Changing Skirmisher formations

[Jack ONeill]

All,

How difficult, (or even possible), is it to change the way skirmishers deploy? I ask because the current formation, while historically correct, is far to unweildy to use during the game.

Example - Gunship has done a brilliant job with incorperating the light troops into the French brigades by combining all the Light Companies from each Battalion into what would be a Coverged Voltigeur Battalion. Fine there except the bloody thing streches half way across the field and takes forever to redeploy, totally negating their usefullness. This is with a 300 man Battalion. With a unit from SOWGB, say a USSS battalion, it gets even worse. I think most players shy away from skirmishers because of this. It is very hard to get them to DO anything, except advance and run away.

I propose this, if it can be done - Change the formation to a single line of men, with perhaps a 1 or 2 man interval between them.

The advantages to this are these - the unit covers a relatively small distance on the field, still looks like a skirmisher foration, they are easier to control and players might use them.

There IS historical precedent for this. During the Napoleonic Wars, the Major German powers, adverse to letting their desertion-prone men deploy in an extended order formation, (and thus easier to desert from), used what was called an "Open Order" formation. This allowed a semi-skirmish formation with more control by the Officers. Flash forward to today - When I served in the Marines, we had a drill formation where we moved into an open-order formation on the Drill Field. It was for Parade purposes only, but it was a formation, esentially opening up the distance between each man roughly 3-4 feet. Would have made an excellent semi-skirmish formation.

So, can this be done, should it be done, and...your thoughts Gentlemen?

Jack B)

P.S. - Needless to say, this should be done as a Mod.

[Garnier]

If you look at the GCM mod, the skirmish formation is a copy of the line formation, with wider spacing.

[Jack ONeill]

G,

Thanks. Will check it out. I always have a hard time deciphering the numbers.

Jack B)

[Marching Thru Georgia]

Skirmish lines are for looks only. They do not have any of the historic advantages of a real skirmish line. They behave as troops in line in every respect. Even though they can be spread across an entire map, it's the flag to flag distance that matters for combat purposes.

[Jack ONeill]

MTG,

I realized that long ago. However, they can be utilized effectively, especially in this game where line of sight is everything. If you are moving thru contry without the advantage of cavalry scouting ahead, deplying skirmishers ahead of the column, (or columns), on the road is far preferable to blundering into the head of an enemy column. Also, I have used skirmishers to delay the advance of enemy troops, forcing them to deploy into line to swat my skirmishers out of the way, thus giving me time to deploy or re-deploy my main battleline as necessary. All historically correct and useful. The issue I have, as stated above, is skirmisher lines as in the game are SO long they take forever to set up and open fire, thus negating their effectiveness in the game.

Jack B)

[Jack ONeill]

Garnier,

My obtusness is showing. I cannot figure out in the GCM Mod where the unit formations file is.

Jack B)

[Davinci]

Jack – I haven’t messed with these files for years, but this is one of the files that I did several years ago, or at least it seems that long ago.

Basically, I’m using the same spacing as one of the battle-lines, due to the fact that I don’t use the skirmish formation because the AI doesn’t use it.

I also add in the sprite number so that I can control which uniform is being used.

So, (1-0-2)117

Means – First Row – Zero Column Spacing – Uniform Two– Sprite 117…..If I remember correctly.

