(Late) (Roman) Formations

[Tarbicus]

Initiative is when things turn out well.

Ill-discipline is when things turn out badly.

I think until we know more about how commands and signals were given (or perhaps not given), and how effective they were on the battlefield with all of the noise and clamour (in some cases the topography of the land must have had an influence, blocking visual and audible signals) it's difficult to judge what was initiative/ill-discipline, and what was simple necessity and how decisions were made in actual practice on the battlefield at the micro level. If later Roman armies were so compressed as you say, how would a commander effectively pass orders from unit to unit, and how would he even know the commands were successfully received and followed?