A bit daft . . .

[stockwellpete]

One of my tercios defeated an enemy pike unit and pursued it for 4-5 turns, during which time it was pursued by four or five enemy units with firing capability that shot it down from "steady" to "routed". This seems very odd to me. If they are pursuing aren't they really still in melee? Or wouldn't they stop pursuing if other enemy units were shooting at them?

[Royal Fusilier]

A unit that is pursuing a routed unit almost always stops pursuing after it takes ranged fire from what I have seen; especially at close range. Your situation is very odd and I have never seen such behavior after playing at least close to a hundred pbem games. I think that was a bug or just a very rare and odd situation that you will never see again.

[stockwellpete]

Richard, is this a bug, or is it within the decided range of possible outcomes?

[rbodleyscott]

Richard, is this a bug, or is it within the decided range of possible outcomes?

It is not a bug. The pursuing unit was intent on its pursuit and ignoring its surroundings. It is unusual for infantry to pursue for so many turns. Shooting effect is halved against pursuing units. Nevertheless you managed to concentrate enough fire to rout the unit. This would be an extreme case.

It would certainly be a bit daft if this sort of thing happened all the time, but it doesn't.