Will there be a way to move many units at once?

[Krajzen]

I mean, if I have 10 military units on 10 tiles, will it be possible to move all of them with one click? I vaguely recall something about "group orders" being said but can't find that again.

It would make logistics so much less tedious.

 

[redwings1340]

As far as I know, we don't know yet, but I certainly hope that units don't stop on long marches every time the area they were originally supposed to go to is filled up by another unit.

War was the most interesting part of the late game in civ V, yet it was something I avoided because it took sooooo long to order all my troops to march or sail somewhere. If they can fix this issue, it would definitely make the mid/late game more interesting and fun.

 

[Silverdawn]

I vaguely recall something about "group orders" being said but can't find that again.

Some of the E3 previews mentioned "formations" for moving a set of units, but there have not been any clear explanations on how it is done yet.

 

[SupremacyKing2]

Some of the E3 previews mentioned "formations" for moving a set of units, but there have not been any clear explanations on how it is done yet.

I could see this working for small formations, say 2-3 units and short distances. But I think it could get problematic for very wide formations or long distances. What happens when your formation encounters impassible terrain like mountains?

 

[Krajzen]

I could see this working for small formations, say 2-3 units and short distances. But I think it could get problematic for very wide formations or long distances. What happens when your formation encounters impassible terrain like mountains?

I imagine the tiles of "intended ending location" of units in the formation would be highlighted with your cursor hovering over land. Regarding impassable tiles I can imagine
1) Formation orders being impossible to do if one of "intended ending location" tiles is impassable ("error" sound and some small text info)
or
2) Formation shape dynamically changing depending on terrain shape

 

[stiiknafuulia]

The units will have different movement speeds though... Both inherently and due to terrain (rivers, roads, hills and forests in various combinations). I don't see a way to avoid this problem... Unless all units will move at the speed of the slowest one, so typically 1 tile at a time, while using the formation command. Even then, mountains will totally disrupt the command because some units will be forced to stop or 'run into' other units as they try to circle the mountain range...

Fwiw, the formation mechanic was only mentioned once in one of the earliest previews, and from the wording it was unclear if the previewer had it mixed up with the way that armies and support units work now. It's more likely that it does exist (imo), but only slightly (I'd say the odds are something like 60-40). Here's hoping that they somehow sort it out...

Even if it can't work on land though, I can see the formation movement working on water tiles, because there are no mountains and the terrain has no movement modifiers (presumably). So the only changing factor will be the movement rate of the units themselves; if they'll all be moving at the rate of the slowest unit, then this could work for fleet movement (and embarked units).

 

[Socrates99]

One bonus VI has over V is that roads will probably crisscross the wilderness now because of the trade roads. Troop movements will be much better even if they change nothing.

 

[flairin]

The units will have different movement speeds though... Both inherently and due to terrain (rivers, roads, hills and forests in various combinations). I don't see a way to avoid this problem... Unless all units will move at the speed of the slowest one, so typically 1 tile at a time, while using the formation command. Even then, mountains will totally disrupt the command because some units will be forced to stop or 'run into' other units as they try to circle the mountain range...

Fwiw, the formation mechanic was only mentioned once in one of the earliest previews, and from the wording it was unclear if the previewer had it mixed up with the way that armies and support units work now. It's more likely that it does exist (imo), but only slightly (I'd say the odds are something like 60-40). Here's hoping that they somehow sort it out...

Even if it can't work on land though, I can see the formation movement working on water tiles, because there are no mountains and the terrain has no movement modifiers (presumably). So the only changing factor will be the movement rate of the units themselves; if they'll all be moving at the rate of the slowest unit, then this could work for fleet movement (and embarked units).

It would be interesting if a Great General could alleviate this movement impedement?

 

[TheMeInTeam]

I have doubt a series that hasn't gotten basic movement down yet can put formation move in and have it work well, but maybe I'll be surprised with a great mechanic. It's possible in principle.

 

[GhostSalsa]

Best is if whenever a unit is adjacent to another, a second type of move button such as "march" appears, and this button highlights all chained units, who will now attempt to move two land hexes or 2-4 water hexes in the same direction as the first. Highlighted units can be alt-click deselected before committing to the march.

 

[Krajzen]

The units will have different movement speeds though... Both inherently and due to terrain (rivers, roads, hills and forests in various combinations). I don't see a way to avoid this problem... Unless all units will move at the speed of the slowest one, so typically 1 tile at a time, while using the formation command. Even then, mountains will totally disrupt the command because some units will be forced to stop or 'run into' other units as they try to circle the mountain range...

