I pretty much always stick my hoplites and other close-packed units into guardmode, except when I find the particular tactical occasion to merit allowing them a looser rein. Worked right fine thus far.

I stay the fig away from the short_pike as the visual effect is least said dodgy IMO, and after my experiences with plain spear (which according to the EDU Guide at least gives *less* pushing power than short_pike) am leery in the extreme of the potential for statting-consistency mayhem.

Same reason I've become quite wary of the BI shieldwall special formation these days.

Plus to be entirely blunt about it, giving short_pike to hoplites and them alone smacks to me of Ph34t L3wt fanboyism. As spear infantry went they weren't really particularly special when in comes down to that. Representing what those guys were and weren't good at works well enough with the current light_spear and guardmode, and above all keeps them in line with the rest of the roster - namely, as capable and pretty tough but somewhat over-specialised "middleweight" spearmen. Hell, given their actual historical track record, I personally rather suspect the EB stat allocation is really a bit on the generous side already...

But as Tellos says, matter of taste.