Quote Originally Posted by vollorix View Post
If i had to empathize a horsemen in a pitch battle versus cavalry or infantry, i can´t help it, but the only weapon i can imagine is something as versatile as a sword, perhaps an ax or a club, but only for some poor horsemen, which would be a contradiction in itself, well perhaps not for some nomads, or maybe if it would be some kind of old style tradition to fight with those weapons. You can´t actually wield a spear and hit with it anything near accurately while surrounded by your comrades and/or enemy, you can only thrust; you can´t repulse attacks from different sides effectively, and you will never be able to do it with a spear as quick as with a sword, while sitting on a horse back, imo.
There is, of course, the game engine limitation, only allowing a soldier to use 2 weapon types, but the reason why i´m arguing against the spear and for the sword is because the cavalry, not only the one controlled by a simple minded AI, but also my own, barely, if ever, switches to the secondary weapons, even when i order them to do so! I sometimes like to zooming in the battle camera close to watch the battle a bit, but this boring thrusting with spears performed by cavalry makes me zoom out very quickly, and move to the infantry...

Btw: About swords an AP: i still have to figure out why the roman AI is so obsessed by Pedites Extraordinarii even though i have halved their initial size ( which means only 40 men on large unit settings )...!?! I mean, Triarii ( i´ve halved their unit sizes too, btw. ) have got even better stats than the PO, but as soon as SPQR gets enough money in their coffers, they start to spam them. I still somehow suspect that the AI is very well aware of the armor piercing ability of their swords. And if it is, could it mean that the "ap" attribute significantly affects the auto resolving engine? o0
herm the knights in the midleages prefered the mace over the sword at least the more elite one´s ... as for the reason i believe that just like the lance but on a more personal and intimate level "it leaves a strong impression either on a shield or in another horseman´s head" once again many people choose to fight with diferent weaponry not because it was better but because they had a status to preserve in some way like the boers and the americans still today have their grandfathers winchesters at home since those are the family´s "tradition"

people had a warring tradition that allowed them to keep their status in their society and altough the romans didn´t had their fathers weapons cult in many warrior traditions the weapon that is passed on broken and reforged is still strong

there´s stories of a few nobles in the 17th century ordering the melting of their grandfathers swords and having those weapons reforged as rifles and pistols