Uhm. Why typically 1 tile at time? Slowest military units in civ5 had 2 tiles per turn speed

As for mountains, I'm pretty sure it'd be possible to invent something to avoid this problem. For example you could only sent units in formation if there were no other military units on their way, or only in straight line (even so limited mass movement would be much better than total lack of it).

 

[Socrates99]

Uhm. Why typically 1 tile
at time? Slowest military units in civ5 had 2 tiles per turn speed

As for mountains, I'm pretty sure it'd be possible to invent something to avoid this problem. For example you could only sent units in formation if there were no other military units on their way, or only in straight line (even so limited mass movement would be much better than total lack of it).

In V you could move 1 tile over clear land then move onto a hill even though hills req. more than 1move to traverse. In VI you need the full move req. to move onto a new tile meaning that same move across a clear tile and onto a hill will take two turns. Sounds like a rotten change to me unless they're increasing infantry movement rate.

 

[Seek]

Sounds like a rotten change to me

Why? I think it'll make the terrain and tactics while at war even more interesting, not to mention swaths of jungle or other really rough terrain will actually feel formidable, like the natural barriers they are irl.

 

[Socrates99]

Why? I think it'll make the terrain and tactics while at war even more interesting, not to mention swaths of jungle or other really rough terrain will actually feel formidable, like the natural barriers they are irl.

I feel like it'll cause more traffic jams and make ranged units more powerful than they already were. Planting an archer on a hill would give it one extra potshot at infantry than before.

 

[Krajzen]

Maybe entering a hill tile will require 2 move points, but attacking a unit standing on it - only 1?

 

[Schuesseled]

The biggest problem hampering movement is the Ai not checking if a unit's movement order really is blocked, is the unit hogging gthe spot going to move next turn if yes just shut up and move closer.

 

[qwerty25]

They could just implement delayed movement. Like if two swordsmen want to reach somewhere 4 tiles away, but must first reach the same tile 2 tiles away: then first swordsman could reach the tile. Then the second one could just delay movement to the next turn rather than exiting auto movement.


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[Mustakrakish]

I like the idea of highlighting a few tiles (formation) in the destination. Say you highlight 5 tiles formation a tile or two out from enemy borders, say 2 in front and 3 back. Then assign from some drop down list (your available units) a unit to each tile. AI then calculates most appropriate path for the units so they reach their destination/formation most efficiently, alternating the path if obstacles occur. Once the formation is ready, you're ready to go. Maybe you could even assign a unit currently being built to one of the formation tiles, so it goes there as soon as it's built.

Imagine, you paint a formation on Teddy's border, assign 4 existing units there and one unit you just started building and that's it! No need to bother with that crap for 13 turns (in this example the process takes 13 turns) and focus on more interesting stuff. Then after 13 turns you get to play war and enjoy the fun part of "1 unit per tile".
That would be so great and shouldn't be hard to implement at all, the AI does that already in V, not perfectly of course and their formation always goes to after they cross the borders, but they DO come in nice formations And yes you yourself would probably make it happen more efficiently and be ready say in 10-13 turns, but that's not the point here, the point is to have the feature to make your life so much easier.

Once the formation is ready there of course could be an option to move it unbroken (in this case if one unit's movement points are expended to move one tile, say hills, the whole formation moves one tile). Again not the most efficient way, but again not the point.

 

[stiiknafuulia]

Uhm. Why typically 1 tile at time? Slowest military units in civ5 had 2 tiles per turn speed

Because typically in any situation there will be a 'straggler' unit who's in a position where it can only move 1 tile that turn (due to the new movement rules and most units only having 2 movement points). In order for the formation to not break down, all the other units will have to adapt to the speed of the straggler... Thus, typically they will all move only 1 tile per turn. There might be some exceptions in very open terrain ofc (plains etc), but if the maps of Civ V are anything to go by, 1 tile per turn would be the usual amount of movement.

As for mountains, I'm pretty sure it'd be possible to invent something to avoid this problem. For example you could only sent units in formation if there were no other military units on their way, or only in straight line (even so limited mass movement would be much better than total lack of it).

I suppose so. If you have enough units, and your need to move them is not too urgent, it may be worthwhile to tell them to get to their destination and avoid micromanagement, even if it means they'll be getting there slower than with manual movement of the individual units.

 

[Primacide]

It seems to me that the simplest solution would be to have the player issue a mass move order to a group of units, have the game stack those units for the purposes of a move (defaulting to the slowest units movement speed) and then unstack them at the destination. Any hints that this may be the case? It would avoid many many problems with getting your army to the other side of your empire.