EBII 2.35A Question regarding pike usage.

[Janas]

Forgive me if this sounds silly, but, understanding that pikes in native M2TW were functionally, in the opinion of many, broken insofar as they would drop their pikes and go to secondary weapons FAR too easily, and most mods, (including EBII) remove the secondary weapon but do what they can to balance them otherwise, how ideally are they intended to be used?

Specifically, is there a tangible difference between fighting with spearwall on/off , and defensive mode on/off (besides pursuing enemies)?

For instance I notice that defensive stance drops the pikes when static, whilst without it they keep them upward. I notice they march faster with defensive stance off rather than on, and can actually sprint with both spearwall and defensive stance off, but I'm wondering if there's a way the developers would have designed them to be used, and what particular difference the two toggle-ables affect on their function.

I also notice, having just recently patched to 2.35A, that when static, toggling either of the aforementioned options gets my pikemen stuck in 'reforming' seemingly perpetually, and I need to manually stop them so they can reform.

[Sar1n]

Guard mode is very important for fighting in spear wall. When on, the unit acts as a "brick", keeping the enemy at pike length, sticking to the formation and not causing many casualties, but not taking many either, at least from the front. When the guard mode is turned off, the troops will actively try to stab the enemy, causing more casualties but letting more enemies through to close combat, and they won't hold the line perfectly and creep a bit forward when in contact with the enemy.

Because M2TW spear wall is hardcoded to use only first three ranks, the best use is to create thin, only four or five ranks deep line with guard mode on to take enemy charge, pin them down in place and exhaust them so the ranged units and flankers can do their job. Due to their unit size, they can pin down disproportionate number of enemy troops, giving you the opportunity to overwhelm the enemy elsewhere. Once the ranged troops did their jobs and flankers are attacking the pinned enemy, just turn guard mode off and watch the carnage. Enemies pressed by phalanx from the front and other unit from side or rear break quickly.

In towns, don't use them on walls. They're hopeless. They can deal with ranged units forced into melee, but any decent infantry, even light like Promachoi or Leginu will chop them down. Don't turn spear wall off if you want them to be of any use.
Down in the streets, they're actually good. Because M2TW allows two units to overlap, phalangitai are great force multipliers in a "blob" clearing the streets, as they can reach the enemy while still behind the first line of troops that's in contact with the enemy. Just toggle guard mode off for that. They won't do it if they're not in spear wall though...

[Sarkiss]

here is an experimentation with the pikes:

[Hellenikon]

What are the changes that 2.35A made to phalanxes? Could we get a changelog for 2.35A?
ATM I can't test them because my PC died and my laptop can't possibly run EB2.

[QuintusSertorius]

What are the changes that 2.35A made to phalanxes? Could we get a changelog for 2.35A?
ATM I can't test them because my PC died and my laptop can't possibly run EB2.

When I've got a stable version of 2.35A out there that isn't throwing up random bugs, I can turn my attention to things like updating the changelog.

[Janas]

Guard mode is very important for fighting in spear wall. When on, the unit acts as a "brick", keeping the enemy at pike length, sticking to the formation and not causing many casualties, but not taking many either, at least from the front. When the guard mode is turned off, the troops will actively try to stab the enemy, causing more casualties but letting more enemies through to close combat, and they won't hold the line perfectly and creep a bit forward when in contact with the enemy.

Because M2TW spear wall is hardcoded to use only first three ranks, the best use is to create thin, only four or five ranks deep line with guard mode on to take enemy charge, pin them down in place and exhaust them so the ranged units and flankers can do their job. Due to their unit size, they can pin down disproportionate number of enemy troops, giving you the opportunity to overwhelm the enemy elsewhere. Once the ranged troops did their jobs and flankers are attacking the pinned enemy, just turn guard mode off and watch the carnage. Enemies pressed by phalanx from the front and other unit from side or rear break quickly.

In towns, don't use them on walls. They're hopeless. They can deal with ranged units forced into melee, but any decent infantry, even light like Promachoi or Leginu will chop them down. Don't turn spear wall off if you want them to be of any use.
Down in the streets, they're actually good. Because M2TW allows two units to overlap, phalangitai are great force multipliers in a "blob" clearing the streets, as they can reach the enemy while still behind the first line of troops that's in contact with the enemy. Just toggle guard mode off for that. They won't do it if they're not in spear wall though...

This is pretty close to what I was asking for, thank you! Yeah, I was particularly curious as to how best to run them in EBII. My instinct would say spearwall+guard mode, but that can be a bit restrictive too if you're trying to accomplish different things, (like more offensive actions rather than holding for hammer+anvil-type tactics). So from what you've told me, the only reason I should ever toggle spearwall off is to get them to run from A-B, and otherwise, defensive mode's function is pretty self-explanatory!

Thanks, I really appreciate the response!