why is there not a spear .......... Interesting thread ---for once :) ]

[Tabbitha]

source taken from UO U.HAll

why don't we have a one handed spear to use in game both spears are 2 handed so no sheild .yet historically spear and sheild is probably used more in combat more than sword and sheild was or they are really close to being equal in occurrence? i would think the short spear should be one handed

-------------------------------------------

Someone just saw 300.

Fine, same could be said of a long spear. Some shields were made with a "notch" to hold long spears steady, and see "Troy" for further examples of spear/shield combos.

That said, in terms of UO the determinate for whether a weapon is 1 or 2 handed is damage. The pixels and animation are secondary, although important for visual queues. In effect, making a 1-handed spear would require it to do less damage.

The other aspect are the specials, and again because of balance, it might require they be toned down as well.


--------------------------------------------

accually real world combat physics would blow most everything Fayled Dhreams said right out of the water and if you think of all the mesopatinian and greek art that has a single fighter armed with spear and sheild that blow most of the rest of the ideas posted so far as well
and as far as damage goes the fact that swing speeds for 2 handed weapons are way way off makes up for the extra damage in real life 2 handed weapons are much much faster than single handed weapons

--------------------------------------------

Historically the one-handed use of as spear, normally in conjunction with a large shield, was PRIMARILY limited to mass formations. UO doesn't focus on phalanx or shield wall fighting so the 1H Spear probably has little place beyond a fencer wanting to use a shield or pots LOL!

I've used spear & shield in full contact contests and I've found that as soon as our formation broke up - or was broken up OUCH - I dropped my spear and got out my shortsword as quick as possible. The spear, even a fairly short one, is too awkward for single combat / open combat when used in one hand.

--------------------------------------------

only for the romans really greeks and egyptians and just about everbody else it was a sigle fighter style the roman perfected the mass attack/wall attack everbody else mostly engaged mono e mono

--------------------------------------------

Actually, the phalanx (your mass attack/wall attack) was used by the Sumerians as early as the 2400's BC, as well as the Egyptians. The tactic was perfected by Phillip of Macedonia (considered part of Greece at the time) way back in the 300's BC. And all of these civilizations that used this tactic were well before the Roman Empire began using it.

--------------------------------------------

Actually, the phalanx (your mass attack/wall attack) was used by the Sumerians as early as the 2400's BC, as well as the Egyptians. The tactic was perfected by Phillip of Macedonia (considered part of Greece at the time) way back in the 300's BC. And all of these civilizations that used this tactic were well before the Roman Empire began using it.

--------------------------------------------

Yes, many African tribes used shield and spear combination. Not just the Zulu

I've read it was Hannibal's multi ethnic army that really introduced the lethal practicality of the heavy African spear to the Romans (among other things). Guess the Romans learned the hard way what a versitle weapon it is and adapted its use themselves.

As for one handed Spears and Shield combos in UO - well as long as there's Expansion packs and Publishes - there's always hope.

Dave "CatHat" Brown -
UO Character and Environment Artist -
EA Mythic -

[John Dell]

Romans stole everything.

[seon]

Aye! They stole greek tactics

[John Dell]

They stole greek mythology as well
They stole EVERYTHING.