[Sombre]

Originally Posted by Dedas

I was playing MA Ulm (as always) with CBM and suddenly I notice that I only build pikeneers. Why? With the CBM change to the pikeneer, it makes all the other infantry practically meaningless. Let's take a look:

Before CBM:
Standard pikeneer
Pike
Damage 5
Attack 1
Defense -1
Length 6

Cost 10 gold 23 resources. Has morale 11 when all the others in the same class have 10.

For comparison here is the maul guy.
Maul
Damage 9
Attack 0
Defense -1
Length 3

Cost 10 gold 22 resources. Morale 10. Other stats identical.
The Battle axe guy is very similar except that it costs 24 resources and has one more defense due to battle axe.

CBM:
Standard Pikeneer
Pike
Damage 6
Attack 2
Defense -1
Length 6

Everything else is the same. No change to the other soldiers in the same class.

So what is my point? Well, even before CBM the pikeener was a very good unit compared to the others for the price. A length 6 weapon means that his attacks will never be repelled, and that he can repel everything except length 6 weapons which are rare. Higher morale speaks for itself. The next lowest resource cost is another plus. He is just awesome on all points except one: damage. If you want to do more damage you buy a battle axe soldier for instance, they cost one more resource, has lower morale, wields a length 3 weapon (meaning that they can get repelled against the common spear). They also have one lower attack. The only plus with the battle axe is that it makes 4 more damage than the pike. It is okay, on many occasions you need that extra damage and hopefully you go up against short swords or broad swords.
With CBM however, the difference in damage is only 3 and that means that you hesitate a little before buying. But that is not all, the pikeneers now has an attack rating of 12 in comparison to the battle axe soldiers 10. So why on earth do you want to buy the much more inferior and more expensive battle axe soldier when you can get the pikeneer?

In my eyes the pikeneer was fine before, it had its niche and you used it a lot because of its many strong points. Now it is the only sensible unit to buy.

Just my 2 cents.

I was a strong advocate of improving the pike. The issue is that pike guys never actually made good chaff, since they lack spears and their repel rarely meant anything. They also sucked vs cavalry, which never made much sense to me. So I like that the weapon has been improved. I think the problem you've spotted is particular to MA Ulm, because of their wide variety of stuff that's hard to justify building, like the maul infantry. The thing is the job of the guys with two handed weapons is to do damage - if you want them for any other purpose, get the shielded guys instead, because they're better at staying alive and better vs lower prot enemies. So where you don't want to build shielded guys, when you're against high prot dudes, that's where the pike is the worst of the three.