Formations?

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

Does anyone else wish that Formations were an option in EaW and what formation choices should there be?

[Necro]

i don't really see a usefulness in different formations.

[deriko]

I think formations would be very useful in EaW. It would definetly keep a lot of units more organized in some places.

[swgbex]

what i need is a cap ship.. or any ship to "hold ground" and not run after a unit... .. or their double click guard from generals

[Jameswgm]

Having "Attack Status" options such as Hold Ground or Engage at will would improve the gameplay.

What about a "Target Ships" option. Too many times have I seen capital ships engage corvettes instead of concentrate on more appropriate targets. EG. Attack fighters, Attack corvettes, Attack Cap Ships....

 

James

[The_talented]

Having "Attack Status" options such as Hold Ground or Engage at will would improve the gameplay.

What about a "Target Ships" option. Too many times have I seen capital ships engage corvettes instead of concentrate on more appropriate targets. EG. Attack fighters, Attack corvettes, Attack Cap Ships....

 

James

 

 

that is a good idea however it would take up too many keys seeing as how most of the keys are already taken up for other specific commands.. true however... my ruddy corvettes seem intent on attacking an impstar/victory/acclamator and getting reamed as opposed to attacking the bombers tearing my capital ship's weapon hardpoints to shreds

[Grand Admiral Thrawn 889]

I have that problem with my Corvette classes it's really annoying as well as the fact that i set up a force of Capital Ships and Frigates with some corvettes and some reinforcements and it keeps putting the Corvettes in as a major attack ship When i'm up against a Level 5 station it's just like Dumbarse AI can't work out that i want most of the Capital Ships as part of the assualt team!.

[Davynelord_pff]

I have that problem with my Corvette classes it's really annoying as well as the fact that i set up a force of Capital Ships and Frigates with some corvettes and some reinforcements and it keeps putting the Corvettes in as a major attack ship When i'm up against a Level 5 station it's just like Dumbarse AI can't work out that i want most of the Capital Ships as part of the assualt team!.

 

I had the same problem when I attacked a enemy space station once.  I had a lot of x-wings (left over from a previous battle that I won) and I added some capital ships to the fleet because I sent the droids to spy and see what I might be up against.  So I sent my fleet in and totally forgot that the A.I. seems to randomly choose what goes into the initial invasion fleet.  Anyway, I ended up having all my x-wings getting put in and 3 capital ships stuck in reinforcements.  With the population cap reached, I basically had to wait until the enemy SB and Tartans decimated nearly all my x-wings before I could get my cap ships into the battle.  So Yeah, I really hate that you can't prioritize which specific units you want to go into battle first (unless of course I'm missing something).

 

Then when in the battle, I hate how my I have to take the time to assign each of my units a number and before I can finish assigning each one, the enemy is already attacking and my fleet starts spreading out all over the place.  I really hate when the x-wings see a tartan and charge head first without me even telling them too and get their butts handed to them.  I usually manage to get them under control, but it's still annoying.

 

However, as far as formations go, I'm not totally sure if this game needs it with how fast the engagments happen.  You don't have much time to do anything when your the attacking fleet and ships go down so fast, I don't think they will have time to benefit from formations in any way.  The main reason though is probably because no matter where a ship is located on the map, the A.I. will attack the closest target and once one of them is damage, every ship in range will most likely focus on that ship/group of ships until they are destroy.  Again, that usually happens pretty fast with everything other than capital ships.   

 

Also, I should add that I've never been a fan of formations in any game.  Even when other games had formation options, I didn't use them.  they might give a tactical advantage in certain situations, but I've always been the type to force my enemy into the situation that I want and therefore never really needed 90% of formations.    Having the ability to force my ships to hold/guard a certain area is always a plus in my book and I'm glad the game did include that no matter how limited it is.