How do YOU use pikes?

[Owain Glyndŵr]

I know there's an immense thread in General Discussion about this, but it's more of a negative one. How exactly do you use pikes in battle, other than for defending settlements?

I'll flank them with with missile units, seeing as fleeing skirmishers interfere with the formation. That or I'll use them to assault a breach... they're actually quite good at that. Blow a hole in the wall with artillery or siege weapons, clog the breach with expendable pikemen, and take advantage of the confusion however you see fit. I like to simultaneously create two breaches, distract the enemy at one with pikes, and send shock troops or skirmishers around the side to engage from behind.

[Double A]

Filling holes in the longbow stake wall...

Uhh...

General defense...

"Move through the enemy" offensive maneuvers, then stop them so the pikes come down on the heads of the poor AI troops...

Yeah, thats it...

[Sher Khan]

When playing defensive, I'll string a two-rank deep line of melee infantry right in front of the kneeling rank of pikemen. This keeps them well defended from aggressive enemy infantry. The swordsman unit battles their peers while the pikes safely jab away at the charging enemy without having them close in for swords.

This keeps an otherwise thin rank of undefended non-spear infantry from cavalry charges while keeping the pikemen from losing battles with melee infantry. This works well also in conjunction with or replacement of skirmisher troops firing from behind the spear points, such as musketeers.



Also, moved to Battle Planning!

[robbo]

When playing defensive, I'll string a two-rank deep line of melee infantry right in front of the kneeling rank of pikemen. This keeps them well defended from aggressive enemy infantry. The swordsman unit battles their peers while the pikes safely jab away at the charging enemy without having them close in for swords.

That's exactly what I do when playing defensive too.

When attacking with pikemen, I send out heavy infantry in front. During the advance the heavy infantry takes the missile fire, rather than the pikemen resulting in me losing less men. When I'm near enough, I charge with the heavy infantry and then send the pikemen in right after. The pikes slide in between my men and jab away at the enemy while the heavy infantry does its thing. This means I keep my pikemen well protected but still dangerous and my heavy infantry gets a little more breathing space.

[Carpathian Wolf]

I advance on the enemy with pikemen infront about 3 or 4 ranks deep and axemen/swordmen/heavy infantry behind them. Once I start nearing the enemy infantry I charge my heavy infantry at theirs while my units spread to either side forming "wings". As the battle progresses i inch my pikes to shuffle in the enemy toward the center or just cover my infantry's flanks from heavy cav.

[Owain Glyndŵr]

Sher Khan's strategy sounds an awful lot like the strategy I used as Scotland the other day... by cramming some cheap Highlanders in front of my pikes in a spread formation, I could hold off enemy infantry while the pikemen kept stabbing away... and when enemy cavalry charged in, they died in seconds. Just make sure you keep some good heavy infantry on the flanks.

This also works well as the Holy Roman Empire(Landsknecht with armoured spearmen to absorb arrows) and Spain (Tercio Pikemen and Sword-and-Buckler Men)

+Rep for that one. ^__^

[Old_Scratch]

Here was my response from the other pike thread. It pretty much sums it up.

I play vanilla and pikemen are actually very good units. The first thing you need to remember is that pike militia cost 150 florins. That's similar to peasants, and you're getting a unit that can stop the most advanced heavy cavalry dead. Second, pike militia also have three armor upgrades available, which makes them much more powerful.

As for their use, unless they are standing and defending against cavalry, they should never be used alone, as should be expected by a 150 florin unit. If you want to use them offensively you need to either mix in more pikemen or some swordsmen. Make sure you disable guard mode and tell your pikes to attack from behind your swordsmen who are already engaged. They will move up and start poking between the ranks effectively multiplying the offensive power of your front.

My favorite tactic though is to use all pikemen, of various types. Deploy them four units across and layer the rest behind these four units with the strongest units in the front. If you give them the weapon upgrade this can be very powerful and still far cheaper than swordsmen or spearmen. As pikemen engage and the pikemen behind them engage more and more pikes are brought to the front until it becomes imposable for the enemy to get through them and they quickly rout. It's pretty much a wall o' death. Just remember to disable guard mode or this will fail miserably.

As for defense, set your pikemen in guard mode to receive the charge. You only need one unit of pikes to stop cavalry, but even the best pikemen will be over run if used alone against heavily armored units. So you usually need two pikemen on top of each other to stop a DCM charge. I know what your thinking, why use two units to do the work of one? It's because two militia pikemen cost a total of 300 florins, that's less than half of what a DCM costs and they will defeat a DCM. This really starts to show in multiplayer, especially since all the money you saved by buying pikes can be used to upgrade your cavalry.

[Owain Glyndŵr]

DCM?

[Old_Scratch]

DCM?

Dismounted chivalric knight. I use it a lot to compare other units to because it a very good unit that isn't too expensive.

[Carpathian Wolf]

What is with the guard mode concerning pikemen? In Kingdoms turning guard mode off is like turning off pike wall formation. What does it do in medievalii?

[Owain Glyndŵr]

In Guard Mode, Pikemen will stay in the braced formation, and take their swords out rather than move into a position to make their pikes more effective. Keep Guard Mode on until the enemy starts to breach the spearwall, then turn it off and they'll start pushing them back.

[Carpathian Wolf]

Is this for Kingdoms too?

So if they have guard mode, they take their swords out eventually, if they don't have guard mode they use their pikes. =/ weird. I like pikes but i honestly havnt had that much experience with them even though when i do use them i find them very useful.

[Old_Scratch]

Is this for Kingdoms too?

So if they have guard mode, they take their swords out eventually, if they don't have guard mode they use their pikes. =/ weird. I like pikes but i honestly havnt had that much experience with them even though when i do use them i find them very useful.

Guard mode for pikes is defensive only. As Ford King said, it will make them form a braced position. It's good for stopping charges, but they don't function well at all on offense and will drop their pikes pretty fast trying to attack in guard mode. With guard more disabled, they will lift their pikes, but don't worry they are still in spear wall. When the enemy gets close they will lower their pikes and attack. They will also move much faster and fight better with guard mode disabled. It's the same for kingdoms and vanilla.

[Carpathian Wolf]

But regardless of guard mode if you want them to use pikes for bracing/attacking you still need pikewall button clicked right?

[Old_Scratch]

But regardless of guard mode if you want them to use pikes for bracing/attacking you still need pikewall button clicked right?

Correct, if you take them out of spear wall they will not use their pikes at all. Spearwall disabled is good to use because it allows your pikemen to run. Switch it on and off as necessary.

[merocaine]

I like to use swords pikes and muskets mixed in together.

Muskets standing behind the pike tips, with the swords men in the rear rank of the Pikes.
If you get really lucky your muskets can get a point blank volley in as the enemy are held up by the pike tips, then send in the swordsmen to finish them, if they havent cracked already.

Works well with fast cav on the wings. They make up for the relative lack of mobility in the formation.

To be avoided if you dont like micro management!