Strongest Pike Faction?

**Leggy** · March 20, 2014, 06:56 PM

Which of the various Phalangite factions do you reckon has the best selection of pikemen?

**KAM 2150** · March 20, 2014, 06:58 PM

Seleucids

**Leggy** · March 20, 2014, 07:01 PM

Was hoping for Macedon.

**Barune** · March 20, 2014, 07:28 PM

Macedon will be getting a revamp soon (.85) so possibly in the future?

**tomFoolery** · March 20, 2014, 09:03 PM

I haven't touched a Carthage campaign yet, so I'm wondering how it's been for other people. How are they with pikeman armies once they're able to establish them and no longer rely solely on swordsmen and hoplites? Has anyone tried that yet?

**repi1** · March 21, 2014, 12:43 AM

Originally Posted by tomFoolery

I haven't touched a Carthage campaign yet, so I'm wondering how it's been for other people. How are they with pikeman armies once they're able to establish them and no longer rely solely on swordsmen and hoplites? Has anyone tried that yet?

Carthage with pikes is very easy (but interesting) to play. You have a wide range for combining your armies. Syracuse and Rome are bread and butter. Only with one faction i have problem to conquer. This was knossos with 4 full stack on Crete.

**tomFoolery** · March 21, 2014, 07:25 AM

Originally Posted by repi1

Carthage with pikes is very easy (but interesting) to play. You have a wide range for combining your armies. Syracuse and Rome are bread and butter. Only with one faction i have problem to conquer. This was knossos with 4 full stack on Crete.

I thought something was done to limit single settlement factions to just 2 stacks?

**LawL_LawL** · March 21, 2014, 02:16 PM

Originally Posted by tomFoolery

I thought something was done to limit single settlement factions to just 2 stacks?

The base game did that for us. Base-level Imperium allows for 2 armies 1 navy. Perhaps if you stay with one settlement but expand Imperium values to level 2 through other means (research and buildings? battles? relations with the powerful? I'm not sure if any of these work, but it's speculation atm) you'll unlock that 4/2 split for armies and navies.

**cerebral** · March 20, 2014, 09:07 PM

Any pike is a good pike. With Carthage just T2 barrack and good to goez. You can skirmisher it too for the Baelic slingers or w/e which are pretty nice. Before you get pikes with carthage you have Lybian Hoplites which cost a lot to recruit (700) but who cares!? You own Africa$$$. They wreck. GG Spain/Rome.

Seleucids. Pikes best anvil, elephants, chariots, cataphracts, w/e the !@$# you want, they have it.

**LawL_LawL** · March 20, 2014, 11:25 PM

Pretty sure Macedon's Pezhetairoi are the single best pike unit in the game, but that's the very, very top tier so you won't see that besides as general's units for quite some time.

Honestly I got about as much effective mileage out of Epistratoi Phalangitai as I did my Argyraspides Phalangitai as Seleucids, because the key factor with pikemen is merely to pin the enemy in place. I found no meaningful difference in this regard as both formations could keep enemies at bay equally effectively. The stats only came into play in terms of the rate of casualties you inflict on the enemy and the effectiveness with which your phalangites fight in 1v1 when they get peeled off the formation by enemies, usually on the first and last file of the formation.

Oh and of course armour values vary, but not enough that phalangitai of any kind can resist missile fire whatsoever. Even slingers start to add up their damage with several volleys.

**Leiska** · March 21, 2014, 11:07 PM

Originally Posted by LawL_LawL

Pretty sure Macedon's Pezhetairoi are the single best pike unit in the game, but that's the very, very top tier so you won't see that besides as general's units for quite some time.

Honestly I got about as much effective mileage out of Epistratoi Phalangitai as I did my Argyraspides Phalangitai as Seleucids, because the key factor with pikemen is merely to pin the enemy in place. I found no meaningful difference in this regard as both formations could keep enemies at bay equally effectively. The stats only came into play in terms of the rate of casualties you inflict on the enemy and the effectiveness with which your phalangites fight in 1v1 when they get peeled off the formation by enemies, usually on the first and last file of the formation.

This is all correct, though phalangite quality also plays a significant role when fighting opposing phalangites.

**LawL_LawL** · March 22, 2014, 05:59 AM

Originally Posted by Leiska

This is all correct, though phalangite quality also plays a significant role when fighting opposing phalangites.

This is true, though the AI can't properly employ phalanx troops at all so I wouldn't worry too much about that. One would literally be turning on a rotating band saw and running their arm along the length of it if one fought AI pikemen head-on with any unit, even their own superior pikemen.