Lances for lancing(Couching) Spears for stabbing and swords for slicing.

[Mabons]

Just make Great Lances slower for christ sake.

 

[Auscifer]

I strongly agree with the OP. Lance thrusting is and always has been lame. Couching requires some risk when moving against an aware target... lancing has zero risk unless the horseman makes a mistake. Spears are for thrusting, lances are for couching. There is no glory to be found, no respect to be earned by the most risk-adverse tactic in the game.

 

[CtrlAltDe1337]

Auscifer, I am surprised that you would think that way.  I would expect someone with your experience to remember the old versions when thrusting got nerfed to hell (late .5xx or early .6xx, I don't remember).  It really ruined the game and we have just now gotten back to a decent cavalry mechanic.

And mate, lances can thrust just like any other long pointy weapon.  The difference between a lance and spear is merely semantics.  I suggest you take a gander at the Bayeux tapestry, as it clearly shows Norman knights thrusting with lances (even overhand thrusting).  It is possible, and it was done in real life.

 

[battlefiend1012]

This paragraph from the wikipedia article on lances caught my attention relative to this topic:

"The Roman cavalry long thrusting spear was not called lance, but contus (from Greek language kontos, barge-pole). It was usually 3 to 4 m long, and grasped with both hands. It was used by equites contariorum and equites catafractarii, fully armed and armoured cataphracts. Romans weren't the first, though; the first use of the lance in this sense was made by the Sarmatian and Parthian cataphractes from ca. the 3rd century BC, and cavalry long thrusting spear was especially popular among the Hellenistic armies' agema and line cavalry."

EDIT: Dont go about telling me this isn't a roman period game. I know that. This is just for reference.

 

[rokema]

Try killing a lancer with a bit of skill, the second you get behind him he'll just stop, turn and thrust.

There's this thing you can do, in the game, called "blocking".  Set aside his thrust, stop next to him and carve him apart.

Fighting against a spear or lance on horseback, using a 1-handed weapon, should be difficult.  Lances were historically acknowledged as superior to swords from horseback in every instance when they clashed en masse (which didn't happen very often, I think at the battle of Waterloo...?). 

Now, something should probably be done to balance lances and swords a bit based on the primary disadvantage of lances not being present in the game (i.e. they tend to escape the hand a lot more often than swords).  Fortunately, there's now this extreme body-turn-rate limitation thing on horseback that limits lancers a lot more than swordsmen...

Oh and, if he stabs your shield your horse gets damage as well, so if you run at him at full speed, block up, your horse dies and he starts stabbing you from 10 metres away.

 

[Stabbing Hobo]

Not if you use your head. It's incredibly easy to predict exactly what a lancer will do when you confront him - he is going to charge straight at you and try to directly impale you. It is really his only option if he wants to kill you. As a swordsman you have multiple choices in how to attack or counter-attack, so you essentially decide how the encounter plays out. It will take some practice, but taking down lancers with a sword is certainly not impossible.

I've been playing cavalry only since 0.680, and never have I ever been killed by a mounted swordsman (Not counting the times I got stopped by a pike or such and someone backstabbing me there) while using a lance. And only the stupid, or the ones who know the limits of their skills charge head on. It is very risky and is only worth doing if there's no other way of getting the guy killed.

Auscifer, I am surprised that you would think that way.  I would expect someone with your experience to remember the old versions when thrusting got nerfed to hell (late .5xx or early .6xx, I don't remember).  It really ruined the game and we have just now gotten back to a decent cavalry mechanic.

The issue wasn't the thrusting, it was the damn easy couching back then. It was simply so much better than thrusting, not to mention easier.