I don't use hotstrings for this. I simply bind one key to different movements on each toon.

I just do a star formation.

Bind key is 'E'
toon 1 Step Left
toon 2 Step Right
Toon 3 Step Back
Toon 4 Step Forward

So just bind each movement above to the E key and they will make a formation. Or you can change it up a bit. Is this what you are trying to do?