Newb Question - Moving Troops in Formation

Is there an online guide on how to play Waterloo with this mod? I know someone asked this before in the forum, but I couldn't find any information that I could peruse over. I spent way too much time, literally hours, looking for information on how to move my troops around in formation. I want to have my AI subordinates do the work, however, I can't seem to make them move in formation. Worst of all, they don't seem to do much of anything. I expected some more autonomy, so I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong with my settings.

The only proven method I've found is through the command map, but I find it to be way too imprecise. Also, sometimes, the general doesn't even move with his unit, just himself which is odd. Is there any other way besides manually using courier-based messages? Telling them to move to a point on the map makes only the general move up there, so that doesn't work. It's a pain trying to get my cannons set up on the ridge I want it to. The best I can really do is tell the general to walk over here and then use the line formation to have the cannons reform around him. Any other method is way too imprecise. Are there any other ways to move your troop in formation?

Thanks. Fantastic mod and fantastic game, but I feel like I'm missing something.

Is there an online guide on how to play Waterloo with this mod?

not that I know of... we all learned playing it in MP just asking experienced players how to do the things...

The best I can really do is tell the general to walk over here and then use the line formation to have the cannons reform around him. Any other method is way too imprecise. Are there any other ways to move your troop in formation?

you answered your question - that's the way to move the troops - they might not move in the formation but they will form in the selected formation at the destination - you don't need to wait your general to get there alone, just select his destination and when you're happy with the pointer on the ground (place and direction), hit the formation button - this will cause units to move with general - every time you want to change direction or location of the brigade you need to click that formation button.

Now.. obviously sending a move order by courier doesn't require confirmation by hitting formation button. Also using "advance x yards" button will just use the existing formation and advance whole brigade for you.

Fantastic mod and fantastic game, but I feel like I'm missing something.

Don't want to kill your enthusiasm - but the game is not perfect and mod creators had to go for number of compromises which are not to everyone's liking.
Basic idea that many new players are quite shocked by, is that when it's possible mod limits the "god like" ability of a player to move units at their will regardless the context... especially cavalry. Sounds great at first but then it's ongoing work to exclude behaviour that makes very little sense (and that happens a lot).

Thanks for the reply. I appreciate it.

I don't want god-like abilities. I was just getting frustrated by how it seemed like the courier systems for Waterloo seemed to have taken a big step back from Gettysburg. I figured out my problem though. I didn't realize the courier system differs whenever you use KS-based scenarios and vanilla scenarios. Beforehand, I could only ever advance by "300 meters" with the courier system which was incredibly aggravating. I couldn't advance by 100 meters, 200 meters, and so on which proved to be a significant hindrance. I wonder if the issue with the command map is related to that? I noticed division-level commanders would walk without their unit towards their objective when given a command through the command map; but if I did the same to someone under him separately, they would do as expected and march with their unit.

Also, in regards to moving my unit by pointing and clicking, if my cannons are already deployed in a line, how can I get them to redeploy in a line again with a general? It doesn't let you redeploy in a line again until you change formation, and it seems needlessly tedious. It's not much of a problem any more since I realize playing KS scenarios allows me to be more flexible, but I was wondering if there's any way around that.

Thanks. I would join for some MP in the future, but I just want to try a few things for now so I'm not a complete newb.

I noticed division-level commanders would walk without their unit towards their objective when given a command through the command map; but if I did the same to someone under him separately, they would do as expected and march with their unit.

It all depends which commanders are TC-ed (Take Command mode)... secondary factors to consider are if a brigade commander is detached or not, the stance commander is put on and the situation on the battlefield.
If brigade commanders are TC-ed and you give division commander order to move through the command map, he'll walk alone. If his brigade commanders are not detached and not TC'd then whole division will move. In our MP games, usually as the first move we use the command map to move whole division on the road to the initial objective given by CinC.
More sophisticated, though is to give commands to each brigade separately.

I don't know how vanilla scenarios behave with KS - I've never played them in KS.

Also, in regards to moving my unit by pointing and clicking, if my cannons are already deployed in a line, how can I get them to redeploy in a line again with a general?

Artillery is sometimes quite tricky to position as there is a massive AI change done in KS that has as an aim to point all the guns from the battery in the same direction. the most control you'll get by having your battery commanders TC'd... so long as this is the case, there is usually no problem to redeploy the battery in-line... I often do small adjustments to position and/or direction to get my battery to point where I wish to fire. At this point often is reasonable to un-TC the battery and change the stance to some kind of aggressive... the battery commander will then try to optimise the position. However if the situation isn't clear, and you're facing multiple targets from multiple directions you'd might want to leave the battery TC-ed as otherwise it could get into "never settle" mode... - this is actually the major issue for the group of players that play vanilla. It was too much frustration... it still causes frustration to us... but overall KS wins over vanilla version of game.

Hi Fuzzy and welcome to the forums.

"how to move my troops around in formation."

You need to select the "combat" toolbar tab. There are three tabs - one is "movement", one is "combat" and one is "orders". With the "movement" tab, formations will use a march column to get to where they are ordered, then deploy into the formation you select. With the "combat" toolbar selected, once you indicate a destination and a formation, the troops (brigade, division) will move there while retaining battle formation.

You need to give orders in this format (same as vanilla):

1) select the commander (either brigade or division general)
2) select a location on the map (using either couriers, point-and-click on the 3D terrain, or the command map (brought up by pressing the 'N' key or via the toolbar button)
3) select a formation.

If you do these button presses in the "combat" toolbar tab you'll get formations moving across the battlefield in formation. However be aware that squares never move in formation - when squares move they always revert to a 4-wide march column, this is a game mechanic common to the KS mod and the vanilla game that represents the square being unable to defend itself while in motion).

"I expected some more autonomy,"

This is achieved by setting the stance of the commander. If you set a stance for a division commander but not his brigades, all his subordinate brigades and batteries take up that stance. You can if you wish also select different stances for the brigades.

I suggest more cautious/defensive stances than you might otherwise expect, so a hold or hold at all costs stance will keep an infantry brigade more or less in the position it occupies while a defend stance will give the AI brigade commander a fair bit of autonomy and he may begin moving his brigade around quite a bit.

Artillery battery commanders should be given "all out attack" orders whereupon they will seek teh best nearby ground and the best view of a good trarget and commence firing at it. If you specifically want to hit a target that is not the closest nor easiest toi hit you should TC the battery comamder and force him to face a certain dorection.

Unlike the vanilla game, friendly troops will block artillery line of sight, so if a battery moves, make sure the nearby friendly troops are well off to its flanks and not in front of it and within 150 yards of it. Likewise friends need to be 150 yards back from a target the artillery is trying to fire at.

I find that it is best to position my guns first, then form my brigade aorund the locations I have chosen for my batteries or that the battery commanders have chosen rather than the other way around.

Dear DaFuzzyOne.
It doesn´t matter if you are a new player and dont get things done properly all the time.

I have played with the group from time to time, and one thing that is consistant in battles with baremap,saddleview and couriers is that there lots of confusion with how to interpret the orders you are giving.
Very much so to my liking since it´s extremly interesting to get a real feel for what could happen.

One time I was ordered to go and defend a bridge, but the problem was that I went to the wrong bridge because I couldn´t see the bridge that my commanding officer above me could see. So instead of feasting of the glorious wines of our enemies we filled graves with poor soldiers killed by my horrible interpretation

Stuff like that happens and noone will judge you hard for failing since we quite often die together but in a good mood, This is my experience