AI War:Formation Movement
This topic applies only to AI War version 3.025 and up
How To Use Formation Move
- Arrange a group of your ships in the formation you desire.
- With those ships selected, hold J and right click a place you want them to move to (doesn't have to be far).
- They are now in formation-mode and will maintain their relative positioning.
- By default, issuing another move order will reset them to non-formation-mode (as with FRD-mode or Group-mode).
- If you would prefer that move orders NOT reset ships to non-formation-mode, you can use the Sticky Formations checkbox on the Ctrls screen (button in the bottom left). Please note that you may be very surprised by what happens if you take small subselections of those groups and give them individual move orders (they will maintain the offset from the new destination), but there is a highlight outline around ships in formation-mode so you can probably figure out why it's doing that.
- If you are using the control option and would like to set some formation-mode ships to non-formation-mode, select them and issue a Stop command (End key).
Multiple Formation Moves
Having your ships move to one destination point in a formation is great, but suppose you want to have them make a larger number of moves in that same exact formation? If the Sticky Formations Control is in use, of course, then that is already handled for you. But by default, ships only lose their formation when you issue a non-formation movement order to them. So, to keep them in a specific formation, just keep J+right-clicking every time you want to give them a formation move, and they will keep whatever formation they had at the start. If you want a new formation, simply hit End or issue a non-formation move order.
Moving through Wormholes
Ships will not pop out the other side of the wormhole in formation (move-through-wormhole is a very different order than move-to-destination), but as soon as you give them a move order (just right click on the wormhole when they've all come through) they will re-assume the formation if you've got the sticky formations node built (if not you'll need to use J+right-click).
Arc Movement
How To Use Arc Move
Note: This section does not apply for 3.7 or higher, it has not been implemented as of yet
- Select a group of ships.
- Hold Shift+Q and right click-and-hold the center of the desired circle.
- While continuing to hold Shift+Q and the right-mouse-button, drag the mouse cursor to a point the desired radius-distance from the center (it will show a red line).
- When happy with the center and radius, release the right-mouse-button.
- Your ships should move to form a circle.
- Once they are in position you may want to set formation mode so that they stay in those positions on further move orders.
Example usage:
- Build 50 fighters and 20 missile frigates.
- Select the frigates.
- Shift+Q+right-click a point in space.
- Continuing to hold Shift+Q and right-mouse-button, move the mouse cursor a short distance and release
- Select the fighters.
- Shift+Q+right-click the same center as the frigates (doesn't have to be exact).
- Continuing to hold Shift+Q and right-mouse-button, move the mouse cursor a medium-long distance and release.
- Wait for the ships to reach their destinations, you should now have a small ring of frigates with a much larger ring of fighters providing screen against bombers.
- Select the frigates and fighters.
- J+right-click a nearby point in space.
- The double-circle formation will move as a whole and maintain relative position.
- Build the "sticky formations" control node.
- Select the frigates and fighters again
- Right-click anywhere in the system
- It should maintain formation-mode thanks to the control node (without it they would revert to normal mode and bunch up at the destination.
Another example use is an inversion of this (fighters forming inner ring) around a wormhole so both frigates and fighters are in weapons range of any emerging enemy ships but the frigates are defended both by screening fighters and a consistent distance (hopefully out of range of bombers that are being tractored and torn up by fighters).
