Movement and Formation

[Garm]

I bought the game two weeks ago and I really like it.
I am playing the second tutorial now and there is one thing about movement and formations which I like to know.
When the amoured brigade arrives, I orderd it to move (move command) and set the formation to successive lines. I wondered why it took so long for the brigade to arrive when I realised that it spread out to succesive lines formation immediately so the units could not use the roads effectively. Then I reread the manual for the tutorial and it said I should use the "rest" oder to move the brigade. I tried it and it works, the unit stays in road column formation until it arrives.
Well, as far as I understand the manual, there is no possibility to set different formations for different waypoints. But is there a way to order a unit to move to a location in a way that it uses roads until it arrives at the final destination and then spreads out to a different formation except using the "rest" command?

Another question concerning the "Kiwis fight back" scenario: The German paras have a base unit with 549 men including Kettenkrads. I tried to get information on the net but I didn't find any concerning base units during the airborne attack. Excuse my ignorance but did they drop 549 men with kettenkrads just as a base unit? I thougt they units would rather be without suppy until a base units gets landed by ship.

Thanks for any help.

[06 Maestro]

Hi Garm

Regarding your movement question; below your formation choices are options on how to conduct the units movement. You can choose "fastest', or "normal" for the speed. Below that you have the route settings. This is where you tell the unit to use roads (by "quickest") or "covered", "safest" and so on. These movement options will apply until the unit reaches the FUP, at which time it will assume the ordered formation, or action.

The movement orders will be maintained through all way points until the unit reaches the FUP. There is a way to fiddle with the unit though during movement. You can change the setting for "aggressiveness", loss tolerance, and rate of fire without suffering any order delay penalty. So you can change how the unit reacts somewhat, while you are continuing with the movement.

As you already found out, you can use several different formations while moving. generally speaking, a road movement to a FUP is the desirable thing.

Hope that helps.

[Garm]

06 Maestro, thank you very much for your quick answer. I tried different options while using the move command, but it doesn't change anything (by the way, I used "route: quickest" and "speed: fastest" before). If I give the brigade a "defend" order with successive lines formation, it will use the road until it reaches the final destination and then spread out. The "rest" order works fine to, as described in my first post. In addition to that, the arrival time is not displayed correctly when I use the "move" command, it just displays the end of scenario time. If I use the other two commands, it shows the correct time of arrival. It is not a very big issue, but I was quite a bit confused.

[simovitch]

To ensure they stay on the road (they usually will anyway) I will sometimes use the 'road column' formation to start, and change to a combat posture and facing just before they get to where they are going. Like 06 Maestro mentioned, these sort of adjustments do not cause command delays.

Regarding Bases, these not only represent the main dump for the Regiment/Brigade/Division/Corps, but also the logistical elements (men, trucks, etc.) of all the line troops under that formation combined into one quasi-abstracted location.

The Kettenkrads were delivered by JU52 airlanding at the airfields once they were captured and secured. The fact that they show up in the base before the airfield is secured in the game is a necessary abstraction.

[Garm]

Thanks for your help, simovitch. It works better now.