Weapon switching

[SigniferOne]

Hi, I am working on a complicated problem in certain animations, and I want to find out if there has been any research done on HOW and WHEN a unit switches weapons. For example, why do hoplites charge with their swords, if they still have their spears? Does it have something to do with the STATS of each weapon? with the position of which skeleton is defined first and which second? Etc, I would be glad for any helpful input on this.

[wlesmana]

Because phalanx has no charge event trigger. They can't run, so they can't charge. The only way they could charge if you use their secondary attack, which is the sword.

[SigniferOne]

Right, but if you take off the phalanx ability and let the hoplites fight naturally, they will still switch to the swords when charging, and put their spears away. What is that all about?

[shifty157]

Well thats how it was done historically as well. You should try fighting in a melee with a 6 meter spear. But i think what triggers this is an enemy approaching within a certain distance of the troop. Same trigger for archers switching to swords. Thats just a guess though.

[Ciaran]

Right, but if you take off the phalanx ability and let the hoplites fight naturally, they will still switch to the swords when charging, and put their spears away. What is that all about?
I could think in that case they´ll only have swords, because they get the spears because of the phalanx ability. You can, in effect, turn any unit into a phalanx unit, by giving them this formation, and they´ll get the spears automatically. The only other thing is giving the fs_spear animation to the soldier model of the unit in question, lest they slash around with their pikes.

[wlesmana]

Like what Ciaran said. The long pikes are actually a separate model. If you use phalanx unit, they stowed away the actual primary weapon and put the long pikes which has its own set of animations, regardless of the soldiers' animation. This also caused some glitchiness when fighting close range and your formation got scattered and your soldiers move around all over but their pikes would still point at the same direction as the group. So when engaged in anything but in phalanx formation, the pikes get stowed away and they use their secondary weapon.