swords or spears

**||Lz3||** · 05-25-2008, 03:07

My common sense tells me to order my heavy cavalry to use swords when alredy in melee , but use their spears when they charge

I would like to be sure weather or not is better to use swords over spears

**Ibrahim** · 05-25-2008, 03:17

game wise= spears: higher lethality (e.g a kontos has .4 lethlity. a sword at its best is .225 (unless you use a lugian=.33)) in either case the attack is 4-9 in cavalry, so you do the math.

**Foot** · 05-25-2008, 03:22

the lance is only of real use on the charge. Its attack rate is so slow (hyperbole alert) you'll be seeing half your cavalry cut down before they attack again. Best to use the secondary weapon in extended melee combat.

Foot

**||Lz3||** · 05-25-2008, 03:37

ummm Ill go to test this... custom battle...

but argh that stupid IA (

)always lets me charge them withouth reacting

umm my empirical info says that is better to use spears...

but when I let the enemy charge me , its better to use a sword... im confused...

**Captain Trek** · 05-25-2008, 04:23

How do I order my cavalry to switch melee weapons?

**mcantu** · 05-25-2008, 04:49

Originally Posted by Captain Trek

How do I order my cavalry to switch melee weapons?

alt-right click

**mcantu** · 05-25-2008, 04:51

Originally Posted by ||Lz3||

ummm Ill go to test this... custom battle...

but argh that stupid IA (

)always lets me charge them withouth reacting

umm my empirical info says that is better to use spears...

but when I let the enemy charge me , its better to use a sword... im confused...

use alt-right click to start the cavalry charge (be outside of the min charge distance). when the charge is spent, the unit will automatically switch to its secondary weapon, which should have a higher attack score as well as faster attacks than the lance...

**blitzkrieg80** · 05-25-2008, 05:30

without stirrups and amidst the melee, you might as well dismount

**||Lz3||** · 05-25-2008, 05:48

so are you saying that sword is better?

im confused...

what I did is to do a custom match and used hetaroi against hetaroi , sometimes it seemed as if it was better to use the spear...

**NeoSpartan** · 05-25-2008, 06:42

ok man pay attention is not that difficult:

1- When cavarly charges the spear is the BEST
2- When the cavarly is going to be fighting in a melee for a LONG time, switch to swords.
--why? because in the long time the cavarly is engaged in melee it will attack more often (as in hack away) with the sword than with the spear. (also pay attention some cavarly use an AP mace or curved sword, those are the best!)

this is best used the cavarly will be engaged in melee with infantry or other cavalry that is rather low in armor. In addition, the sword is also best used when ur cavarly wields a BIG and cumbersom xyphos (sp, the LONG lance), since it has an even slower rate than the shorter cavarly spears.

**||Lz3||** · 05-25-2008, 07:45

thats what I was thinking , I just wasnt sure

thanks everybody

well thanks now I have to figure out why my campaing got a CTD

(oh and Neo , I think I've seen you in RTW forums

)

**Strategos Alexandros** · 05-25-2008, 11:24

Originally Posted by NeoSpartan

xyphos

Xyston. A Xiphos is a sword.

**QuintusSertorius** · 05-25-2008, 12:20

Don't spear-armed (not lance-armed) cavalry get a bonus against cavalry when using it against other cavalry?

Aren't swords only useful against infantry, given the penalty spear-users generally get against infantry?

**mcantu** · 05-25-2008, 15:29

Originally Posted by QuintusSertorius

Don't spear-armed (not lance-armed) cavalry get a bonus against cavalry when using it against other cavalry?

Aren't swords only useful against infantry, given the penalty spear-users generally get against infantry?

1. No, there is no spear bonus vs cavalry for other cav units

2. As of EB 1.0 the spear attribute that gave the attack penalty against infantry was removed (however the +4 attack that EB gave to all spear units to negate that bonus remained; IMO leaving the spear units with an unfair advantage). The light_spear attribute that spearmen units currently have gives them +8 defense against cavalry and -4 defense vs infantry