Being knocked off your horse

Now that we have riders knocking footmen over, why not have riders occasionally get knocked off their horses?

Example one: I charge an enemy horseman head-to-head and give him a massive blow with a two-handed axe or slam my lance into him dead center, but for some unfathomable reason, he doesn't die. I want to see the bastard go flying after something like that, dead or alive.

Example two: I'm a pikeman and this really, really nasty-looking knight is bearing down on me. I ready my pike, and just as he's about to lop my head off, I shove my pike straight into his chest. What happens now? He flinches and rides on past me. What do I want to happen? I want him to fall off his horse with a thump, so that I can nail him to the ground with my big, pointy stick.

So basically, when a rider gets a hard blow from the direction into which he's riding, I want there to be a chance that the impact will knock him off his horse. The horse can go forward a bit, gradually slow down, then stop about fifty to a hundred metres away from where the rider fell off. The rider, on the other hand, will be thrown in the exact same way as if his horse had been killed. He'll get up (If given the chance), walk over to his horse and remount it, assuming he can fight his way over to it. Sound good to anyone?

On an unrelated note: armagan, when are we going to be able to recruit Dranton and that guy in Dhorak Keep? I want more heroes!

Yes I agree. It shouldn't be to easy to unhorse someone though since the saddles and stirrups of mounted troops of this time where specifically designed to make it easier to remain on the horse when hit. But it should definatly be a possibility. Also, when the horse is killed it shouldn't be all that easy to get back up since the rider is probably dazed from falling, might be caught under the horse and often wears heavy armor. Armor should affect ground troops falling down to: it takes longer to stand back up when wearing armor. Killing or disabling the horse and then killing the rider before he could get up was a common tactic used by infantry.

I think this is a good idea. Just to add to it, I think there should be a chance to knock someone off their horse when you hit their shield hard enough. When a shield is employed properly, it deflects a blow. When not employed properly, it doesn't deflect the blow - it just absorbs the entire blow. In such cases, there should be a chance of knocking the rider off his horse (or, if on foot, knocking the soldier to the ground).

thank you thank you

Great to hear it, armagan. Thanks.

horay! now footmen will actually have a chance against mounted riders.

Be especially cool if they could get knocked off even from a powerful blow against a shield. This would simulate jousters getting unhorsed when they block a lance with their shield.

Glad unhorsing is in the cards.

dont make it to easy for them to fall off though

I agree 100%(more if i could), lucky i saw this post cause i was gonna make one of my own of the same topic.

I love all the cool ideas but hate the bad ones .

Great idea.

Way to resurrect the dead. I'm guessing you've followed a link here, probably from one of the stickies (Which is good, everyone should read the stickies!). If you do that, though, you might want to check the date on the last post before replying so you don't end up needlessly reviving threads that have died several months earlier. However, I'd say that it's good to get this thread out in the open so people won't forget that armagan has already made a statement on this, so no problem really. Just remember to check in the future.

Couching a solid object like a tree or a wall with a lance should also unhorse the rider...

No, not great.
Fantastic.

I'm wondering if you can make certain weapons better at knocking people off their saddles, like billhooks that were designed with that purpose in mind.

I'd be surprised if such a factor (And appropriate weapons) wasn't added, but I don't think armagan has said anything about it yet.

I don't know, it could be tied to the damage dealt or something.

Resurrecting this thread for the King's Court, since it is one of (if not the) original suggestion posts about it. It also has Armagan stating he'll be adding it at some point, on the first page.

Well, since you're giving this thread a defribilation of love, I would like to say that while we're on the topic of knocking people off a horse with their shield up, I think there should also be a harsh enough attack to make a blocking infantryman stagger or squat while fighting him on foot.

Its worse when they block with an arming sword. 

On topic, I would hope that it was not necessarily based on blunt weapons alone, but rather an ability that can be added, like "does increased damage to shields"