GUIDE · GAME CONTROLS
Unit formations
Formations arrange mobile military units into role-based groups for movement and combat. Melee and sturdier troops generally take forward positions while ranged units follow; Villagers and Fishing Ships do not form up. Use the selected formation to shape how an army approaches and enters a fight.
Overview
Formations arrange mobile military units into role-based groups for movement and combat. Melee and sturdier troops generally take forward positions while ranged units follow; Villagers and Fishing Ships do not form up. Use the selected formation to shape how an army approaches and enters a fight.
How this system affects decisions
Combat results depend on more than the printed attack number. Compare the attacker’s damage with the target’s armor and armor class, then account for range, reload, accuracy, and any class-specific bonus; a counter bonus is separate from a unit’s ordinary attack. This is why the same unit can trade well into one target and poorly into another.
How to use this reference
Formations arrange mobile military units into role-based groups for movement and combat. Melee and sturdier troops generally take forward positions while ranged units follow; Villagers and Fishing Ships do not form up. Use the selected formation to shape how an army approaches and enters a fight. Range, vision, and explored terrain answer different questions: attack range determines what a unit can hit, line of sight reveals nearby tiles, and fog rules determine what information remains visible to the player.
- Focus
- Game controls
- Signature / category
- How it works
- Release / context
- Age of Empires II system
- Region
- Game controls
- Classification
- Game systems