Formations Viking Vonquest

[Erk]

I can't find out how to turn on fomations. Got any clues?

[White Knight]

I'll give it a shot.

When you are in a battle map, hit the backspace key and it will bring up the Command screen or Strategy Screen or whatever it's called. There are some troop control options in there. Otherwise, I think just hitting the number keys will call up various lists of commands you can give with prompts for other things. I think the number keys are the default...maybe its F1 and F2 though?

I'm a little confused becaue I'm playing Viking Conquest right now and re-mapped all those keys for my current game. Telling you what I'm doing wouldn't be very helpful.

In any event, there are buttons up along the top somewhere that will tell you what you need to know. One set of numbers will relate to the various categories of troops, infantry, cavalry, archers, etc. Another set will correspond to the available orders. This way, you get things like "Archers, hold this position" and stuff like that.

The system is awkward and it either doesn't work terribly well or I'm just terrible at it but I have used it a lot for "Everyone, follow me" and "Everyone, Charge". "Hold your fire" is a good one if you need a little time to get everyone set-up before enraging the enemy.

If you are asking specifically about the actual formation options, the only ones I've tried so far are the shield-wall and the cavalry wedge. They both need a little explaining...

The Shield-wall isn't much of a shield-wall at all, they all stand way too far apart to be any use in a shield-wall but it works just the way its supposed to. They need a lot of room first of all. I tend to give them two or three "Advance ten paces" before starting, otherwise they get bunched up and easily confused. You must also be careful about who you select for the formation - some units cannot participate. I use "Infantry" for this. Your companions will be labeled as infantry so if you gave them horses, you will have horses trying to fit into your shield-wall.

Now, the AI is stooooopid. They will look like a chorus-line of Rockettes, shimmying this way and then that, eventually trying to fit themselves at the end of your line to the extreme left. If given enough room to "dance" they will quickly settle-down and form three or four ranks and hold against entire hordes of enemies who are kind enough not to try and flank the shield-wall. To make this easier, I have everyone follow me to the place where I intend to fight (high ground, etc.) Then they all hold this position so I can ride out in front of my archers leaving room for the shield-wall which will form to my immediate left once I order the infantry to follow me again. Have the infantry hold position again and go arrange your cavalry, archers or whomever, one unit at a time.

The cavalry wedge isn't really necessary and maybe not even very helfpful when used in conjunction with the shield-wall. I have my horses way off to the right, usually behind a hill or something so they can surprise the enemy from a flank or from behind. I order them in just before the bad guys hit my shield-wall. That way the enemy hits the "anvil" just as the "hammer" they didn't see comes down on them. The problem is that when a triangle meets a rectangle, there is a whole lot of extra triangle left over; the cavalry wedge is probably best saved for open ground with few pesky footsoldiers to get in the way. It's supposed to be used to break through enemy lines but the enemy never forms up anyway, they're a bunch of crazed maniacs after my archers start unleashing hell on them.

It ends badly for the bad guys either way but it just looks unprofessional when two formations get all tripped up over one another.

The formation options, in my current game, appear under the drop-down menu that goes something like:
1 Marching Orders
2 Formation Orders
3 Fire Orders
F4 Other options?

For me, that F4 is actually num pad 4 but then again, I did fool around with it some. I do have some difficulty with those menus though so I'm not certain that they show up all of the time...then again, that might just be an end-user thing?

In any event, I'm sure you'll figure it all out soon enough. It's definitely worth checking out.

Edit - Oh, and don't forget to order everyone to charge or you'll have plenty of enemies escaping off of the map. The shield-wall will stay in place after they cut and run so once the frenzied pace of killing begins to slow down, have them all charge and your guys will totally surround the remaining enemies and mop them up quickly. That way, no one gets out alive...muahahahahahaha.

(Except for the enemy lord who you left bleeding on some hillside just moments ago.)

More edits - It's less "A Chorus Line" and more "Riverdance".

[White Knight]

Additionally, I met a lord the other day and got the dialogue option "They say that you are brilliant strategist" or something along those lines. In my game, this was Ealdorman Wulfhere (I think) down in West Seaxe. He goes into some detail, explaining how to use the F4 and such to use formations.

Interestingly, he tells you a couple of things that I didn't figure out from playing around with the buttons. I'll go back sometime and test out his information to see if it actually works. An example from memory would be "Hit F4, then F4 again to arrange your troops into ranks"? I don't know what this is about but I'll be sure to try it if I remember.

[Sohei]

Using the stand closer order works well in combination with shield wall or ranked infantry. This closes the gaps to some degree.

[Legion]

Is necoro.
The only ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ issue I have with formations is the ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ where they line up to your left, also the rank splitting with "EVeryone Hold this position" Thats why I miss ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ native and Floris which im going back. Granted the VC is/was a good idea, but stupid ♥♥♥♥ like that is what finally killed the game for me, I can micro manage like a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ but ♥♥♥♥ ME, when I say EVERYONE hold a damn spot I mean that ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ spot not to break into individual spots TEN ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ paces apart.