Grouping and I aren't friends, so I don't use it much. 

Some conforming clothing drapes a lot better than others. The old V3 tunic drapes quickly, but the results aren't that great. Maybe there's not enough polys or something. Valiant and Courageous drape quickly and beautifully. The Morphing Cloak drapes well, but very, very slowly. Still, I often use it as dynamic clothing, just because it's easier to put on top of other clothes, which is what you generally want for a cloak.

That first render is amazing. That's a lot of figures for one render. I assume it was done in one pass, with all those shadows and reflections.