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Phalanxes are everywhere! So many factions have them. Thing is I've always felt like I'm not using them right.
For instance, should guard mode be on or off? Why do they always seem to lose formation when I have them attack?
I think I grasp the basic concepts: being flanked= death. Hold formation, no gaps in the line, strongest on the right, pin the enemy infantry and hit them with cavalry or other flankers. But I'd appreciate an idiot-proof guide to deploying them.
Off-the-cuff thoughts:
I almost always leave guard mode on unless a phalanx is in danger of being enveloped. Then I turn it off so the unit responds to the flankers better. Note that is a situation you DO NOT want to get into often, or you'll have a lot less phalanxes quickly.
I've read that some players will make long, relatively thin phalanx lines and then turn guard off so the phalanxes envelop. Haven't tried it yet though.
Always, always, always have some sort of flanking infantry. Roughly half spears and half swords if you can manage, so you can effectively deal with whatever flankers the enemy might send and/or chew thru their flanks and envelop. If you can't afford/don't have access to decent heavy cavalry, these will be your "anvil". If you can, then you can use these guys in tandem with the heavy cav to cause near instant routs.
If there is anything you can leave out, its missile troops, but go as the situation dictates.
Theyalways seem to lose formation when you click attack is because they dtart taking the shortest path to the center of the enemy unit. Better if you just click behind them and let the formed up line collide with the enemy and then click for targets.
There's this bug in Vanilla after 1.2 which disrupts a phalanx formation (you know these guys wandering off to somewhere completely different from where their target is?), and that's something EB can't fix. But there's a way around this: make the enemy attack you. You didn't have a charge bonus to speak of with phalanxes anyway, and this way the phalanx more or less stays in formation.
Tricks:
1) Use a dirt cheap phalanx unit, preferably with an armour upgrade to act as decoys for enemy missile infantry, particularly effective against longbowmen. Make sure this unit is always facing the enemy missiles and have a couple of your own missile units (preferably longbowmen, or even better: slingers) behind them. Now you don't need those expensive, easily wasted light cavalry units anymore.
2) To catch an enemy heavy cavalry general/ unit: some missile infantry lined up in front of your main phalanx battle line, preferably at one of the flanks. Be sure to have an eaven distribution of support troops, so that no flank is particularly stronger than the other, or better still: make sure that your missile units are standing on the weaker side of your battle line. Be carefull though: you'll need decent phalanx infantry for this job - pantodapoi may simply get slaughtered, especially when trying this with eastern/ nomad enemies. Some light/ medium spearmen to guard the rear & flanks of your phalanx would be ideal as well. Now, when the enemy cavalry goes after your missile units, all you have to do is to make sure the cavalry is lured towards your light/ medium spearmen (or in case you didn't have them, towards your phalanx unit). You'll now use a mini anvil and hammer to squash the cavalry and eliminate any future threat to your flanks.
3) Use phalanxes in city battles, because they can't be out flanked there. Something the works out particularly well, is to smash down a gate, send in 2 phalanx units (make sure you don't try this with stone walls - otherwise your phalanx will be obliterated), to pin down most if not all of the enemy forces. Next smash through the walls somewhere else, and use heavy infantry supported by other phalanxes to hit the enemy flank(s).
4) Use hills to your advantage: almost no enemy can charge through a wall of pikes standing uphill.
5) Use the phalanx as a second wall, from behind which your slingers/ archers can target the enemy safely and - if you're lucky - annoy the enemy so much that they will run straight into the pikes, towards certain death. Works with enemies that have, by tradition, limitted cavalry (experience), or lot's of (light) infantry.
6) Have a couple of phalanx units in reserve: they can force a break through relatively easily, by "push of pikes".
7) Do not get distracted by all the eye candy those units have: I sometimes have this, and the moment you think "wow, what an impressive/ beautifull side, I'm so happy with this!" - your flanks are gone because something (the AI) decided those 5 mins was just the right time to hit, and hit hard. Do not even do this when the enemy has half the battefield to march.
8) Clog up the streets with those units. Nothing get's past them. Also: when you want your other units to safely move into a settlement, you can use 1 or 2 units to hold one side, and 1 or 2 others to hold the other side, creating a tiny "meeting place" for the rest of your army.
9) Always keep in mind that they're big (playing on Large or larger settings, that is), and that you will need to adjust their formations to make them fit within the streets if you assault a settlement with walls. And always make sure to leave plenty of time and space for your phalanx units to adjust formations when needed.
10) Do not leave these somewhere in the front or rear of your army, separated from the rest of it and/ or cut off from support. A sure way to lose them, or suffer horrible casualties.
11) Remember a phalanx unit is only usefull as a phalanx if it has plenty of men in it: on large settings, units of (40 - 70, depending on experience) or smaller are only usefull in cities. This doesn't mean you need to disband or retrain them per se: if they drop below the limit which defines their worth as a part of the main battle line(s), you can always turn the phalanx mode off and have them double as reliable light/ medium/ heavy support or even shock infantry! ~;)
Especially pezhetairoi or higher can be nasty surprise to any enemy caught unprepared: they have quite some stamina as well.
EDIT: The "having your strongest on the right" is not an obligatory like thing. But if you plan to fight as historically accurate as possible: this practice of putting your elites on the right is simply hellenic tradition, by having your elites facing the enemy weaker brethren you can a) save your own elite forces; b) break through the enemy phalanx quicker - once you've done that you win ('cause the enemy will rout, or get trapped between your own forces). And since Hellens were quite the sort of people who liked to stick to what they did/ knew best... Just an example: the Spartans didn't appreciate the tactics of their Theban foes when they decided to reverse traditional line up. And on a personal note: I tend to completely disrupt my main battle lines, and use a sort of double/ triple envelopment - especially during major battles. ~:)
One interesting thing I've seen is the habit of phalanxes deployed in deep ranks to flatly push through their wider, thinner deployed colleagues. I've seen it happen of Pant. Phalangitai vs Pant. Phalangitai matchups at least, and presumably the principle works with others as well. Dunno how reliable it is - I don't play "pike" factions that much - but "cleaving" an enemy pike line like that presumably requires guard mode to be off (so the phalagites "push" properly) and seems to incur rather ugly casualties rather fast on the receiving phalanx.
Thanks, This should help, especially the click behind them thing. I knew something was wrong.