Hmm, I keep thinking this would be better handled with 3D position vectors (on a sparse 3D grid; 3D because it's 2D game coordinates + time): not every unit is at the same place at the same time. You could even apply the same "spread" strategy in time, to avoid units following too closely.
Of course, that's more complicated, but you get collision avoidance as well. Probably better coordination than real-world vehicles. One may get weird results though, such as two units using a completely different path because that saves them two seconds, which may not be a good strategy in an RTS.
You generally want your units as close together as possible during movement, as so when enemy attacks during it the most amount of your own units is within range to shoot it
It would be interesting to see a formation setting that dictated a desired interval between units as a protection against splash damage collateral affecting too many units at once.
I guess it all depends what kind of game you're making. The whole point of aoe damage is to hit multiple targets, having game to give option to just say "lol, no, you can't hit many units coz they are spread out automatically" makes the interaction shallower.
Which might be entirely fine if you want to make strategy focused on macro, not micro.
Some games have formations that are compact or spread that player can choose, some, like TW:Warhammer, have some units that are spread and some that are compact (in a game where you control only whole squads) and all of that have different drawbacks, compact ones are good for defending chokepoints, spread ones are harder to aoe etc.
> I guess it all depends what kind of game you're making. The whole point of aoe damage is to hit multiple targets, having game to give option to just say "lol, no, you can't hit many units coz they are spread out automatically" makes the interaction shallower.
That just becomes another aspect of the strategic and tactical trade-offs! As the commander do I want to space my forces out, reducing their vulnerability to artillery but potentially making it take longer for the column to bring a deciding volume of fire to bear once they reach the front, possibly feeding them piecemeal into the teeth of the enemy? Has the enemy favored more artillery versus less? Are these units needed in battle this instant?
Basically the classic Napoleonic dilemma of when to deploy the troops from column into line.
But yeah as you say, it totally depends on the game that is being made.
Of course, that's more complicated, but you get collision avoidance as well. Probably better coordination than real-world vehicles. One may get weird results though, such as two units using a completely different path because that saves them two seconds, which may not be a good strategy in an RTS.