Expansion of "slash" damage to spear heads a terrible decision

[Urzahil]

Most of the higher tier spearheads now have slash damage. I'd like to point out that slash attacks with a spear whose primary function is to pierce is usually the result of specific circumstances and has always been secondary damage at best i.e. draw slashes.

And it's difficult enough to aim a pierce attack without it getting turning into a slash attack which you didn't want..and have you EVER tried to "slash" with a spear on horseback? It just looks ridiculous and from a physics standpoint completely unhistorical. Not to mention that the slash attacks with the spear have 1. Much slower swing speeds 2. Significantly inferior damage to piercing for the vast majority of those spearheads.

Besides if you wanna swing around your spear to slash in a tight formation either on foot or on horse...I'm sure the other men in the formation are going to laugh at you or tell you to get the hell out of the formation.

Players should be able to toggle "slash swing" attacks on or off if using a spear and lock out slash swings if on horseback.

 

[TechnoSarge]

As a confirmed horseman, I have to say I only use 2-handed slashing weapons, including spears, for melee. My chief personal concern with melee is the enemy cavalry. Using slashes generates good kills from the rear, and I can get past a shield with a backhand, if we're stopped and sparring.

Hitting infantry is tough from horseback with a slashing weapon; it needs to be some minimum length to even reach them, and then I must steer so they're at my stirrups, so I generally steer clear of formed infantry and go for the routers.

I favor the menavlion for its moderate length and decent attack speed. I'll go to the Fine Steel Menavlion occasionally, when I feel like I'm not getting close enough to hit, but its slow attack is harder to time.

I personally feel like the pierce damage of spears is inadequate and I wish I had better control (personal skill needed!) to avoid setting up a poke instead of a slash.

I also like glaives, billswords, and 2-handed axes. They usually feed back a more satisfying *thump* when you whack someone than a menavlion does!

The interference using a long slash weapon is extreme when you're in a scrum. I've just learned to accept that and ply my trade on the open field or at the margins of the enemy body. And yeah, I get reminded every time I give my melee cavalry F1-F2 (Follow me) because when they finally catch up to my fast horse, they greatly inhibit my personal contribution.

 

[Lord Irontoe]

Most of the higher tier spearheads now have slash damage. I'd like to point out that slash attacks with a spear whose primary function is to pierce is usually the result of specific circumstances and has always been secondary damage at best i.e. draw slashes.

Gameplay considerations aside, swinging an ordinary spear can do devastating damage in real life. They're really no different than any other polearm, they just have a different shaped head. See this video for a demonstration of how deadly a spear swing can be

And it's difficult enough to aim a pierce attack without it getting turning into a slash attack which you didn't want...

Players should be able to toggle "slash swing" attacks on or off if using a spear and lock out slash swings if on horseback.

I do agree with that. It would be great if glaive type spears had 2 modes: thrust only or swing and thrust

 

[Ananda_The_Destroyer]

Slash damage? Like it hits you and your whyfuu in you self insert fan fic too?

 

[Grank]

Maybe you should try adjusting your mouse sensitivity. There's an option to adjust vertical mouse sensitivity too, so you might want to fiddle with it.

I like spears that have swing moves. It really helps on foot. Two handed spears are really weak in this series. In real life you would have so much control to land a stab and do it fast, but in this game they only get two slow stabs that are really easy to block. Swing moves help a little bit, but ideally I would prefer two sideways stabs with the horizontal control.

 

[Urzahil]

I use Realistic Battle Mod especially the Spear Improvement mod tacked on. If I'm at full tilt charge with lance, I've seen 200-500 damage to a mounted Imperial Vigilia (mostly head/torso shots) and seen 900+ damage hits on unarmored mounts with Steed Killer. Low armor troops can get one shotted with a good thrust and I also use De Re Militia which severely restricts high tier units and forcing all armies to have significant numbers of lower tier troops (which is more historically accurate) High tier units typically are much more difficult to inflict tremendous damage on due to the higher armor levels in RBM. I generally prefer spears/lances that are at least 200' in length, have a thrust speed of 90+ and Knight's spearhead for 40ish base damage.

Here's a video of a spear against chainmail and gambeson. And with extra momentum if on horseback would mean an even greater spear impact on the target. As you can see in the video, the first thrust actually penetrated the gel flesh under the chain/gambeson.



Second video....sword and spear vs padded cloth. The spear outperformed the sword although I didn't see the guys perform the underhand two handed thrust with the spear would would have been considerably more powerful than the overhand one handed thrust or thrown spear although the thrown spear went all the way through the padded cloth target..lol.

 

[KingEroc1st]

As a confirmed horseman, I have to say I only use 2-handed slashing weapons, including spears, for melee. My chief personal concern with melee is the enemy cavalry. Using slashes generates good kills from the rear, and I can get past a shield with a backhand, if we're stopped and sparring

i agree with you for cavalry vs cavalry. using the fine steel menavlion or the long glaive (both 200+ reach and swing slash) i can easily avoid enemy spears while being able to chop heads, whereas using a spear for cav vs cav is too risky. but for cavalry vs infantry its much easier to poke people than it is to slash, even with the long glaive.