Knowing how to move your units across your base is all well and good, but the wise commander knows that the road to victory isn’t nicely paved; it is blocked with forests, jungles and mountains. If your regiments are in difficult terrain, their movement may be slowed. They may also be affected by additional benefits or penalties. Jungle, for example, greatly limits movement speed. It also creates big defensive penalties for vehicles while giving huge defensive bonuses for infantry. Any terrain bonuses or penalties are summarized in the information panel while the affected regiment is selected. Seasoned troops on the move don’t just mill around; they march in formations designed to give them an advantage. When you have a regiment selected, you see three icons on the right side of the information panel.These are the formations available to that regiment. They are
Assault [Q], Aggressive [W] (the default formation for a new regiment), and Column [E]
Click on a formation button to place your regiment into that formation.
Each formation affects either your combat efficiency or maximum speed (or both). It is important to choose the correct formation for your needs. Faster formations typically have lower attack efficiency, meaning they are useful for moving quickly. However, slower formations are more adept at combat. Formation also determines a regiment’s behavior when it encounters an enemy.When in Assault or Aggressive formation, a regiment is aggressive. and will attack enemies on sight. When in Column formation, a regiment uses more passive behavior, generally ignoring any nearby enemies. The distinctions between formations are important; if you want to move a tank regiment through an enemy base to attack an enemy regiment on the other side, you must put it in Column formation or else it will stop and destroy every building on the way.
When you get to your target, you want to place it back in Assault formation, or it will suffer a hefty penalty while fighting the enemy.
Source: Axis and Allies RTS Official Manual
