Does it work with SFO?

Do you still exist?

Hey, will you ever update this any more? There seems to be a lot of applicable new units in the last two DLCs missing.

Thank you! This mod has greatly increased my visual enjoyment of battles tremendously! Fights are less cluttered and 'mosh pitty' now. They feel closer to watching Rome 1 and Medieval 2 infantry fights that I enjoy more than the recent blob fights that modern Total War currently favors.

May I suggest giving Formation Attack to the Chaos Warriors + Chosen as well? Maybe even some of the Marauders too (Slaanesh in particular as their 'hoplon' shields and spear arms seem to suggest they would fight in a 'phalanx' type formation)

I understand most Marauders, and pretty much all the Daemons, would lack discipline, fighting in a more primal manner. But I don't think it's unrealistic to say Chaos Warriors/Chosen would fight in an organized manner, as many of them are fallen/corrupted members of regimented military units to begin with.

Thank you for your time, consideration, and making this awesome mod to begin with!

Awesome mod!!! thank you!!!

still working?

Then I tried to remove the inherent formation attack and created an ability that gave formation attack when primal instincts was not activated. However, since formation attack was given by an ability, there was no formation attack toggle button and when they engaged in melee, they did not fight in formation even though the unit card said they had it.

I think because of this toggle button functionality, I can't tie it to a battle ability, and a unit either always has it or doesn't. I might explore making a new ability for lizardmen leaders so that saurus are granted formation attack when fighting demons and such, but that's for the future, and I'm not really sure if that's in the scope of this mod.

So, I settled with removing formation attack from regular saurus infantry, and now only Temple Guard have it.

Updated for 3.1.0. I read through your guys' comments and thought it would be cool to tie formation attack of saurus to their primal instincts ability. The idea was when primal instincts activated, the unit's formation attack attribute would be removed. Just like how Harry removes the undead attribute from undead units but for themselves.

However, it seems that not all attributes are created equal. It successfully removed the formation attack attribute (and reflected this on the unit card) when primal instincts activated, but since the Saurus started with formation attack, they still had the formation attack toggle button, and they did not fall out of formation when primal instincts activated until you clicked the button.

sfo submod?

Okay, after extensive testing, I am not sure whether it is for me. The fundamental problem is that Formation Attack eems to over-ride the Guard order and tends to make infantry run around. Test, for instance, what happens when you fight cavalry. When the cavalry retreats, Formation Attack makes the infantry unit chase. In contrast, without Formation Attack, the same unit will snap back to its original location and refuse to chase. And the loss of cohesion is fatal to infantry - and, despite the name, Formation Attack ironically works to dissolve it.

I agree it's double-edged sword, however, keep in mind units in this game respond well to formations. Using the sword formation, funny enough, works out great with formation attack toggled on as it's designed to be overrun on the front/middle with the rear acting as the supporting wings and wrap around the enemies focused above.

Play around enough with numerous formations aside from box/line and you'll see the charm come through.

Very easily to use all the time, and yes, majority of the time, I'd say? Takes a while to adjust and grow accustomed as it semi-requires re-learning unit placements and most importantly, depths. You can't ideally stretch out the lines like you can normally as the soldiers will enter the "rebuilding loop" to fill in those having died in the fight.

I play on 3x unit sizes and find this mod to be a godsend in this way. While formation is useful on default extreme size, as mentioned, needs to used in grand way or play with it for the hell of it. I like to keep the mod toggled on solely for the theme and differences. While minor, playing as Orks or Skaven and charging into a well-drilled army as you'd expect against Men/Dwarf is great fun.

Actually, obviously you don't use it all the time. But I am lazy. So my question should have been: Do you think it can be used all the time?

E,

By the way, do you use all the time? You are right that it prevents spreading. But that's a two-edged sword, because not spreading means that you get easily surrounded, if the width of your line is narrower than the enemy formation. Since I run a box formation, this is a bit of an issue.

E,

Thanks for the comprehensive reply!

Formation attack is useful in grand battles due to them not spreading and in sieges, great for keeping horde units pinned and under control. Comes down to a few factors;

Space
Terrain
Army Size

While the formation isn't useful for skirmishes and typical battles when it's order vs order. Against disorder(chaos/orks etc), they grant you a good advantage in controlling the battlefield with the ability to pin and lock down a solid formation without getting overrun.

Say, when surrounded on all fronts. The formation does work wonders in keeping down your loses when the enemy suffers as they've having to spread out. Makes battles last longer. But this is achieve with deepening the ranks anyhow. Overall? Quality of life change.

Similar to the Swordmasters of Hoeth, dawi Hammerers typically fight in close-knit formations as well. I'd say keep them in formation? Either way, when it's player vs ai, ai in formations are weaker in this match up with how easy it is for a player to wreck. Quality of life though? Adore these changes as gives more life to the game and flow of battles. Just my two-cents.

Honestly, does Formation Attack even benefit you? In my testing, they make an infantry unit under-perform - at least in 1 v. 1 tests.

On the Lizardmen front; if you remove would you be willing to have a version of the mod with them in formation? In lore, comes down to /who/ they're fighting and /who/ is in command. Makes complete sense from lore front for the Saurus to have formations as they do in lore depending on those two factors.

For offensive infantry on the list above;

Dark Elves

-Black Ark Corsairs
-Har Ganeth Executioners

Dwarfs

-Hammerers

The Empire

-Greatswords

Tomb Kings

-Nehekhara Warriors

High Elves

-Swordmasters of Hoeth (This is a little iffy? In lore, they're often described having formations and attacking as a solid group but in other cases, working alone while keeping constant check on their surroundings. Bit 50/50 but they cover the 'offensive' description you're asking about.)

What kind of units would you consider to be offensive infantry?

I agree with Lt. Ruben on Formation Attack being inappropriate to Saurus. Also, Formation Attack is problematic on offensive infantry, because fewer models commit to melee at a time and decrease the number of kills - thereby defeating the purpose of taking offensive infantry.

Updated for Forge of the Chaos Dwarfs. Some Dawi-Zharr units now also find themselves fighting shoulder-to-shoulder.

This mod does not seem to work with the new update 3.0. I have tried the game only with this mod and it does nothing.

Saurus having formation attack doesn't really make sense in the lore, outside of temple guards.

Great mod. It really looks strange that the cathayans know how to fight in formation, but the elves do not xD Besides, the battle in formation is more realistic, because a battle out of formation could lead to an easy death, as far as I know from historians)

@Frimid, ok thanks you

It shouldn't. All my mod does is add units to a table that points the formation attack attribute to them. There shouldn't be any conflicts with something that alters animations.

hi Frimid, do you think this mod conflicts with that one ? https://steamhost.cn/steamcommunity_com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2859153907

Good news for you, I uploaded it here .

Hi Frimid, will you port your dwarven shield mod? I really like that one.

It doesnt to me. Its nice in scenarios where you wanna hold a chocke for as long as possible, i just wish it was turned off by default

Oddly feels like a nerf if anything

this mod is a great if not fenominal addition, very well done!

Great addition, makes a lot of sense! I also hoped/expected units outside Cathay to receive it

Dwarf ranged units should get it. They are hybrid units in the sense that they are good in melee.

I'm not sure about the Eshin Triads, they strike me more as an assassin unit, but if they're basically stealthy unarmored stormvermin, then it makes sense

especially nice touch that a lot of the high elves get formation attack, that's very fitting

very nice, not going to lie, this adds a lot more creativity to battles!

Great mod!

great idea. There's also a formations mod for WH3 now and I think the future is in figuring out how to do both.