Slitherine

I dont totally disagree with you, but one book does not make a conclusion. As MikeC often points out accurately, we dont really know exactly how all of this stuff works. We know there are pieces of info scattered. I think they are fine as is like some have already pointed out, it's not a hammer unit but a anvil.

Its a shame the PoA system is either winner loser. A pike unit right now has no mechanical way of being a pinning force. 200 PoA with full deep pikes bonus is absurdly strong at beating up most units it can get its hands on so its being balanced by being super expensive and can be easily stripped of its deep pikes by a moderate amount of casualties

I agree it is only one book, and I don't agree with everything in it, but it certainly makes you think hard about how the pike phalanx operates, so helps drawing your own conclusions.