Combat in the Med II engine

[seienchin]

Well yes. A spear is at maximum 2-3 metres. A lance is 4-5 metres (giving considerably greater reach) and delivers massive force to the target. Spears aren't a defence against lance-armed cavalry, unless formed into a proper, solid spearwall. That is why cavalry dominated the Middle Ages until the invention of the pike and it's wide scale adoption.

And also breaks your arm and/or throws you out of your saddle, if you are riding at fullspeed. The lances of the EB Timeframe were like ordinary spears, just sometimes longer and the riders had no saddle, stirrup and smaller horses. There charges couldnt have been as devasting as medieval knight charges.

18th century cavalry had military training, with mercilesly beating, death penalties for insubordination and most time people behind you to shoot you if you turned. No one had that in EBs timeframe. Esspecially not the riders, which mostly were wealthy free people not willing to risk their lives in head on atacks on a solid enemy front.

By the way, esspecially the cavalry in the wars between rome and carthago seemed to have great staying power like at canae. So maybe ancient cavallery were more like melee skirmishers. ;) Of course with the exception of the eastern cavallery. But crassus defeat also showed that the parthian didnt (Because they were free men) want to risk getting close in melee until the romans were down on their knees, instead showering them with arrows.