Hi

Personally I think pikes generally are too expensive - and too much bother - for what you get, taking into account their build requirements. Plus, you get so little frontage out of them if you're looking to maximise their additional ranks bonus.

And yeah, they're terribly vulnerable to missiles, and really unwiedly: as soon as they have to change facing or re-order their ranks they (which is to say you) are in trouble.

I think in most situations I'd rather have Chiv Sargeants with some armour and morale upgrades.

That said, Swiss Armoured Pikemen are one of the truely scary units to encounter in the AI's battle deployment roster, 'cos you know that, other things being equal, if they actually manage to engage your main battleline they're going to do serious damage. I can vividly recall a rebellion/reappearance consisting of several stacks largely composed of SAPs and Swiss Halbs. That one took several, very attritional, years to put down.

Best regards
Victor