Ship formations

[Ccrashh]

I sent my first task force to Savo Sound. For the sake of clarity I'll call it TF55. It was comprised of two task groups, TG55.1 (three DD's out front by 50 miles to look for subs) and TG55.2 (four CA and four DD). The three DD were suppose to be in a line ahead formation, the cruiser force in a circular formation for better anti-air defense. B-17s were scouting ahead. The bombers would locate an enemy sub and TG55.1 would move in and kill the sub. First thing I noticed when I clicked to start the pre battle process was that although I had assigned the DD's to be in line ahead formation , when the pre-battle window opened they were line abreast. According to the tutorial when handling multiple ships, before you hit the start button to begin the "real time" fight you can pick a lead vessel and assign the other ships to be in formation ,choose a formation and click "form up". The ships should instantly move to the correct formation.

They don't.

The screen shows I'm selecting "line ahead" All the ships I want are selected but when I click "form up" the ships don't move to the correct formation. In the text window in the bottom left the game confirms the command I gave but nothing snaps into the correct formation.

When I click "START" to begin the actual real time fight the ships are still in line abreast but begin to maneuver on their own to get into the correct formation. This takes up precious minutes getting themselves properly aligned.

Not much of a problem with just three can's hunting a sub.

Managed to sink three enemy subs on the way to Guadalcanal. That allowed me to get my cruiser force to the island undamaged.

Just before the cruisers got to Savo Sound (while on the strategic map) I ordered them into a column formation to be ready to fight.

When they got there they ran into an enemy cruiser force (two CA, two CL, two DD)

I clicked to the pre-battle screen and again the ships were not in the proper formation.
Instead of a column they were in a square formation. I attempted to correct the formations.

Again, assigning ships to follow specific ships, I wanted the "can's" in the van maneuvering together with the four cruisers in line behind. Again the ships did not immediately snap to their assigned formations and again as I made the formation assignments in the pre-battle screen my orders were confirmed in the bottom left text window.

I clicked "start" to begin the actual fight and once again the ships attempted to get into the formations I had assigned pre-battle. Obviously being in a square formation the attempted maneuvering resulted in multiple collisions. Not to mention I was under fire and unable to get my force sorted out fast enough to save the situation.

It was "Radio Ugly".

I quit the fight and went back to the tutorial on controlling multiple ships. In the tutorial everything works as it is supposed to.. In the actual campaign it does not.

The game looks like it will be a hoot. Killing the submarines was fun.

I even had four zeros attack my B-17 scout at the end of its search . Through clever maneuvering I stayed alive long enough for the AI gunners to shoot down two of the zeros before destroying my bomber.

[Jochen Heiden]

I have also noticed some issues with formations in the campaign. Clearly a bug that needs to be addressed. I am confident the devs will sort this out.

[Redmarkus4]

Ditto. I've had identical experiences. Also, with a CV task force of 2 CVs, 2 CAs and 6 DDs, ordered into circle formation, they simply refuse to comply.

[stoked_toker]

I don't use the Form Up command as when I do, all the ships in that formation slow down and wait for an assigned position to move into, after all the prior ships have attained their positions. Causes great confusion and leaves my ships sitting ducks. I have noticed that the AI has the same problem I believe.