Quote Originally Posted by SpencerH
Missiles should chew up phlanx units.
I don't think so. Many of these hoplite units had big shields and greaves and helmets. Unshielded yes they were very vulnerable since they were massed.

Historically, missile units alone weren't very successful vs. phalanx in this time period. They could frustrate the phalanx because of the lumbering speed of the unit meant it couldn't engage, but they could not kill it very effectively. They needed help.

Infantry got the short end of the stick in RTW. And the heaviest and slowest got the shortest end of all.

There was a screen shot showing a low level phalanx killed off on a bridge assault by horse archers on the opposite bank. (Not sure how many units those archers killed.) The units hit were the militia hoplites with small shields, and little armour, so it might make sense for those units. However, heavier hoplites with large shields should be able to march on across--shot up a bit, yes.

A problem I see is that casualties pile up too fast in hoplite units, whether from sword armed infantry, cavalry, missiles, etc. Historically, they did not suffer much until the formation actually broke (when they were slaughtered.) I think some of this is unit size: both morale and effective frontage. But other things, like missile effects and charge bonuses seem to be amplified. So the phalanx suffers from being both slow in a historic sense, and vulnerable in a non-historic way.