How to Employ Pikemen

[Bilgediver]

Yeesh the only people who think pikes are "bugged" are those who expect them to be the "be all and end all" of infantry like in RTW.

I use them quite effectively. Sure I get a lot of losses but I use them for what they were intended in one way, as the "anvil", while I use other units to actually deal the damage (either heavy cav or crossbowmen). I had very effective armies as Portugal marching across Europe with Pavise Crossbowmen, Aventuros, and (depending on the age) cannons/catapults/trebuchets. Once I got musketeers, I started fielding pike militia/musketeers instead. I haven't perfected the pike and shot formations, but that will come in time, and pike militia are still just militia.

Why do people think pike militia > even DFK's? Sheesh. I use my missile units to actually get kills. My pike militia are just fodder (with the added bonus of pinning the enemy forces). The instant the enemy makes contact, I disable guard mode, and just let them "push" forward (as pikes should do).

Side note, go up against Brussels with just your basic units and you'll find the Computer can use pikes quite effectively against infantry. I could only take down the flemish pikemen from the side or flanks, my spear militia (as HRE or France) got their asses kicked.