And this is formations 101, or "How not to get your t-dolls slaughtered for showing up in a terrible formation." This will cover the absolute basics, with more detailed lessons such as compositions to come later. Most of this information is based largely on Korean server meta and information.

The problem with formations is that it is a sufficiently broad and widely encompassing topic with enough little things about it that you can make an entire series on it, as it would be a pain to handle in 1 entry and I'm not being paid enough to do it all in 1 shot. Hence, this is part 1 of a multipart series on it.

Before we begin, the basic notation used for positioning is based on the position of numbers on a standard keyboard numpad. As such, they are:

Thus, referring to position 7 refers to the upper left corner of the formation (from the formation menu), while 3 corresponds to the lower right, and 5 is dead center. Easy enough right?

The goal of a formation is to provide your echelon with sufficient overlapping buffs and firepower while also allowing them to respond to enemy threats and present themselves in such a way that damage from enemy action is mitigated or eliminated entirely. Based on the position of a doll, its aura will provide bonuses to other dolls and it will in turn, receive buffs from the auras of others.

Your priority in this should of course, to buff the DPS units in a formation to the maximum extent possible. Buffs for tanks are secondary and much less important in general - raw, unrelenting firepower is the most effective shield in this game.

Keep in mind that auras for buffs are set at the very start of a fight, affecting units for the entire duration regardless of movement, so feel free to move your units around. In fact, moving units around is so immensely powerful as a force multiplier that it can make or break battles, depending on your degree of control.

Alongside that, the way dolls are presented will also affect enemy targeting, and to a degree, your own. A full explanation of targeting is available in Korean, but has not yet been properly translated to English (I'll work on it one of these days). The basic part is that the front and center position is the primary focus of the enemy's firepower. If your frontmost rank is occupied, then whatever is on position 6 will take the majority of the enemy's firepower. If 9/6/3 are empty, then whatever is in position 5 will take the most. The wing positions take less than the center positions, but will be prioritised over the center of the rank behind them.

Unlike with auras, targeting priorities DO change over the course of a fight, so movement will affect it. This allows you to swap tanks in the middle of a fight, or even spoof enemy units into wasting time trying to engage a unit, only for your unit to leave their firing range. This will be discussed in more detail in a more dedicated blog entry.

The last basic part of a formation is that it affects your firing range. The closer a unit (any unit) is to the frontmost rank, the longer the firing range of the echelon (as such, having units at the very front gives you the maximum possible firing range). However, because of how enemy units spawn and then advance towards you ,the further ahead units are, the sooner enemy units will reach their own firing range on them. Thus, both sides will fire upon each other sooner.

However, your range is generally greater than the enemy's. and thus you can take advantage of this by moving units back once the enemy have begun engaging, forcing them to move forward again. This basic trick can buy you several seconds for your DPS to finish the enemy safely.

Now, these are some considerations when forming an echelon and deciding your formation:

1. A common rookie mistake is to want to maximise all the aura buff tiles. You should of course not waste them and try to maximise them if you can, but you need to accept that for the most part, some buffs will inevitably be wasted. Focus more on buffing DPS units if you can, and arrange other units to protect them.
2. An echelon composition should have a specific purpose or otherwise some mechanic that allows it to deal with the enemy. Sometimes this is as simple as "shoot them a whole lot until they die first," but every t-doll actually contributing in some noticeable way. At least for combat formations. Leveling formations are obviously exempt, as the goal is instead to raise unit levels instead of maximise combat power.
3. Make sure it has some means of survival. This doesn't necessarily mean it needs a dedicated tank unit (or else a lot of formations like 4HG/1RF wouldnt exist) but it does mean you should be mindful of what they will encounter on the mission you intend to deploy and make sure you have some sort of plan to keep them alive, be it kiting, stun bombs, shields tanks, or simply dealing so much damage that enemies die before they can hurt you.
4. Echelons are fluid, not static. You can remove or swap in members as needed. Do not feel obligated to keep it together like some sort of dedicated unit if members would be more useful elsewhere for the time being or you need other units. If you need an echelon again, you can just it back together. 
5. Rules are sometimes meant to be broken. If you insist in arranging units a certain way (for tile buffs), sometimes you will have enough time to arrange into a more combatworthy formation, sometimes you wont. In higher level combat, a bad formation can get your units killed before they have a chance to retreat. As you learn the game, you'll be more familiar with what you can get away with.

Basic Formation Shapes#

This is not an all-encompassing guide to how you should shape your formations, but a reference for some commonly used (and formerly commonly used) formations and the theory behind them. There are a few others, but they will tend to be variations of these. If you're new to formation building, you should probably use these until you are more familiar with the game.