Keeping the pikes down when marching

**duncan.gill** · 04-04-2008, 00:41

Does anyone know how to have phalanxes march forward with their pikes down? I have seen the computer do this however whenever I move my pikemen they stick all of their pikes up into the air before marching.

Also does anyone know how to make sure that phalanxes overlap (i.e. so that a wall of pikes is presented; not with gaps in between them) without have to reorder each phalanx individually?

**MarcusAureliusAntoninus** · 04-04-2008, 01:53

Phalangitai should keep their pikes down when marching in a straight line. They'll only raise them if they have to turn first...

You should be able to make a wall of pikes simply by putting all your units in single line formation. The only holes will be the officers.

**duncan.gill** · 04-04-2008, 03:08

The issue with that is that I find because of the officers then it lets the other unit infiltrate part of the phalanx and start killing your men (whereas if a solid wall of spears is presented then your unit is effectively invulnerable from the front in relation to melee).

**Watchman** · 04-04-2008, 04:59

I tend to make a point of having an unit or two of something else behind the phalanx line for the express purpose of dealing with any bugger trying to wriggle between the pike units (the equivalent in city fights is two units of whatever to block buggers who try to sneak along the walls).

Which said, far as I've noticed the officers are usually way hard to kill, and most phalanxes have two to boot so they're not much of an opening. If anything, they tend to make it harder for the opponent to "wrap" around that flank as they're so tough...

Gar.

**blitzkrieg80** · 04-04-2008, 06:42

seriously, the phalanx-men are TOO easy to kill now? gar indeed. with some a-hoy hoy to boot.

**Parallel Pain** · 04-04-2008, 07:10

I don't get how the AI could just turn their pikes TO THE SIDE and fight any troop that's flanking them that way. I mean come. Even if they could turn to face the enemy it would be raising the pike vertical, turning, and lowering it again.

**Philippus Flavius Homovallumus** · 04-04-2008, 13:47

Originally Posted by duncan.gill

The issue with that is that I find because of the officers then it lets the other unit infiltrate part of the phalanx and start killing your men (whereas if a solid wall of spears is presented then your unit is effectively invulnerable from the front in relation to melee).

What depth are you using?

**duncan.gill** · 04-05-2008, 11:38

I have found that altering the thickness of the phalanx does not make a difference - there are usually small spaces left in the spears due to the unit edge/officers being there.

Does anyone know how to keep the pikes down when advancing?

**Maion Maroneios** · 04-05-2008, 12:09

Well, this is somewhat difficult if you don't have any experience with phalanx-based factions. I have played Greek factions from the time I got RTW until now, but let me tell you it took me quite a lot of time to learn all the tricks.

Anyway, the best way is to group all your phalangites into a single team, then left-click on the team number and apply the single line formation (shift+1). If you want them to move to a desired destination, after having clicked on the team number, right-click on your destination. You pikemen will then move forward and, asuuming you have the phalanx formation on, will move slowly with their pikes lowered down.

You must, however, click on a destination which is somewhere on the (hypothetically) straight line that crosses the center of your phalanx line, otherwise your men will turn and raise their pikes. Hope this helped!