Stance Orders

[Trilogy]

After many months of playing, I'm still unclear on how to use stance orders.

I took notes from an earlier thread, and they looked like this:

The orders buttons (Hold, Attack, etc.) are for commanders that are not TC'd. Select the unTC'd commander, click on a spot where you want him to move, select the formation you want his units to move into, then click the orders button (all out attack, attack, etc.). You will see the orders destination marker show up at his destination.

Sequence: 1) click place, 2) give formation, 3) give stance order

If this is the case, what does the attack/defend/hold/etc stance order actually do? If I have already given a place and formation order to a unit, they're going to attack enemies in range anyway when they get there. Does "attack" make them likely to pursue and "defend" make them likely to stay put at the specified location?

Likewise, if I give a "probe" order, is the unit probing towards the location I have just specified, or is it probing forward *from* that location? If it is probing forward towards the location I specified, how will its behavior be different from if I just ordered it to move there (with no stance in mind)?

Is there any point in giving a stance order to a unit already in position? If a unit is in place and I switch its stance from "Hold at all costs" to "Defend," will it be more likely to pull back when pressed? What if I switch it from "Hold" to "All-out Attack"?

A full explanation of the use of stance orders would be most helpful!

[norb]

A stance affects how they conduct themselves. It is not an order in itself. It determines how close they will allow enemy to come for example. There are a lot of ai conditions that are affected by this choice, but it's also mixed in with the officer's attributes. So although a defend stance may be enough to make a cautious officer sit still, it's probably not enough to make an aggressive one do the same thing.

The stance concept is one where we wanted to allow the user to do everything that the AI does. The AI will give all officers a stance which affects, as I said, how they conduct themselves and their men. Another example affected by stance is how far a unit will advance towards an enemy, how low they will allow their moral to be before they retreat. All these factors are affected by stance mixed with officer personality.

I know it's not a great answer in how you use it in gameplay. Think of it as you are sending a human officer to a location and you want him to attack any enemy that comes close, or you want him to defend the hill and not go running after anyone. You have to experiment with it and how different officers react to the different orders. You have to get to know your officers, so you can understand who is the best for the job at hand.

[Trilogy]

Actually, that explains a lot. Thank you! I think I get the gist of it.

Just to clarify, then, the stance order attempts to set parameters for the general's behavior (which the general's personality might still override)? Basically, defensive orders tell a general how hard to stick to an ordered spot, while attack orders encourage him to go after a nearby enemy?

If this is the case, then "defensive" orders (Hold, etc.) are useful on attack when you want to move a division or brigade forward to a particular position and then have them stay there. But does having a general in a "defensive" stance as he moves towards the point I want him to hold make him more likely to bunker down on the way, or does the "defensiveness" only kick in when he gets where I ordered him to go?

Sorry to ask so many picky questions. I'm trying to refine my understanding of how to play the game with a minimum of TC'ing (or only TC'ing where I am present on the field).

Thanks!

[norb]

There are actually slight variations to all the orders while they are moving. They are a little less aggressive during the actual move, but only a little. We wanted them to actually get to the ordered position someday. But you get the gist of it. To manage the AI, we didn't want you to have to micro manage everything, so you can use these to give your generals the idea of how you want them to behave.