Will there be formations like Shield Wall?

They decided to make the Norman Campaign. That period was about Shieldwall. So will they going to present that?

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Would be really nice indeed. AOE3 had a similar function for mellee infantry. You could go into defensive stance, making you move much slower but take less ranged damage. This is the LEAST they could do.

A perfect function would be, do make shield units be able to raise their shield and have a % chance of getting hit by an arrow and all other arrows either get stuck on the shield or bounce/slide off.

Shield wall, Pike wall, cavalry wedge, these would all be great inclusions!

I’m really hoping that having troops on walls gives a defensive bonus of some kind.

And it would be great if light infantry got bonuses when fighting in forests

The thing is AOE4 units are individual and programmed as such whereas games such as COH, DOW, Total War the units are grouped in regiments/ squads allowing for the implementation of formations to be easier and allow them to functionally work - i.e shield war in Total War units visibly group up closer together and synergize animations:

Total War: Thrones of Brittania Shield Wall

image

I guess you could have a unit ability in AOE4 that can be toggled on or off as Raise Shield/ Shield Wall where the individual unit when toggled on moves slower/ does less dmg but they have higher defensive stats.

As for formations of group of individual units this is what I was able to dig up and seems to be applicable to all unit types:

Unit hotkeys - Gameplay Reveal Trailer

Here is my interpretation of the hot keys shown:
A - Attack move
S - Stop/Halt
F - Garrison
Z- Line/ Tight formation
X - Wedge Formation
C - Scattered/ Loose Formation
V - Hold Ground
Delete - Delete :stuck_out_tongue:

I do wish those specific unit formations have their pros and cons, not just simply because scattered units are harder to hit with siege like in AOE II’s simplistic mechanics.

For example, in other RTS’s cavalry gets a bonus to their charge attack when in wedge formation, but a reduction to their armor. Infantry in block or wall formation can’t move or move very slowly but get a massive armor increase. Archers should have a skirmish formation that reduces their accuracy but improves their attack on grouped units, etc.