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Cheesy and Easy use of pikes in Multiplayer

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2023-01-17 10:10:15

The Secret

After plenty of testing, I have found an incredibly effective way to use pikemen in chokepoints against infantry, cavalry, ranged fire, and opposing pikes. The key is that you use the pikes in concert with sword infantry. Note that the infantry doesn't have to be expensive, they can be quite cheap, the only requirements are that they have swords and shields.

THE KEY: The trick is to position your pikes directly behind a unit of swordsmen. They should be so close behind them that the front ranks of pikemen mingle with the back ranks of swordsmen. This means that the pikes will poke out in front of the swordsmen.

How It Works

The reason that makes this trick work is that by putting swordsmen in front of your pikes, you negate the large downsides that cause pikemen to not be commonly used.

The normal downsides of pikes:

Once engaged with infantry, they will raise their pikes after a time and be useless

They are easily killed by ranged volleys

They will raise pikes briefly after being charged

Online opponents have a trick where they run through enemy pikes, then engage, forcing the pikes to use swords and causing an easy victory

However, by simply putting a line of shielded infantry in front of the pikes, you get rid of these downsides. The pikes main weakness is that when enemy infantry gets close, they raise their pikes and switch to swords. However, the line of infantry in front doesn't allow the enemy to get close, but still allows the pikes to do work.

This solution also shields the pikemen from ranged volleys. Instead of hitting the pikemen for easy kills, the arrows and bullets hit the shielded men in front instead.

Plus, in the occurrence that they raise pikes briefly after being charged, it doesn't matter, as the infantry in front holds off the enemy in the time it takes for the pikes to go down again.

The advanced player will try to run infantry "through" your pikes, then engage when in the middle of your pike unit. But by putting a group of densely packed infantry in front, you don't allow this to happen, as your infantry cut down and slow the enemy trying to run through your unit.

The true reason this system is great is that it preserves all the upsides of pikes. They still do plenty of damage in prolonged combat. They still take out charging calvary as there are pikes sticking out in front of your infantry.

How To Execute This Strategy

Although this strategy is incredibly easy to pull off, in my testing I have found a few tips to make it easier to pull off.

Tip 1: Always put both your infantry and pikes on guard mode. This helps to make sure they stay in a tight, cohesive formation

Tip 2: Always check to make sure the pikes stick out in front of the infantry. Otherwise, this strategy won't work

Tip 3: Don't just let people shoot at you. Although the placement of shielded infantry in front of the pikes helps, you will die if you allow the enemy to just shoot at you. Pull back behind cover, then set up your pikes and infantry when the enemy approaches

Tip 4: YOUR PIKES CAN AND WILL BE OUTFLANKED. This strategy doesn't help with that. Therefore, you must set up in a chokepoint and defend your flanks

Tip 5: This strategy alone will not win you a game. You must use this in tandem with other units

Conclusion

This strategy of having pikes stick out in front of your infantry will help you win a lot of games, particularly in siege battles. However, it does take a good game sense and tactics to win with this, and you must be able to manage other units as well. I hope this helps you win a few battles with your cheap pike militia and cheap swords, and if it does, leave a comment and a like.

Get stuck in!

Source: https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=935816159

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