Mass movement in PC?

[Green]

IIRC, there was a column movement command in PzC.  Once you set up any column of units, meaning they are in adjoining hexes, then each turn you only had to give a movement command to the first unit in the column.  The rest would automatically follow the exact same route chosen by that first unit.

The tricky part was to organize the columns units by movement capacity and MP expenditure. I do not recall if you had to arrange the column with the slowest unit in front or if you used the quickest in front.  When units would lag behind they would slow every other unit behind them.  So arranging the column in order of the faster units to the front of the column did not help much as in real life the column would break up into smaller columns based on their relative speed traversing the terrain.

A compromise solution is to arrange the column by tactical need.  When moving, do not move the lead unit at maximum speed, but at a distance so the others can keep up to hold the columns cohesion.  Takes a bit of work to figure it out, though not so much when the column is moving solely along a road in the rear.  Once you have the optimal speed in the number of hexes noodled, it is easy to use the "N" key towards the end of the tun to locate the column and move it each turn.

This gives the player more flexibility in making slight course adjustments when needed, especially at road intersections where the AI gets terribly confused and will stray off the optimal path.

Dog Soldier

Yes, that is correct. What you are referring to is the Immediate AI Orders. The details of how both Immediate and Deferred AI Orders work are explained in detail under section "[4.9] Miscellaneous Movement Actions" in the revised User Manual.

You do not need to organize units into a column but the units need to be in contiguous hexes to be included in the order. If gaps form the stragglers then need to be handled separately.  

As you say, it gives more flexibility than using the Deferred AI, which is why I prefer it. But is it not perfect.