Lethandis
Recruit

I was just thinking that it would be great if you could really become a master horseman in the game. If your ride skill affected more than raw speed and turning on the mount. It could also determine things such as: Deceleration while climing a grade, angle and speed of decline one can go down without the horse falling and crippling itself, and the height of your horse's jumps. I think this would make it really cool to invest heavily in the ride skill. I had this idea suddenly while reading the Horse Rearing thread, and the scene from "Man from Snowy River" leapt to mind where he charged down a cliff that was perhaps a 70 degree down angle while the other riders, all good horsement, looked on in amazement. Of course, the degree you could take this to would need to stay in the realistic feel of the game.
Climbing: Your horse could lose less speed when hitting inclines, thus allowing you to keep a couched lance on slight inclines, and use steeper hills to outrun other cavalry.
Descending: Make down grades of greater than 10% leathal to most horses at faster than a walk speed, because they are. However, allow riding skill to counteract this, and a player with really high ride could go down nearly (not completely, but close) sheer cliffs at a gallop without losing his mount.
Leaping: Let horses jump about as much as they do for a character with the minimum ride skill to mount them. However, skill that exceeds the minimum ride skill would increase the height (and distance due to speed, so no need to increase that separately) of the horse's leaps. Each horse could have a limiting factor on how high it could jump. I'd suggest an algorithm something like:
Maximum_Jump_Modifier = (Mount Maneuverability + 10) - Armor.
Distance_of_JumpNormal_Horse_Jump * (1*Maximum_Jump_Modifier).
Also, a horse should be able to absorb a bit of an impact on the landing, not an insane ammount, but allow for slight down-grades. I remember riding accross a clearing, and there was a small hill, we're talking mole-hill size, so I decided a playful jump was in order. . .goodbye spirited courser. Now, had I attempted to jump a horse in plate barding off even a slight grade, wearing plate armor myself, I'd fully expect it to snap it's legs. However, wearing leather myself at the time, and riding an unarmored, spirited arabian style horse. . .I'd figure it could hop down a slight distance. . .
So, I'd suggest making fall damage applicable to horses, something like:
Fall_Damage = ((Armor + Character_Inventory_Weight)*Distance Fallen) - ((Mount_Speed_Rating +Maneuverability)*Ride Skill).
Thus, your more agile horses, carrying less, could hop down short distances with a skilled rider, but your bohemeths would need to keep close to the ground.
Edit: No making fun of my pseudo-code guys, just illustrating an idea, not submitting a logic plan.
Climbing: Your horse could lose less speed when hitting inclines, thus allowing you to keep a couched lance on slight inclines, and use steeper hills to outrun other cavalry.
Descending: Make down grades of greater than 10% leathal to most horses at faster than a walk speed, because they are. However, allow riding skill to counteract this, and a player with really high ride could go down nearly (not completely, but close) sheer cliffs at a gallop without losing his mount.
Leaping: Let horses jump about as much as they do for a character with the minimum ride skill to mount them. However, skill that exceeds the minimum ride skill would increase the height (and distance due to speed, so no need to increase that separately) of the horse's leaps. Each horse could have a limiting factor on how high it could jump. I'd suggest an algorithm something like:
Maximum_Jump_Modifier = (Mount Maneuverability + 10) - Armor.
Distance_of_JumpNormal_Horse_Jump * (1*Maximum_Jump_Modifier).
Also, a horse should be able to absorb a bit of an impact on the landing, not an insane ammount, but allow for slight down-grades. I remember riding accross a clearing, and there was a small hill, we're talking mole-hill size, so I decided a playful jump was in order. . .goodbye spirited courser. Now, had I attempted to jump a horse in plate barding off even a slight grade, wearing plate armor myself, I'd fully expect it to snap it's legs. However, wearing leather myself at the time, and riding an unarmored, spirited arabian style horse. . .I'd figure it could hop down a slight distance. . .
Fall_Damage = ((Armor + Character_Inventory_Weight)*Distance Fallen) - ((Mount_Speed_Rating +Maneuverability)*Ride Skill).
Thus, your more agile horses, carrying less, could hop down short distances with a skilled rider, but your bohemeths would need to keep close to the ground.
Edit: No making fun of my pseudo-code guys, just illustrating an idea, not submitting a logic plan.