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Carefully applying unit formations can have significant effects on a battle outcome. For instance, in an evenly matched fight, the player who carefully monitors unit formations (and plans ahead their use) will likely emerge victorious. Here are some suggestions on using each formation: Phalanx Formation This formation is excellent for organizing your troops and moving them toward the battle. It's a poor combat formation, though, because the close proximity of each unit leaves them vulnerable to spells and attacks that inflict area effect damage. Further, with the units behind your wizard, they can be slow into battle situations - which leaves your wizard more vulnerable since he's likely the first target attacked. Phalanx is a solid formation for keeping manahoars behind your wizard but close enough to provide mana. Line Formation This is a decent attack formation, because it provides good coverage and simultaneous attacks (most units in the battle at once). Units are somewhat spread out, not enough to protect multiple units from area-effect attack. Skirmish Formation A mixture of phalanx and line formations, with the benefits of both. Semicircle Formation Placing ranged units in semicircle formation can prove highly effective; it also keeps them protected behind more-powerful units. Protect your ranged units in semicircle formation (which also spreads them sufficiently) and let them pierce the enemy lines with their long-range attacks. Circle Formation You can defend manaliths with the circle formation - the units in formation will encircle the manalith and face outward, defending all sides from enemy attack. Don't forget to use formations in combination with each other. In particular, guard certain unit groups with other unit groups. For instance, guard semicircle ranged units with air units in skirmish formation. Don't become complacent and don't simply move your units around the map in a haphazard fashion. Always be prepared for the inevitable attack and organize your troops accordingly. Combat Tips Don't forget to cast "speed up" on your offensive creatures. Speed up not only can increase your speed and the speed of sac-doctors, but you can also increase the speed of your offensive units and, with some units, the speed of their attacks. Experiment with speed up (which regenerates very quickly) and use it to gain an advantage in early battle situations. Consider combining spell powers when creating a custom spellbook (described in the campaign strategies section of the game guide) or simply when implementing a gods' spells in an attack. For instance, spells that gib an enemy creature (such as bovine intervention and intestinal vaporization) can be combined with Charnel's reanimate dead spell. As soon as the enemy creature is gibbed, cast the reanimate dead spell to gain the enemy soul much faster than a typical conversion. Bind creatures special abilities (such as the blight's blind ability) to an easily-reachable key (such as the enter or space bar key). Special abilities can turn the tide in battles, but you must make them easy to use. It's difficult to micromanage your army, heal units, and monitor formations while also worrying about special abilities. Instead, bind these abilities to new keys to make them accessible. If you happen upon a guardianed manalith, attack the manalith instead of the guardians. Damage to the manalith is spread to the guardians-since the manalith is large and stationary, it's an easier target to hit. It's unlikely your attacks will miss the structure. Eventually the guardians will die and the mana fountain can be yours.
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