Short Pike

[Lord_Megahertz]

Yo, what does short pike do?

[Makanyane]

short_pike: Use shorter than normal spears. Can be used with phalanx ability or without it. The unit is still considered as infantry (and not spearmen). Grants a bonus of 8 versus mounted units, but due to the qualities of the formation (spacing, cohesion, etc) it seems that it roughly gets an extra -1 versus everyone. It also seems that short_pike overrides light_spear and spear, so that when the two are combined spear/light_spear is ignored, though due to it's own qualities it does slightly affect combat, depending on the units involved.
from Aradan's EDU guide here:
https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=88859