>>64216801
>To be fair, in the early gunpowder era it was much more of a combined arms affair. The schok troops were still the pikes.
This only makes professionalism and training requirements more stringent.
Because pike and shot formations and maneuver is a ballet on the battlefield.

>>531356478
I get that, but what I don't get is the weird fucking way these formations are laid out
I assume the big walking cubes are rows and rows and rows of dudes with fully erect halberds, while the smaller groups around the corners are dudes with guns, but how does that work in an actual battle?
Wouldn't a single cannonball (I get artillery wasn't as common during the 15/16th centurties but I see cannons all over the place regardless) demolish 60% of the meat cube?
Wouldn't they be extremely weak to skirmish tactics or flanking, since I doubt the dudes in the middle have a lot of manoeuvrability with their extremely long pokey sticks?
Wouldn't a unit of gunners in line formation obliterate the gun squares, since it'd be real hard to miss?
It's one of those things where I can perfectly understand why it works (phalanx but shootier) but for the life of me I can't imagine the actual logistics of it