How do pikes/sarrissa/spears work?

[Ichon]

I think it is more difficult than it would seem on the outset to quantify that. The longer the spear the more difficult to hold it steady on a single target- braced into the ground a wall of spears seems to make it likely at least some would hit just by blind odds but I don't know if that is accurate. The impact on a tightly packed formation of even a couple horses could well jar men up and down the line causing spear points to drop. The best defense would have been to aim lower for the horses rather than trying to aim at the riders and if the points drop instead of impaling a horse chest it gashes a leg only. Any armor or harness on the horse might easily foul a spear point away from a direct hit as well. Also I doubt many charges were ever done into a formed formation at a gallop. Such an impact regardless of spears could damage the horses. The multiple spear points from back ranks also become less deadly if the charge by the cavalry comes at a slower rate, without being braced those spears have to hit a specific place and while a charge might not have come at a gallop, even a steady canter is likely to be faster than a man on foot in armor running could achieve. So the spear wielders actually have a tough job. Not that there still wouldn't be casualties on the cavalries side just from impacts and if a horse and rider must charge through 5 spears points the odds that one hits somewhere I'd guess are high. That its a killing hit though... that is harder to say. Plus once the first rank of the cavalry is past and into the densely packed infantry they can slash downward on men who might have alot of difficulty having the room to pull a secondary weapon up and defend themselves. Probably well trained infantry could immediately break into teams and work to pull riders off the mounts etc without even resorting to weapons right away but I wonder how many infantries in historical eras would react that way versus once the charge is into their formation the cohesion breaks down and mean adopt a defensive very man for him self attitude giving the surviving cavalry all the initiative.

Also what if the cavalry attacks in a wedge? The infantry would have to be well trained not to let their spear points veer a bit towards the tip of the wedge and thus present hugely less of a danger for the wings of the wedge which now instead of riding through spear tips aimed right at them are riding on spears at a slight angle which present some danger still but the momentum and mass of their horses hitting such spears at an angle might very well tear it from the spear wielders hands. The lead riders in a wedge would then bear the brunt of the attack but if they were the most well armored and best warriors comparatively few might fall and the rest of the cavalry formation is then breaking up the infantry.