| High Men Pikemen | ||
|---|---|---|
 | ||
| Race | High Men | |
| Req. Town Buildings | Fighters' Guild | |
| Construction Cost |
 80 | |
| Upkeep Cost |
 2 1 | |
| ||
| # of figures |
 8 | |
| Moves |
 1 | |
| Melee Attack per figure |
 5 * | |
| Defense per figure |
 3 | |
| Resistance |
 5 * | |
| Hit Points per figure |
 1 | |
| ||
 Armor Piercing | ||
High Men Pikemen are a type of Normal Unit that can be recruited in High Men Towns containing at least an Fighters' Guild. Although technically an infantry "archetype", Pikemen are only available to two Races, making them more akin to Race-specific units. High Men Pikemen are one of only five units in the game capable of negating the 
First Strike ability possessed by many mounted units. They also have a very high 
figure count, along with a decent 
damage potential, although their speed and survivability are not that great, and can ultimately limit their usefulness.
High Men Pikemen have a Construction Cost of 80, and require an Upkeep Cost of 2 and 1 to maintain. Failure to pay these costs will result in the unit being disbanded automatically.
Unit Properties[]
Physical Description[]
High Men Pikemen are a group of men (humans), dressed in colored tunics and carrying pikes – long poles topped with axe blades and spikes designed to pierce enemy armor. These weapons can be used for stabbing and hacking at enemies while also fending them off, for hooking and pulling them forward into a pike thicket or, when facing cavalry, even to dissuade head-on charges by planting the pikes firmly into the ground facing the enemy unit. Like most High Men, High Men Pikemen are quite mundane, possessing no great or fantastic qualities, but also no glaring disadvantages.
High Men Pikemen are a Multi-Figure unit, containing up to 8 soldiers.
Attack Properties[]
High Men Pikemen possess a base Melee Strength of 5. However, since they typically start out as 
Regulars, and in fact never appear in the game as 
Recruits, their initial score can be considered to be 6. This yields in an average "raw" damage output of 1.8 per figure, which is quite high for a Normal Unit. In addition, the attacks of High Men Pikemen are 
Armor Piercing, which cuts their opponents' Defense in half while resolving any attack made by the Pikemen. That is, the target may only use half as many dice on their Defense Rolls as they normally would. As a result, High Men Pikemen are capable of injuring even well-armored foes – and can possibly destroy low tier units in a single strike.
Defensive Properties[]
High Men Pikemen wear medium armor, and possess a Defense score of 3. They can deflect about 0.9 points from Conventional Damage attacks, on average. Unfortunately, this is barely enough to avoid even the weakest attacks. As with most common foot soldiers, each Pikeman also only has 1 Hit Point. In other words, each point of Damage inflicted on this unit will kill off one of its figures. Their base Resistance leaves something to be desired as well – their elevated starting level yields an initial 6, which is only enough for a fair chance at avoiding the weakest Unit Curses and combat maledictions. Defense, Resistance, and even Hit Points improve with 
Experience, however.
High Men Pikemen do have one rare defensive trait, although it is more of a deterrent rather than actual protection. As its name implies, their 
Negate First Strike does exactly that: counters the effect of the First Strike ability, should their attacker possess it. That is, instead of the Pikemen taking Melee Damage before they could retaliate against such an enemy, their attacks are resolved simultaneously as usual. While they won't take any less damage as a result, at least they can also hurt the enemy in the process. This can make a big difference considering the disparity between their decent damage potential but comparably low survivability.
Other Properties[]
High Men Pikemen move at a slow 1, and can only traverse land tiles. The unit has no special movement properties.
Basic Strategy[]
High Men Pikemen are the strongest infantry unit that can be recruited in High Men Towns. They are essentially the High Men equivalent of Halberdiers – more powerful than Spearmen or Swordsmen, but still weaker than the highest tier units. However, while Pikemen outclass them in almost every respect, they are also twice as expensive as Halberdiers would be, and require a higher tier Town Building to train. Because of this, they are less affordable, and whether or not they are worth employing depends much more on an empire's strategic situation.
