Quote Originally Posted by Puzz3D
You do realize that the consequence of that thread was a degrading of the multiplayer gameplay. Swords were given a hidden +1 attack vs spears, cost of spears was increased 15%, cost of cavalry knights was decreased 25%, and the cavalry was given some pushbacks (+6 attack on the next combat cycle which is a 300% attack bonus) against spearmen. All this done with no improvement to the morale of spears.
Well, this might be an example of a conflict between SP and MP; or between realism and gameplay. I felt after these changes (primarily the pushback effect, I guess), CA finally got the balance between spears and knights in SP to a reasonable level. There certainly seemed to be less complaints. In MTW 1.0, knights seemed to bounce off spears (maybe the same is true in STW). After the tweaking, a unit of royal knights was dangerous, a real threat if they hit your flanks or get behind your lines. After the changes, if royal knights charged head on into a unit of feudal spears, they might prevail. But it would be very bloodly for the knights and given the rarity/cost issue, the general of the spears would be happier at the trade. That was my rough impression from my SP games - I did not do formal tests of outcomes before and after the patch - and intuitively it seemed fair enough.

However, as I said earlier, I'd like to see M2TW knights retain a little bit of the power of RTW cavalry. Knights against good infantry - say Flemish pikes etc - should like MTW. But knights against run of the mill stuff, should be a bit more like RTWs uber-cav. Otherwise, historically, why did people go to all the cost of training and maintaining knights if a run of the mill infantry could negate them? It does not compute. An example of the kind of balance I am thinking of may be Goth's mod for BI. It seems to do a reasonable job of modelling Dark Age and super-heavy cavalry. It's nasty but you still don't want to charge Gothic spears head on, you still want to go for the flanks and you still want to set up a good charge.[1]

I take your points about swords and MP, but I tended to under-use swords in SP. I regarded them in MTW as most of us regard Egyptians in RTW - sure, they are powerful but they are so unhistorical, they are aesthetically ugly.

[1]BTW, I wonder if RTW has improved the modelling of the cavalry charge? Playing RTR Platinum, where the cavalry attack stat is nerfed, and also Goth mod where there are no 2 HP uber-bodygyards, I am starting to appreciate the nuances involved in getting a charge bonus to kick in. Ideally, you want to be in formation, facing the right way, start at a trot and have enought time for the run up. Do that and your men lower lances, and hit with great impact. Mess it up and you go straight into a messy melee with no advantage either side and much lower lethality. I don't recall these subtleties from STW and MTW.