Correct use of Pikemen?

[WhiskeyGhost]

I use spearwall/guard mode ON, then after impact, i turn off guard mode, and watch as they poke the enemy to death. The biggest key to it, is making sure your pikes DON'T GET FLANKED. If a single enemy soldier wraps around your pike wall (which will happen a lot if not managed right, with say, your own flanking troops) then when that 1 man gets too close, all your pikes will switch to swords and die. I've gotten ridiculous good results when having highlanders on both sides of a scots pike unit, even against highly armored enemies.

edit: also, your unit will move funny when you turn off guard mode, and will only move in 1 direction as they poke the enemy. This too results in the unit being flanked, if the enemy has gaps in their formation.

added some pics from a recent battle:

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

sorry about image size, but to make it easy on ya, it shows the scots pike militia had a better kill/death ratio then the highlanders, despite in the first picture showing the pikemen taking all enemy charges

16-29 kills for the pikemen (29 was most peasants)

25-11 kills for the highlanders (25 was mostly that peasant unit)

and the highlanders didn't even take a charge

Note on the first pic, that i JUST turned off guard mode, and about 20 peasants died in the first poke volley

This was done against 2 armored swordsmen, dismounted english knights, a peasant unit, and a Armored Sargents (who didn't actually enter the battle, since by having a cavalry unit (bodyguards) they went and chased them instead of getting into the melee.