Fantasy Friday XXIII - Unique Formations Part I

[Alex Walz]

FANTASY FRIDAY XXIII
Unique Battalion Formations Part I

Welcome back! Today we'll be taking a first glimpse into some of Dawn of Fantasy's many unique/specialized unit formations. I'll cut to the chase here, but for more information on battalions, check out the Standard Battalions FF. Each race has a couple standard formations, applicable to all militant battalions, and each orc and human military unit has a specialized, unique formation that significantly boosts their strengths and encourages a new degree of micromanagement on the battlefield. For information on these, check out the just-published Developer Diary 3: Unique Formations & Micromanagement.

Without further ado, we'll start with showing you the unique formations of six units for Part I. Enjoy!

Halberdiers in Schiltron formation guarding the crossroad. Click to Enlarge.

Halberdier - Schiltron Formation
A nearly immobile defensive melee fighting formation. When in this formation, Halberdiers are vulnerable to ranged attacks but unbreakable against melee and mounted attacks.

Bonus:
+30% Crush Armor
+30% Hack Armor
+40% Defense Rating
+40% Damage
+100% Damage to Charging Cavalry

Penalty:
-80% Speed
-30% Pierce Armor
-Can't Run

Stance:
-Stand-Ground Stance

Mounted Impalers charging into battle using the Serpent Formation. Click to Enlarge.

Mounted Orc - Serpent Formation
When in this formation, Beastriding Orcs become nearly invulnerable while running, and take almost no damage when trampling units. This is the ideal formation for charging large enemy armies or for escaping through enemy ranks untouched.

Bonus:
+40% Speed
+30% Pierce Armor
-80% Collision Damage to the Mount

Penalty:
-Constant Fatigue drain of two per second in addition to the normal drain rate.

Special:
-When Fatigue reaches 25 or lower, the battalion will automatically switch back into Mob Formation.
-Requires 60 Fatigue to activate Serpent Formation.

Stance:
-Aggressive Stance

Cavaliers assembled in the Diamond Formation, ready to charge. Click to Enlarge.

Cavalier - Diamond Formation
As an extension of the standard Wedge formation, the Diamond formation is designed to be used when charging against infantry units. However, due to a tighter positioning of units, this formation is more vulnerable to ranged attacks and doesn't cover as much space unless used in large numbers.

Bonus:
-80% Collision Damage to Cavalier
+100% Impact Damage to charged units

Penalty:
-30% Pierce Armor
-30% Defense Rating

Stance:
-Aggressive Stance

Slayers in the Hive Formation protect the gate to Ral Nistro by charging oncoming units trying to cross the bridge. Click to Enlarge.

Slayer - Hive Formation
A fast offensive formation used for charging enemy units. The Hive Formation offers a small boost to all categories and a great increase to mobility. This formation is most useful when breaking through a gatehouse or enemy walls, or attempting to flank enemy positions. With their significant speed increase, Slayers also become an effective cavalry counter.

Bonus:
+20% Pierce Armor
+20% Crush Armor
+20% Hack Armor
+20% Damage
+50% Speed

Penalty:
-Constant Fatigue drain of two per second in addition to the normal drain rate.

Special:
-When Fatigue reaches 25 or lower, the battalion will automatically switch back into Mob Formation.
-Requires 60 Fatigue to activate Hive Formation.

Stance:
-Aggressive Stance

Human Foot Knights make use of the Anvil Formation to form a protective wall around their King. Click to Enlarge.

Foot Knight - Anvil Formation
A rectanguler formation designed to quickly fight off an attacking melee force from all sides or to escort a VIP unit safely through a battle field. However, a formation this complex to organize slows down the already slow Foot Knights, making it a slow formation when on the attack.

Bonus:
+30% Defense Rating
+30% Attack Rating
+30% Damage

Penalty:
-30% Speed

Stance:
-Defensive Stance

Berserkers use the Turtle Formation (a little squished due to the large battalion size and the restrictive area of the keep) to spread out and guard their keep against an oncoming elven army. Click to Enlarge.

Berserker - Turtle Formation
This unique formation temporarily changes the offensive-oriented Berserker units into Defensive units, with greatly increased Armor. Although only moderately good against ranged attacks when in this formation, Berserkers will be able to hold off significantly larger melee forces.

Bonus:
+60% Crush Armor
+60% Hack Armor
-20% Pierce Armor
+60% Defense Rating

Penalty:
-80% Walk Speed
-Can't Run
-Constant Fatigue drain of two per second in addition to the normal drain rate.

Special:
-When Fatigue reaches 25 or lower, the battalion will automatically switch back into Mob Formation.
-Requires 60 Fatigue to activate Turtle Formation.

Stance:
-Stand-Ground Stance

[Swift sword]

Wow, loooks pretty nice so far. Going to look more indepth at them now, but it's nice to get more info on formations. I didn't feel like we'd had much yet

[GPS51]

Ok the perfunctory questions So do all these special formations and the normal formations have one key application? IE. I punch the key d and my troop goes into defensive formation. Most importantly on the LOVELY berserker screenshot what does the flask button stand for and what does maximum skill mean? Is there a limit for skillage points? I'd love to see 100 lvl berserkers.

[Alex Walz]

Thanks.

The flask is a potion - your berserkers can heal themselves in exchange for Fatigue. The maximum skill level is 10, so those Berserks are capped off. Actually, the spacing is ambiguous but read it as XP: Maximum, Skill: 19. You have maximum experience and 19 unspent skill points.

And no formation hotkeys yet. We'll see later down the road with the new unit GUI.

[GPS51]

Well I just wanted to make sure the hotkeys work with the formations PREFERABLY 1 key hotkeys for formations. I hate searching for the ctrl or shift keys whilst holding down another.

[Henry Martin]

I have never been one to use the different battle formations in RTSs. I might just have to try them out in this RTS.

[GPS51]

Yeah the most i've used them is in a campaign maps but I'm thinking with those kinds of bonuses stnd. formations may get you killed.

[Alex Walz]

Not necessarily. The unique formations are only good in select situations and carry significant penalties. Cavalry diamond charges will do some damage but just set your archers on them and they'll be out in no time. Likewise, keep your distance from the Schiltron and Anvil units and you can shoot them off one by one. The orc uniques are more versatile but aren't likely to last more than a minute and that quick fatigue drain will prohibit orc players from using other powers like Heal and Howl.

[Yami-Yagari]

It´s probably just me, but the orcish formations seem to have no disadvantages, except for a faster fatigue drain.

[DarkMaster]

What can I say? Everything sounds fantastic and I'm even more hyped for this game than ever!