Quote Originally Posted by Ramses II CP
They're very inconsistant in vanilla MTW2, no doubt about it. I've had the best luck turning skirmish off and placing them directly behind a spear line. They often get a volley off right before enemy infantry engage that can do some decent damage. After that one volley, they're little more than poor man's reinforcements for the line. With skirmish on I've never gotten my money's worth.
This is what I always do. Playing h/vh on stainless steel 5.1 as Aragon and deploying your javelins behind your first line of infantry with skirmish off is the best use i've found for them. Just got almughavars though so might alter my tactics after a few battles if they are better for flanking. I play with huge unit sizes too so the old "javelin in the back" routine doesn't seem to happen too often which i remember with horror from RTW.