Originally Posted by
Ahiga
Right, there wasn't any official division of sword and spearman, but I disagree on the idea of the spear mainly being a weapon for dealing with cavalry. It's questionable to me why the spear would remain the preeminent weapon for infantry of the line throughout history if it was such a poor choice for facing off against another corps of infantry. With cavalry it's as much the wall of shields and noise as it is the bristling ranks of spear. Furthermore, in the increasing use of a dense pseudo-phalanx formation for legionaries of this period a spear is far more useful than the spatha - I'm sure it can still thrust as well as cut, but the spear remains the consistent primary arm of organized (not more heroic/individualistic barbarian fighting) close order infantry - the only exception in the Western world being the Romans of the republic through to early/mid empire. At least with Ammanius you have accounts referencing the spear as distinct from a javelin, and used in close quarters.
The historical consensus I've gathered for the late empire is the spear's increased importance - not replacing the sword, but clearly returning in a way not known since before Marius. Problem being there wasn't a rigid division of spearman and swordsman, but rather it's usually argued the front rankers would keep their lancea while those further behind would throw it. Sometimes the front rankers could throw theirs, too. And the very fluidity you mention is a problem we face in trying to represent it with the rigidity of video games/wargaming. Hell, Praetorians trained to use the bow back in the 1st century Ad I believe, and used it during a riot. And in this period you had men who could go from light infantry to heavy depending on the mission or happily go from a footsoldier to a cavalryman. We can somewhat do the latter (but I am not about to remove any kind of heavy infantry for Barbarians because I doubt the AI is smart enough to dismount their cavalrymen)
So there is really no means to offer a perfect representation of past warfare. The only one I could be reasonably okay with is the cosmetic feature of spears being used when in a shield wall or similar formation (if that's even possible), and only affording the anti-cavalry bonus in said formation. I'm not a fan of it being only used against cavalry because again, from the historical evidence I've encountered I get a strong impression that spears were used extensively as a primary arm alongside the Spatha, not a specialty item for only fighting cavalry. Long, sharp stick that can reach out and gut an Alamanni makes a lot more sense in a tight shield-wall scrummage like Strasbourg than trying to swing a Spatha around.
But there's so much that I have to work on that there's no way I'm going to be able to wade into the field of animations I'm largely unfamiliar with. If someone wants to make a mini-mod of this, all the power to them and maybe we'll integrate it into the mod, but it's just out of my capacity right now.