Military Weapons - Spears and other Polearms

[Gazz]

Swords are fine for the dueling warrior and that whole romanticized bushido / knighthood stuff.
For soldiers fighting as a unit they are backup weapons at best.
The medieval soldier's weapon was the spear - or other polearm for more specific purposes.

A soldier using a sword needs room to swing it. As a result any soldier in a line of swordsmen is facing about three spearmen at once - because of the length of their weapons and the fact that thrusting doesn't require as much room.
All that fancy swordplay may deflect the first spear tip, maybe even the second, but the third is going to poke a hole in you. If you don't have a sizable shield, either... don't bother. Just run.

There is a huge thread about firearms and gunpowder... but nothing about the much bigger hole in the combat setting. Even the picture above this very forum (one of the black & white ones) shows someone holding a spear. =P

[The Biolizard]

Yes the idea of having spears is good but when you get down to it, there aren't going to be colossal battles with hundreds of people in phalanx type combat. Also the guy is holding a sword, not a spear.

[Gazz]

I'm not talking about "colossal battles".
Even a single squad of 10-12 could easily make use of better tactics than... 1v1 duels.


I was referring to this picture:
http://www.lofigames.com/randomtitle/1.jpg

It's long as a spear and held like a spear. It that were a sword, the guy would be holding it as if impaling himself. You don't hold a sword like that... but a spear.

[tony1449]

I'm not talking about "colossal battles".
Even a single squad of 10-12 could easily make use of better tactics than... 1v1 duels.


I was referring to this picture:
http://www.lofigames.com/randomtitle/1.jpg

It's long as a spear and held like a spear. It that were a sword, the guy would be holding it as if impaling himself. You don't hold a sword like that... but a spear.

Could also be a staff, and I would say that is a better guess because of the setting.

[Mortez]

Yep not a spear, just a pointy staff...... wait....

[LordMontgomery]

Yep not a spear, just a pointy staff...... wait....

[Gazz]

If spears are a problem with the setting, there could still be yari. =)


That one picture isn't really that important, though. It was just anecdotal.

The point is that spears are a much older technology and should be available long before swords.

Actually, the same goes for clubs. While there are some Final Fantasy "swords" in the game which deal a great deal of blunt damage, there are no real clubs in the game. Grabbing a piece of tree branch to beat up people is also a very popular concept.
That would be the starter weapon for some poor adventurer. Not a sword...

[Santaissick]

I remember Chris saying that he's not implementing spears or staffs because he doesn't have animations for those. If you can find them, we might have a chance.

[Gazz]

I thought that creating stuff that doesn't exist is the basic premise in game development.

How does one "find an animation" anyway? Don't those have to be created for specific skeletons / weapons that had been rigged to a model?

[Marilous]

I think somewhere it was said the game is based upon samurai/ninja influences and if you read some things in the forums it seems like chris is an anime fan. (Just based upon the samurai 7 comments) and a sword focus is pretty awesome. Realistically in history samurai did use spears as their main weapon but had a strong connection to their swords, the problem with having a bunch of spears and clubs currently in the game though I think is the lack of trees in the desert, also the squad tactics with spears is a legitimate thought but the phalanx type tactic with spears (which would be your greeks, other early type armies) gave way to the shock trooper/professional soldier (here you have your roman legion) after a certain point with maces and swords being more effective.

[Pliskkenn]

Ahh, it's a shame spears aren't planned. I was hoping to channel my Yukimura Sanada!

Although as others have said, Yari, Katana, Bow, Hand to Hand and Horseback Riding are the martial disciplines that come to mind when I think of Samurai.

Alas, all I can do is post in this thread and post in the desires thread and hope for the best.

[iSuck345]

Weren't there other threads about this?

[Tolwrath]

Check the date of the original post. They resurrected an old thread.

[Pliskkenn]

I figured it was better to resurrect an old thread than start a new one. It was also the first one dedicated to spears rather than it being included in other threads.

[CalPal]

I am totally in favour of having spears, staffs and other polearm weapons in the game.

[iSuck345]

There will be epicness without equal.

[Clawdius Talonious]

Spears would be a nice thing to have, hopefully Chris can acquire a variety of animations to add in spears as well as the unarmed disciplines we know are planned.

[CodofWisdom]

I'd recommend the Naginata, as opposed to a spear. Considering the primary weapon in the game is a Katana, a Japanese sword, it would fit better.

The Naginata is a pole arm with a difference: instead of a spearhead, it has a long curved blade. This way, it can be used both to stab and slice, potentially.

They were used by Samurai, foot soldiers and warrior monks.

They're badass, to say the least.

[condog99]

Although I am in favor, I don't want them to be insanely OP like in Chivalry. I've had enough of OP crazy-long spears for a lifetime.

[CodofWisdom]

Well, the entire point of spears is that they work great when your opponent is far away.
If the opponent gets past the spearhead, the spear wielder is likely to find it shoved where the sun doesn't shine.
So for the initial charge, the spear/polearm would work wonderfully, but then swords will have to be drawn.
I suppose in that case, the secondary weapon slot will come into it's element.