I think pike units are great, no one (smart) would dare charge into them (from the front atleast,) making them a great defensive unit. As long as you use them smartly, everything will go fine. Nothing can go wrong as long as your phalanx is down.

WRONG!

As soon as your spear wall is down, anything that touches the tip dies, ( ha ha very funny.) Whether it be man, beast, friend, foe, or even your own general, its the tip of death. This is an extremely useful, but also dangerous and annoying advantage. Friendly fire is extremely common.

For those of you who don't know, friendly fire makes the causer lose points in game and silver gained. Yes, you can actually lose money, I've once lost -1400(ish) silver. Also, FF causes the total points of your team to go down, so archers, next time decide carefully whether you should fire down into that cluster of fighters.

Why to like pikes:

Great damage to the front.

Can basically hold anything forever as long as all sides are covered.
(Watch for archers, they'll rape you.)

Overall intimidating when theres a line of spears pointed at you.

Why to hate pikes:

If your not careful your teammate will move his unit(s) through your phalanx to get through,
whether you don't know or just arn't paying attention, ANYONE that touches the spears during
a phalanx will die. So as your teammate is complaining he lost all his troops to you, your
stuck -3000 silver and points. What profit!

Example: While playing Germania with a friend, I used pikes for the first time, I set up at the front of the road next to the trees and the stockades so that no one can pass through the road while I had
light infantry in the trees. A fellow player, all units composed of cavalry, moved his units through my pike unit, costing me 5000 silver and caused -3000 points of friendly fire. He then started to yell at me, saying "******* ****** *** ****." Nuff said.

PLEASE FIX THIS GAME DEVS!!!

Simple way to avoid this situation:

So yeah, while this is annoying, one simple way to avoid that problem is to NOT have your
units in phalanx all the time. All you have to do is turn phalanx on as soon as you see an
enemy. +You can actually move now

Now you know what to do, so next time you the only person defending the base on Germania, have the pike wall up until the horsemen coming charging in.

P.S. if you see me ingame using pikes, yell at me.


FIX THIS PROBLEM!!!! IT'S ANNOYING AND (partially) POINTLESS!!!!! OR ATLEAST MAKE IT LIKE WOODEN STAKES WHERE IF APPROACHING FROM BEHIND YOUR ALL GOOD!

like if you agree.

Thanks for reading!
If you see me ingame don't be afraid to say "Hi!" It'll make my day.

Whether its on accident or on purpose, if your not careful this can be you.