Spear wall vs. infantry?

[gauch0]

Has anyone looked hard at the effectiveness of the Yari spear wall versus an infantry charge? If my line of Yari Ashigaru is facing down a charge by enemy Yari Ashigaru or Sword Samurai (or a mix), am I better off charging into the enemy or holding still and forming a spear wall?

[Monk]

From what i've seen Yari Ashigaru will actually switch to swords after the initial charges (if not in spearwall). If this isnt a bug, the logic i've seen is that their spears are more for cavalry fighting and too cumbersome a in melee with infantry. Fighting with their side arms feels very ineffective, and i usually only let them to it when i'm on the attack.

From what i've seen, spear wall is a significant improvement but is almost impossible to use in an offensive manner. Whenever i'm on the defensive I usually have a spear wall at the center of my line, supported on the flanks by tougher troops. I also keep a unit in reserve behind the line to reinforce where needed since the spear wall can be very thin.

Understand these are only impressions and i have no hard numbers.

[Doug-Thompson]

Everything Monk said in the preceding post rings true, but most of all:

From what i've seen, spear wall is a significant improvement but is almost impossible to use in an offensive manner.

Frankly, I've used them as movable barricades with large gaps between these units. Skirmishing archers fall back through the gaps and katana-armed infantry rush to attack through them. The spear walls channel the attacks, sometimes into ambushes.

[Kocmoc]

Speaking for MP-part. We did tests and we couldnt see any difference vs. melee. It seems only to work vs. cav.
Also keep in mind:

- you slow down the unit massively
- you can only turn it on before the unit is in fight

Im not sure, how good the AI is playing, but online you hardly every get someone to charge into your slow spears.

[Daevyll]

Has anyone looked hard at the effectiveness of the Yari spear wall versus an infantry charge? If my line of Yari Ashigaru is facing down a charge by enemy Yari Ashigaru or Sword Samurai (or a mix), am I better off charging into the enemy or holding still and forming a spear wall?

From the description and trying it a few times out of curiosity, I'd say the spear wall only confers a bonus vs cavalry, and wouldnt do anything vs infantry except make the unit less mobile.