Learning curve or Am I just that stupid?

[TJD]

. But the seemingly large number of units disregarding orders is still a bit much. I will continue to work on my command skills.

You may be having some subtle problems with the command interface - units may not in fact be getting the orders you thought you issued. I had this problem frequently when I began playing PW and it was quite baffling to me. There does seem to be a bug issue with the "No Command Box" option. It doesn't always work, in my experience. I still prefer to play without it as a result, but this can be very tedious in larger scenarios. Sometimes you just need to click off, anywhere, and then click back onto the same unit to successfully establish an order. Very annoying. Another point: the "Roman Eagle" button, which must be depressed before you can successfully issue orders, seems a little buggy too. For example, when you click on a leader and check his command radius, the button will no longer be depressed, and so from that point you may think you're issuing orders but in fact you are not.

Note that I'm referring to Punic Wars, so your experience with GW may be different. But PW has been very recently updated to reflect the latest changes in the engine.

Another reason that units seem to behave "against orders" is that orders really do have to be issued in the right sequence. Movements have to echeloned just so or you will have units running into each other and getting all balled up. Lots of ways to go wrong. The "Pause"" order, which makes units skip a 1/4 turn, is very useful to avoid collisions and "interpenetration" problems. Movement needs to be very deliberately done or you can quickly wind up with no effective command control at all.

I've learned too that orders need to be issued each turn. (I got that from Titus over at the "Ancient Wars" forum. Titus I think is Paul Bruffel, the designer.) A unit won't just sit with an old order until a new one is issued. Some units will default to a certain order, e.g, velites will default to skirmish, but not all units will do this. So if a unit seems to be "going agaist orders", he may just be acting in the absence of them.

Tim