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Pikemen are a late Ancient-era defensive ground unit in Civilization II, available with the Feudalism advance. They feature a 50% Defense strength bonus versus Ancient and early Renaissance mounted units.[note 1]

Pikemen succeed Warriors and the Phalanx, and are succeeded by Musketeers with the advent of Gunpowder.

Strategy[]

Pikemen have the same Shield (Civ2) Shield cost as Phalanxes, but feature a unique defensive combat bonus against specific mounted units. This is not fully documented in the Civilopedia; see the following section for details. When attacked by Horsemen, Chariots, Elephants, Knights, or Crusaders, Pikemen gain a 50% bonus to their Defense strength after factoring all other modifiers such as terrain and City Walls.[note 1] This makes Pikemen the optimal defensive unit until the advent of Musketeers.

An incorrect meta posits that Veteran Pikemen are superior to regular Musketeers when defending against these mounted units, and therefore Leonardo's Workshop can inadvertently weaken a civilization's standing army. This stems from a misunderstanding of Civ II's combat formula: while Pikemen's modified defense is higher in individual combat rounds (36 to 24 in basic conditions), the Musketeers' second hitpoint yields slightly higher odds of winning the battle overall.[note 2] The suggested meta only holds true when playing with Simplified Combat, which removes hitpoints and firepower.

Pikeman mechanic[]

The "pikeman bonus" is a unit flag assigned in Rules.txt. The exact mechanic adds 50% to the unit's total Defense strength against any attacker that has 1 Hitpoint and 2 Movement.[note 1] Thus, later units such as Dragoons and Cavalry, which have 2 hitpoints, do not invoke the pikeman bonus.

This is not properly documented in the game: the Civilopedia states "Defense +50% versus units with a movement factor of 2", while the Scenario Editor added with Conflicts in Civilization claims "x2 on defense versus horse".

Civilopedia entry[]

The growing deployment of knights on the battlefield demanded that foot soldiers develop new means of fighting that would lessen their vulnerability against mounted opponents. One of the best ways to do this was to lengthen the reach of the infantrymen by arming them with long, sturdy spears known as pikes. Massed infantry armed with pikes, in conjunction with archers, managed to even the battlefield odds. Armies equipped in this manner managed to hold their own until the invention of gunpowder made knights a thing of the past.

Notes[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 A coding bug calculates the attacking unit's movement points from its available MP at the start of the turn, rather than its total, meaning, for example, a Knight attacking with half health will bypass the bonus.[1] This was never officially corrected, but a fix for Test of Time is part of the Test of Time Patch Project.
  2. See FoxAhead's Combat Calculator, which provides an interactive interface to calculate the battle algorithm based on the Civilization II Combat Guide.[1]

References[]

  1. 1.0 1.1 Knighttme (2 November 2021). "Civilization II Combat Guide, v2.0 updates". Civilization Fanatics' Center. Accessed 29 July 2023.

See also[]

Civilization II Units
Ground

Alpine TroopsArchersArmorArtilleryCannonCaravanCatapultCavalryChariotCrusadersDiplomatDragoonsElephantEngineersExplorerFanaticsFreightHorsemenHowitzerKnightsLegionMarinesMech. Inf.MusketeersParatroopersPartisansPhalanxPikemenRiflemenSettlersSpyWarriors

Sea

AEGIS CruiserBattleshipCaravelCarrierCruiserDestroyerFrigateGalleonIroncladSubmarineTransportTrireme

Air

BomberCruise Msl.FighterHelicopterNuclear Msl.Stlth Bmbr.Stlth Ftr.

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