Twitter discussion

**Ludens** · 10-05-2011, 12:31

I've argued against decapitations before: it's simply not realistic. Decapitation is difficult enough when the victim is bound and has his head on the block: until the invention of the guillotine it often took multiple tries. In face-to-face combat, that's just not feasible; and not practical either. You don't need to split the vertebra to kill someone: severing the throat arteries is quite sufficient, and a lot easier. There's no reason to go for the back of the neck.

Dismemberment is possible with axes and heavy chopping swords, but I don't think it was that common. The shield was the cheapest and most common piece of defensive equipment, and a shielded opponent would only expose his weapon arm when striking. It's also difficult to make these animations look anything but schlocky, so I doubt the team will bother with it.

**-Praetor-** · 10-05-2011, 12:56

Originally Posted by Ludens

I've argued against decapitations before: it's simply not realistic. Decapitation is difficult enough when the victim is bound and has his head on the block: until the invention of the guillotine it often took multiple tries. In face-to-face combat, that's just not feasible; and not practical either. You don't need to split the vertebra to kill someone: severing the throat arteries is quite sufficient, and a lot easier. There's no reason to go for the back of the neck.

Dismemberment is possible with axes and heavy chopping swords, but I don't think it was that common. The shield was the cheapest and most common piece of defensive equipment, and a shielded opponent would only expose his weapon arm when striking. It's also difficult to make these animations look anything but schlocky, so I doubt the team will bother with it.

Don´t worry, we won´t. Decapitation animations are out of the question. We might do something a bit more special with Falx animations, but always within physical and historical standards.

**Ptolemaios** · 10-05-2011, 13:45

I thought that the death animations in M2TW were a huge improvemwnt over RTW´s, eventhough it´s just more eyecandy (which with EB2 is loaded allready).
I can imagine that it is a lot of work to do them yourselfs, but are there any new special ones for the overhaed spear, which so many units use?

**-Praetor-** · 10-05-2011, 14:30

There´s a whole new family for the hoplite animations, if that´s what you mean.

If you mean fatalities for the hoplite family, no, we haven´t done that yet because some attack anims of that anim family will be revamped.