I find 18c pikemen are extremely underrated. They are cheap, produce extremely fast and even though their upgrades are a bit expensive they are absolute beasts against enemy cavalry. Especially when I play as Sweden I try to get a fast 18c and attack the enemy with swarms of them mixed up with my already existing 17c pikemen and Swedish Reiters who are by the time decently upgraded and get support from dragoons. This usually hits the enemy quite hard. I’m not saying it’s something that would make you win the game but it definitely cripples the enemy for a while giving you the time to get your muskets ready What do you guys think about them?
Well I'm not often in a situation were I'm pressed with the need of fielding them. I'm either already dead (I may have won too, but that's unlikely !) or at the point were each player make musket. But I never upgrade them when I field them, I use them to take bullet damage or distract ennemy cav, I prefer spend the ressource on upgrade for shooters or cavalry.
I think you are right in most cases, it’s a very situational tactic. Also I think this tactic works a lot better for Sweden, as their 18c pikeman is much better than the generic one, Russian and Poland aswell cause they can field more 17c pikemen than other nations to make numbers and such a wall of pikes obliterates anything riding a horse and the sheer numbers do the trick even if they would suffer heavy casualties. In the meanwhile your dragoons can advance and start firing very safely
It has slightly better (attack +2) but build time is longer (1.5 vs 1.25) hence total melee attack is lower (see: https://gliniak.gitlab.io/cossacks3-units-ranking/)
The unit compare website doesnt seem to have the information on attack rate. For example the russian pikemen 17c attack 33% faster than the standard 17c pikemen and clearly win battles with equal numbers and upgrades but the website shows otherwise that the standard piekemen has overall better attack power. Giving false information.
Most 17c pikes are equal but some exceptions like: russia (best one by far); poland (has no armor and i think higher attack not sure); scotland(also no armor and higher attack); Switzerland(higher attack, in c1 used to also have no armor but does so in c3); algeria (more attack no armor); turkey(more attack no armor) and im sure i forgot one or two.
You forgot the invincible tercios of Spain, the thoughest pikemen of the game and there is also the portuguese pikemen which are weaker but make it with number like the polish pikemen.
I didnt know about them, i think this update cycle i didnt play very much. but after some tests i di, i must say spain is the absolute winner followed by switzerland. not regarding build time and equal numbers of course.
18c pikes are only used by good players in these three cases: 1) Cannon fodder: in C3 preventing enemy muskets/dragoons to shoot at your shooters directly, is one of the most important things to learn. In most cases roundshiers from the Diplomatic center are perfect for that role but 18c pikes with their high output can help too. 2) They are great against enemy fast cavalry trying to flank attack your musket/dragoon clusters. This is the only reason to upgrade them a bit. Upgrading 18c pikes is in other cases useless because they get one-shotted anyway by a fully upgraded musket shot. There is no difference between a upgraded 18c pike or basic vanilla one against upgraded bullet fire.. 3) When the enemy is inside your base out of formation: In some rare cases they can keep the enemy busy to an extent that they have to retreat. If three 18c barracks are streaming 18c pikes out, its alot of unit output. Pikes in this case can help pushing them out but stop you from building 18c muskets.
