Quote Originally Posted by Spino
I've said it before and I'll say it again. CA should remove the phalanx shuffle step. It's more of a nuisance than a welcome feature.
Yes... It becomes more tedious to control phalanxes than it ever to control Horse Archers in STW and MTW. I don't know about MP, but if I find it harder in SP I can't believe it is easier in MP.

I always have my phalanxes out of Guard. But almost everytime I set them to attack normally they break formation (a big NO-NO) or simply stop in front of the enemy never really engaging (having perhaps two or three men engaging).
Guard off certainly helps with the drift, but it doesn't eleminate it, and I still find my Levy Pikemen smashed up into walls.
The worst almost always happens at squares. When I try to take one with my pikes, it usually ends up in disaster. They form up nice outside the square (great care must be taken here) but when I try to move them in they drop the pikes and formation, then the enemy comes charging as I desperately tries to get them back in formation and Phalanx. I nearly lost an entire unit of Silver Shields to a lousy unit of Militia Hoplites... That can't be right. I can't believe that they can't keep their formation when taking a square.

All in all I think the phalanx is too brittle.

And I forgot one thing I dislike:
I can't use the pike's chargebonus... The phalanx can only walk, and slowly. Thus the quite hefty chargebonus that some pikemen and hoplites have is completely lost. And no, charging with the swords only gives you the sword's bonus, which is 2, which in turn is added to the much weaker swordattack.