Join the rally for better combat (and better (see weaker) squads too) (and better heroes as well).
Honestly, I see the "strength" of squads as they can't be killed in a single strike. However, their "weakness" SHOULD be that they can't roll up all their stats into a single attack or a single defense (only heroes should be able to do this!!!). Therefore, squads should have "lots of little attacks."
And on that note, we might as well scale up the size of the squads (since they won't be nearly as effective as they are now once they become "better")
so, 1 unit, or a party (4), or a squad (10), or a company (20), or a platoon (40).
A platoon has a total of 40 soldiers (40 attacks), and can give all 40 of those attacks to 1: another platoon, 2: a company, or 3: a Monstrous/Legendary sized creature
A platoon can only give up to 20 attacks to a company, and only up to 12 attacks on a party. And only up to 3 attacks on a single unit. (this is all in one action)
Now, a hero might have "splash damage" which can harm several soldiers with wide, sweeping/cleaving attacks. A large, Mega, or Monstrous creature might also have splash damage (and probably a lot more of it).
Even though single units might have splash damage, for the most part, 1 soldier gets 1 attack, 10 soldiers get 10 attacks, etc. And, when comparing similar size creatures, you can only commit 3 attacks per target soldier. (say, 10 dragons can only have 3 attacks against 1 dragon ... assuming you could have a company of dragons)
However, no matter the weapon ... SQUADS MAY NOT!!! HAVE SPLASH DAMAGE!!! They are too close to one another to afford making large sweeping attacks. That is simply the case.
Squads may have formations which have various results, including bonuses AND penalties on Attack, Defense, Morale, Run Speed, and Attack speed. A "turtle" formation would have bonuses to Defense and Morale, penalties to Run Speed, Attack Speed, and Attack. Turtle would also increase Ranged Defense so high that basically ranged attacks would be worthless. Only units with Tower Shields and at least 10 soldiers can use the Turtle formation.
Loose Formation would give a bonus to Ranged Defense (or Ranged Dodge), and increase Run speed.
Tight Formation would give a bonus to Melee Defense, and increase attack. As well as lower Ranged Defense.
Wedge Formation would increase Attack and Attack speed.
Phalanx Formation (only available to pole-arms + Shield) would increase Attack and Defense, and reduce Run Speed.
Single Front would decrease Defense and allow Splash Damage (for weapons w/ splash damage), and slightly reduce morale.
Marching Column would decrease Attack and Defense, and increase Run Speed.
Changing formation should use some action points and be determined by the average between Base Run Speed and Current Run Speed.
The player should be able to access a unit's formation on the Strategy map (and change it) and also change it in AN ACTUAL UNIT SET UP at the beginning of tactical battles.
Therefore, if a player wanted to micro, they could alt-select all (not in yet) click ctrl "M" (for marching column), and then move to where they wanted to go. // If your "ambushed" the ambusher would be able to set his units to either side of your units, and all of your units would be in a line, all starting in Marching formation //
