mbrasher, do the tests i just did, pikes vs dfk halbs vs dfk, even the most ghetto of pikes outperforms all but jannissaries (which really arent the type this is about), and even then its close

halbs break formation always, i assume its the animation

this is with ltc mod, but i'm sure its the same results with vanilla

also nobody ever stops before hitting my pikes, they charge happily into them
There have been rather big changes to Pikes and Halberds in LTC, most notably the primary attack for pikes, primary and secondary attack for halberds, and unit mass have all been increased.