@ Reverant, the other late era units do have a purpose, to be beaten by Pikes.

No seriously. The ENTIRE POINT of pike units is that they are unbeatable from the front. You need to pin them in place and then hit them from the flanks. Do that and they simply disintigrate. Even a couple of peseant unit in the rear will do a LOT of damage.

Also, Pikes (along with bugged bill units), seem to have been priced acording to their bugged stats, not their unbugged ones. Most Fixed Bill and Pike units are worth 800-1000+ Florins but are a half to a thirn of that in reality.

I do understand what you saying, the AI is REALLY BAD at pulling off flank charges, but if it was any good at it it would easilly decimate pure pikemen infantry forces. Against a competent opponnent you HAVE to have decent Flank Guards and some medium cav to keep the enemy off your flanks/rear.