Left clicking a unit will assign it to the active squad, or remove it if it is in the active squad.

Squad movement mode can be accessed by pressing "Move Squad" with the squad you want to manage selected on the left side of the UI, or double tapping the number corresponding to the squad you want to move. A 2 ring hex shadow will be present at the cursor to indicate movement mode, and a right click will route all units in the current squad to this area. Units will alert on arrival, and all units in the squad will be woken once all units arrive at the destination area.

The "Change Home Base" and "Recall Squad" buttons set and move the squad to a home base tile respectively.

FAQ

What version of VP does this require?
3.3+

Is it savegame compatible?
Yep, you can add it to and start using it in a game in progress

Is this compatible with Bal's linked units mod/is there a way to link great generals so they don't move by themselves?
No, but soon™

Can I use this in CBP without VP/non EUI?
No, but soon™

Does it work with quick movement/normal movement
It works the same regardless of whether you use quick movement or movement animations

Is it compatible with X mod?

If it doesn't affect the movement logic of units or assign hotkeys to a number then it should, with the exception of mods that replace
  • InGame.lua
  • WorldView.lua
and have not been updated to be based on CBP V3.2+ of these files
Known Issues
  • if you are experiencing the city screen intermittently closing when selecting a production item when using Squads, that has been fixed in 3.2.2
These are planned to be fixed:
  • In "wait for squad arrival" movement end mode, in rare circumstances, squad movement does not end correctly and repeatedly wakes up the group on turn end (this can be worked around by moving the offending units again)
  • Enemy units sometimes show squad numbers on their flags
These are known but will probably not be fixed
  • Pathfinding behaves suboptimally for large groups of units (more than 2 rings)
  • Box select doesn't work around the map wrap
Unknown Issues/Feature Requests
You can post them on this thread or reach me at the VP discord. Additionally, I have a list of enhancements and features planned that I keep up to date on the VP discord.

Acknowledgements

Special thanks to @balparmak for the original idea of group movement in civ, and WHoward for his excellent UI tutorials without which I would taken a much longer time to figure stuff out

Changelog

v0.2 (requires VP 3.3+)
  • Can now remove a unit from the squads UI by right clicking the unit entry
  • Added reset squad button to empty current squad
  • Added new configuration options
    • Toggle squad highlight on unit selection
    • Toggle squad number display under unit flag
    • Select squad movement end behavior between "alert on arrival", "wake on each unit arrive", and "wake on squad arrival"(original behavior)
Wow, this is something many of us had wished, this feature is really fantastic and you Sir have my sincere respect for making it work. Really really nice feature, a must have and one almost all TBS Titles are missing...
Somehow Ctrl+[NUM] Number does not work, but Ctrl+Number does, so its fine, would like to have hotkeys for clearing a whole grp at once (or all features, maybe dedicated buttons direct in the unit infos tooltip too, like it is in "Linked Unit Movement for VP-EUI (v 3)") , aswell as the options asked by the others here. This is a true gem and really unique, pls dont stop working on it.
Did I say I love it? One of my new favorites, thank you!!!
 
Wow, this is something many of us had wished, this feature is really fantastic and you Sir have my sincere respect for making it work. Really really nice feature, a must have and one almost all TBS Titles are missing...
Somehow Ctrl+[NUM] Number does not work, but Ctrl+Number does, so its fine, would like to have hotkeys for clearing a whole grp at once (or all features, maybe dedicated buttons direct in the unit infos tooltip too, like it is in "Linked Unit Movement for VP-EUI (v 3)") , aswell as the options asked by the others here. This is a true gem and really unique, pls dont stop working on it.
Did I say I love it? One of my new favorites, thank you!!!

glad to hear you're finding it useful!
While there's no hotkeys for clearing an entire group at once, this can be done with the "reset squad" button in the UI window.
Should be easy to also make it work with the NUM keys, I'll make a note to add that functionality.
 
glad to hear you're finding it useful!
While there's no hotkeys for clearing an entire group at once, this can be done with the "reset squad" button in the UI window.
Should be easy to also make it work with the NUM keys, I'll make a note to add that functionality.
Thought its intended to work with the NUM Keys, because somewhere you state the hotkey is CTRL+[Num]
(Num keys would be "better" because for a right handed user, these Nums are easy to reach with the mouse hand)
[I play TBS games relaxed, almost all the time just using the right hand]


A dedicated reset hotkey would be nice. Its because I just use grp 1, when I need to setup a new grp I reset grp 1 (would prefer not to go to the UI window for this)
I do this because I have set CTRL+1 , as makro key at my mouse, but makro keys on my mouse are rare, so 3 Keys, create squad, choose squad to move and reset are enough ;)

While using your mod, I thought it would be nice IF a Squad is already set, to activate the squad movement by double clicking any unit of the squad, would this be possible, I think this would add even more smoothness (and would save me another makro key :D ) :)

In addition maybe left- And right-mouseclick at once to start grouping mode (for always/default grp one OR with a popup or some other function to determine which group, maybe mousewheel to count up or down the grps number, while grouping mode is active and cursor hovers above any already grouped unit) ?!
 
Last edited:
Thank you for amazing godlike mod.
However there are just two problems(or bug).
I command move order and sometiems I want to change the place they arrive. But I can't. They always go to my first order place and I can't cancel it. Can it be fixed?
And Squad Moverment End Behavior option is reset after reloading game. I want option remembered.
 
Great mod. Was playing on a giant earth map and moving units across large distances was always a pain. Couldn't find any mods to move multiple units and was thinking of trying to make on myself. Thankfully I came across this gem. Should be included by default with VP.
 
I command move order and sometiems I want to change the place they arrive. But I can't. They always go to my first order place and I can't cancel it. Can it be fixed?
Fixed, will be in next VP version (as this is a DLL fix)

And Squad Moverment End Behavior option is reset after reloading game. I want option remembered.
Fixed, new version at same download link should have this working correctly
 
I might be stupid, but how do I access the squad menu?

I updated the previous Squad files with the new version and loaded them into a save game with the last version. I thought it was in military overview, but it wasn't. I remember finding it before, but I seem to forgotten it now lol
 
Top Bottom