Mini guide for Rome 2 Total War: Pikemen vs. Hoplites
Which is better in Rome 2: hoplites or pikemen? Why are pikemen considered better if their stats are worse? Why are they more expensive? All great questions.
First, one must remember that raw stats don't tell the whole story and that what you get actually in practice is not a sandbox digits vs. digits result. Rome 2 goes beyond the comparing of spreadsheets when it comes to battle efficacy.
While hoplites and pikes both boast the phalanx formation as a special ability one can toggle on or off, they behave radically different in game. Both are intended to be a primarily defencive unit and are not what one would call "shock infantry" (those being, the guys with the 50-60 plus damage and edged weapons such as swords and axes, whose primary role is to make mincemeat out of defencive infantry when they catch them out of formation or if they flank them). The rundown:
Pikemen
The sarissa wall makes it so that despite the paltry stats of low tier pikemen, the enemy simply dies before they can engage the actual men in the formation. Even levy pikemen shred equal tier (and even one tier higher) melee troops with smaller reach. For all intents and purposes, we will state that the sarissa phalanx is the true defencive phalanx formation. They annihilate cavalry in this formation and the enemy has to throw ungodly amounts of lower reach troops to break a pike block with a frontal attack. That is why "corner camping" with these guys is so good - because your flanks are protected by the limits of the battle map (the red edges). This is a very bad thing to do in multiplayer, but it works wonders in single player.
The actual men holding the pikes are of rather mediocre stock and if something gets through they drop like flies or retreat. But nothing CAN get through, except for other pikemen in which case, whomever has the edge in quality will win rather quickly.
Also, their shields are smaller and they are typically lightly armoured, so ranged fire really takes its toll on them. The ways your pike block can fail are:
- Be pelted to death by slingers/archers
- Be rear charged by cavalry
- Be attacked from the two flanks by superior melee infantry (sword armed units attacking your two outermost units from the side, thus avoiding the pike wall)
- Have their morale broken by flaming missiles, general death, neighboring unit losses, and/or a combination of the above factors.
- Be engaged by vastly superior melee forces frontally, or by superior pikemen (levy pikes fighting Macedonian foot companions for example)
You will love minor settlement battles when making use of a pike core and will shriek with horror if an enemy sallies in the field and he has triple the amount of cav you have. Basically make sure you have at least equal cavalry to your enemy if you will fight an offensive field battle using pikes. For defence, as mentioned, you can secure a high ground, corner or other such protected position and let the enemy break his teeth against your pike wall. In minor settlements your armies will frequently re-enact the battle from 300, as the enemy charges at pike walls upon pike walls. When assaulting a settlement, I choose the broadest avenue of approach towards the victory point, and use two lines of pikes that hop one before the other.
Moving pikes to an offensive position is not done via a right click command, as that would make them discard their sarissas, break formation and go into melee with their butter knives! That will have drastic consequences and prolonged melee in this mode will result in heavy casualties, routs, chain routs and ultimately - losing the battle. You should attack with a pike block by simply ordering them to move (right click and hold, and drag the line to an appropriate width) further inside. Once they set foot and the enemy charges, wait a bit (and perhaps use the special ability "hold") and then order the second line to proceed further towards the victory point. Since your flanks are protected by the buildings in the settlement, the enemy will have no option but to face the pike block. Basically whenever you have to order your pikes to move or reinforce friendly units nearby, using the move command and re-arranging their formation is the only way you should do it.
When fighting in the field, always make sure your last two units on each end of the pike block are not pikemen but other melee infantry. Be it a regular hoplite in phalanx formation, eastern spearmen in square formation (This formation turns them from chumps into champs. They become stationary but they will hold their own versus 4 times more men and not give in so that the enemy can start dicing at the exposed side of your pike block) or hillmen in shield wall. Basically anything that will fight reasonably well "on its own" and possibly surrounded from 2 or 3 sides.
Hoplites
These units, while still obviously great defencive troops with rather low offensive stats, are meant to be used somewhat differently than a pike wall. It must be noted that while the phalanx formation gives them some decent bonuses, they are in no way required to make use of it to be effective. Mid tier and higher hoplites have very good morale, endurance and armour, and thus they can be used as all purpose fighters. They can run around the battlefield, they can fight cavalry very well as they are armed with spears, they can defend choke points or stop charges in phalanx formation, they can be used a shock infantry and they are especially good at guarding the flanks of a pike wall.
High tier hoplites have north of 80 armour, great shield values, lots of health and endurance. Especially the elite variants like Heroes of Sparta, Spartan Nobles, Shield Bearers and Mercenary Veteran Hoplites. These men love a prolonged fight. The longer the fight, the more value they have for the commander possessing them. They will not outfight dedicated melee infantry like Oathsworn, Silver Shield Swordsmen and Swordmasters in most cases, but they will be better all-round units in terms of their other uses (anti-cav, defence and missile defence). Plinking away with slingers at elite hoplites will accomplish little more than annoy them (unlike with pikemen who will give casualties).
Hoplite heavy armies can lose to:
- Pike heavy armies (if unable to flank)
- Repeated rear charges from shock cavalry
- Equal tier shock infantry in great numbers
- Masses of horse achers (when commanded by a human player)
Notice the "repeated"and "great numbers" above. While a pike block will crumble fairly easily if caught from an unfavourable angle (read: anything but their front), the hoplites have enough morale, armour, defence and health to withstand a couple of tactical blunders and swiftly regroup to face the enemy from the new direction. This, coupled with the fact that the hoplite phalanx is a much more nimble formation to turn around and reposition, and that the strict maintaining of it is not required for battle efficacy, makes them great reserve/flank troops to throw into wherever they are needed.
In regards to upgrades and unit recruitment centers, hoplites benefit more from those as they are percentage based. A province with a tier 4 barracks, two smithies, two training fields and a tier 4 temple to Ares in the capital and 3 x tier 3 temples of Ares in the minors would produce elite soldiers that will have bars reaching or even exceeding the 100 mark. While the same benefits will be transferred to the pike units as well, the numeric advantages will be smaller (as 20% off 30 is less than 20% off 90 obviously).
Hope this helps all the blossoming hellenic commanders out there!
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Originally Posted by Myth
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