In an attempt to continue to throw things at the wall and see what sticks...
Advanced Initiative
This system of intiative is intended to take advantage of some ideas present in Domains at War, and bring a few interesting options to the table regarding party coordination.
Personal Characteristics
Each character has the following characteristics:
Speed Factor: This is the default ACKS initiative modifier. It is based on a combination of dex mod, class skills and a few proficiencies. This represents overall quickness.
Strategic Ability: This is the DoW initiative trait. The highest bonus from Int or Wis minus the lowest penalty, plus military ability. This represents grasp of the situation on the battlefield.
Leadership Ability: The number of henchmen the character can manage.
Morale Modifier: As in the main rules.
Modified Initiative Modifier
Instead of computing initiative via the usual method, characters compute their initiative modifier using a combination of Speed Factor and Strategic Ability:
Initiative Modifier: The highest bonus from Strategic Ability and Speed Factor minus the lowest penalty from Strategic Ability and Speed Factor.
This modification allows initiative to take into account not only pure speed, but also the "situational awareness" of the character.
Cooperation
When characters are operating in a coordinated way toward a goal (holding a line, say) the characters will adjust their Initiative Modifier to use the Strategic Ability of the leader of the effort instead of their Strategic Ability, and they will use a single die roll to determine initiative. Because the individuals have different speed factors, the members of a group may end up with different initiative values, but they will be closely grouped. A leader may coordinate themselves and up to their leadership ability in other characters at once.
NPCs cooperating with a leader in this way will benefit/suffer from the morale modifier of the leader.
Example:
Solaine (SF +1, SA +3, LA 4, Morale +0)
Torgyr (SF +2, SA 0, LA 4, Morale +0)
Steel (SF -1, SA -1, LA 4, Morale +0)
Quinn (SF +1, SA +1, LA 3, Morale -1)
Zim (SF +1, SA 0, LA 4, Morale 0)
Plud (SF +1, SA -1, LA 3, Morale -1)
If this group was operating independent from one another, some of their intiative modifiers would change. Solaine would now have an intiative mod of +3, representing her excellent situational awareness, and Plud would have a +0 initiative mod, because of his tunnel vision.
If Solaine were to organize Torgyr, Steel, Quinn and Zim into a strike force, taking advantage of her command of the battlefield, they would now have the following intiative mods: Torgyr +3, Steel +2, Quinn +3, Zim +3. They would also roll a single die, and thus mostly operate together. Solaine could not also add Plud to this group, because her leadership ability is not high enough.
If Plud had a great idea, and took charge, he would, instead create some problems... he could command Solaine, Torgyr and Steel, but could not add Quinn and Zim because of his low leadership ability. Their init mods would change to: Solaine 0, Torgyr +1, Steel -1.