To recruit High Men Pikemen, a City needs a Fighters' Guild. While not particularly costly, this building offers no economical contribution, and neither do any others that it unlocks. As a result, it's typically not worth constructing in settlements that are not expected to be training military units – at least not in the early stages of the game. As such, High Men Pikemen tend not to have good availability, and can often only be trained at the expense of not creating other, potentially more useful or cost-efficient units.
For non-frontier garrisons, whose main purpose is Unrest reduction or granting the ability to cast combat spells in an emergency, High Men Spearmen are usually sufficient. They have just slightly lower survivability than Pikemen of similar Experience, yet are not only considerably cheaper, but don't require any Town Buildings to train either. Against Ranged Attackers, High Men Swordsmen may also be better defenders despite their lower figure count, unless the units are at least 
Elite. Finally, in offensive armies, High Men Cavalry compare favorably to Pikemen because of their higher mobility, both overland, as well as in combat.
This does not mean that High Men Pikemen have absolutely no merit, however. Their high figure count and decent offensive attributes rank them among the best Normal Units in the game in terms of enhancement potential. Unit Enchantments, battlefield abilities, Experience, and improved weapon quality all have a profound impact on the performace of High Men Pikemen. The more such effects a Wizard has access to, the higher the value of this unit becomes to them. 
Life magic, in particular, has an abundance of spells that can greatly benefit Pikemen.
On the other hand, high-powered multi-unit enchantments, such as Altar of Battle, Charm of Life, or 
Doom Mastery, tend to favor the unit that can be produced in the highest numbers. In this regard, High Men Pikemen may not be an ideal choice, as their Production cost is somewhat difficult to meet in a single turn. It takes a while for settlements to grow to a sufficient size to accomplish this, which means that the empire will likely still have to rely on cheaper units in the interim.
Ability Overview[]
Negate First Strike[]
- When an enemy possessing First Strike attacks this unit in Melee combat, it does not get to use its First Strike ability at all, and Melee Damage is instead exchanged simultaneously as usual.
Armor Piercing[]
- Whenever this unit attacks an enemy target (whether with a Melee- or Counter Attack) the target's Defense rating is temporarily assumed to be 50% lower than it really is.
- This ability also halves the bonus granted by most magical and conditional protections, although it has no effect on immunities or the benefit bestowed by City Walls.
Experience Table[]
The following table illustrates how High Men Pikemen improve with Experience. Any properties that are not listed here are not affected by Experience in any way.
| Level Icon | Level Name | EP | Melee | To Hit | Defense | Resist | Hits |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Recruit | 0 - 19
|
(Not available for this unit) | ||||
|
Regular | 20 - 59
|
6
|
 30%
|
3
|
6
|
1
|
|
Veteran | 60 - 119
|
6
|
30%
|
4
|
7
|
1
|
|
Elite | 120
|
7
|
40%
|
4
|
8
|
2
|
|
Ultra-Elite | 120 *
|
7
|
50%
|
5
|
9
|
2
|
|
Champion | 120 **
|
8
|
60%
|
5
|
10
|
3
|
* To achieve this level, either the Warlord Retort or the Crusade spell must be in play.
** To achieve this level, both Warlord and Crusade must be in play simultaneously.
Average Damage Output[]
The table below details the average amount of "raw" damage that each Figure in a unit of High Men Pikemen will deliver with each type of attack, based on 
Experience Level. It can be used in comparison to the target's Defense rating to approximate the chance of hurting that target.
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">Acquisition[]
High Men Pikemen may be recruited in any High Men Town that has an Fighters' Guild already built. The Construction Cost of this unit is 80. High Men Pikemen may also appear as Mercenaries, provided that the player has a presence on Arcanus. In this case, they cost between 160 to 240 to hire per unit, based on their Experience – or half that much for Charismatic Wizards.