Level 6 Infantry Skirmish (2),DRIL_Lvl6_Inf_Skirmish,4,57,6.7,2.7,,1,1,1,-10,1,,100,,,,1,,,,,,,,100,99,98,97,96,,84,85,86,87,88,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,
(1-0-2)117,(0-0-1)115,(0-0-1)113,(0-0-4)100,(0-0-2)98,(1-0-5)96,(1-0-1)93,(1-0-5)91,(1-0-2)89,(0-0-6)76,(2-0-3)74,(1-0-4)72,(2-0-3)69,(0-0-5)67,(1-0-2)65,(1-0-1)52,(1-0-6)50,(2-0-3)48,(1-0-4)45,(1-0-2)43,(2-0-3)41,(1-0-6)28,(0-0-3)26,(2-0-5-20)24,(0-0-1)21,(1-0-6)19,(2-0-5)17,(1-0-4)4,(4-0-2)2,(1-0-3)3,(1-0-2)5,(0-0-1)7,(1-0-5)9,(1-0-4)11,(0-0-3-20)13,(2-0-5)15,(1-0-1)29,(0-0-5)31,(1-0-2)33,(1-0-6-20)36,(2-0-3)38,(1-0-4)40,(1-0-3)53,(0-0-5)55,(1-0-2)57,(2-0-5)60,(2-0-2)62,(0-0-4)64,(2-0-2-20)77,(1-0-6)79,(1-0-3)81,(0-0-4)84,(1-0-3)86,(0-0-5)88,(1-0-1)101,(2-0-3)103,(0-0-4)105,,,,,,
(0-0-4)118,(0-0-6)116,(0-0-3)114,,(3-0-4-20)99,(3-0-3)97,(3-0-6)94,(2-0-3)92,(2-0-4-20)90,,(3-0-5)75,(2-0-1)73,(3-0-6)70,(2-0-3)68,(3-0-5)66,,(2-0-4)51,(3-0-5)49,(3-0-1-20)46,(2-0-3)44,(4-0-5)42,,(2-0-1)27,(3-0-6)25,(3-0-1)22,(2-0-4)20,(3-0-3-20)18,,(0-0-1)1,,(2-0-4-20)6,(3-0-3)8,(2-0-2)10,(2-0-1)12,(2-0-6)14,(3-0-3)16,(0-0-5)30,(2-0-3)32,(2-0-4)34,(2-0-6)37,(3-0-5)39,,(3-0-4-20)54,(2-0-3)56,(2-0-1)58,(3-0-3)61,(3-0-4)63,,(3-0-3)78,(2-0-2)80,(2-0-5)82,(2-0-1)85,(3-0-2)87,,(2-0-6-20)102,(3-0-1)104,(3-0-2)106,,,,,,
,,,(8-0-5)119,,,,,,(3-0-2)95,,,(5-0-2)71,,,,,,(4-0-6)47,,,,,,(4-0-2)23,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(3-0-1)35,,,,,,(4-0-6)59,,,,,,(4-0-4)83,,,,,,(4-0-6)107,,,,,,
,(8-0-1)125,,(6-0-4)124,,,(5-0-5)123,,(7-0-6)122,,(5-0-6)121,,,(5-0-1-25)120,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,(5-0-3)108,,,(5-0-5)109,,,(5-0-4)110,,,(5-0-1)111,,,(5-0-2)112,,,,,,,,

But this line would control the spacing of the formation:

DRIL_Lvl6_Inf_Skirmish,4,57,6.7,2.7

davinci

[Jack ONeill]

Brother,

This is what I'm seeing - 4 numbers following the names, (LVL6, etc.) Rows, columns, row distribution, column distribution, followed by more. the numbers are - 8,61,1.8,2.2. the 8 and the 61 are different from the line formation but the line formation still has the 1.8 and 2.2 in the distribution section. So, since the first two numbers are different in the formations, are they the ones which determine the spacing of each soldier from his comrade? It seems to be the case, as they are the ones which are different.
Gonna play with these and see.

Jack B)

P.S. - Figured out a lot. Will post tomorrow with pics. Really on to something here. En Avant!

Jack

[Davinci]

Jack - This is how these numbers work!

8 - There are eight lines in this formation.

61 - There are sixty-one columns going across the page from left to right.

1.8 - the space between the lines - going from forward to backwards.

2.2 - the space between the lines - going from left to right.

So , to add more spacing between the men you would change the 1.8 and the 2.2 .

To - change the configuration of the formation, more or less lines, you would change the 8 and the 61 .

Also - remember to count the columns from left to right if you change the 61 - this has to be exact, and so do the number of lines which is the 8 in your example.

davinci

[Jack ONeill]

The attachment screen0042.jpg is no longer available

DaV,

Thanks for the info. Raising the line number brought the "Reserve" sections up to the unit battleline. Changing the Columns number didn't do anything. The actual Formation changes came within the numbers in parentheses, (0-0-2, etc.), like you showed. Changing those numbers shortened the unit battleline to a manageable size. Now, I have to figure out how to draw the "reserve" section into the rest of the unit. See above.

Jack B)

It appears that each sprite must have its own distance number to get all of them in a single line. There are numerous sprites which are listed with no numbers next to them. Working that angle now.

Jack