Quote Originally Posted by Karl08 View Post
Hmmmm. Looks like I'll have to fire up M2TW again and try some Zweihänders against some shielded opponents. Prieviously I have tested them against pikes, as that's what they were meant to deal with. IMO they should struggle when facing a shield/hand weapon combo, but be effective against pikes. And my testing so far shows that they make short work of pike formations.
Yes but are they any better at pikes than one-handed infantry? Due to the fact that pike men usually drop their pikes when charged by any infantry (at least they keep formation during a calvary charge), most pike men have weak base stats, and one-handers attack more quickly, I'd be willing to bet the one-handers would defeat the pikes as quickly or quicker and with fewer casualties. Not to mention that the Zweihander has 14 attack; only one more than the 13 attack of most one-handed sword unites for some reason.

Also, I believe in the latter middle ages many heavily-armored fighters stopped wearing shields simply because they didn't offer significantly more protection to a man who was already encased in plate. The higher striking power of a two-handed weapon was more advantages if you were fighting a similarly well-armored opponent. This isn't really reflected in the game as even high end knights get much of their defensive value from their shields (this is also why some top-tier knights, like lancers, have poorer stats than their earlier counterparts). I'm not saying that you shouldn't use two-handed units or that they can't be effective in certain situations, I'm just saying that in the basic game they probably aren't as powerful as they should be.