Thorakitai and Thureophoroi should use the spear underhand.

[Cigol]

I find it kind of silly that these men would use the spear like a hoplite would and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

Has anyone ever made a mod that changes the fighting animations for these guys or can I change it myself with a simple script change by chance?

[War lord]

Overhand spear useage isn't exclusive to Hoplites, see for example several Barbarian spear units.

[Cigol]

Overhand spear useage isn't exclusive to Hoplites, see for example several Barbarian spear units.

I also find that pretty dumb. I also think all the hoplites should switch to underhand when they leave the hoplite formation. For obvious reasons.

You can change it in the descr_model_battle.txt, search for them and change "fs_o_f_spearman" to "fs_spearman" or "fs_fast_spearman"

Well that worked. Kind of.

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I guess I'm actually gonna have to alter the position of the spear on the model itself if I want it them actually hold it in the right place instead of at the front. Which I lack the skill to do. But thanks anyway.

Disregard that last post. I managed to do it. It was much easier than I thought. I just imported the .cas model to 3ds and rotated the spear 180 degrees then exported it again.
I may just do this for all the units and upload it here if anyone's interested in having it.

Here are the screenshots.
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[War lord]

I also find that pretty dumb. I also think all the hoplites should switch to underhand when they leave the hoplite formation. For obvious reasons.

Why? Overhand is a perfectly valid way to use a spear.

[Cigol]

Why? Overhand is a perfectly valid way to use a spear.

I agree it can be used to effect. But in certain circumstances it would be better to use underhand. The reason the Hoplites used overhand was because of the formation that they were in it permitted the men in the rank behind the front to also be able to thrust their spears over the shoulder of the man in front of him. And thrusting over the shoulder can be very powerful yes. But if you were in a relatively loose formation like the Thureophoroi or Thorakitai are then it would definitely be better to wield the spear underhand. Because it's much more useful to be able to thrust below the hip as well which is better when fighting alone.

[Entropy Judge]

I find it kind of silly that these men would use the spear like a hoplite would and I'm pretty sure I'm not the only person who thinks this way.

Why?

Has anyone ever made a mod that changes the fighting animations for these guys or can I change it myself with a simple script change by chance?

Probably and maybe. Well, it wouldn't be a script change, it'd be changing the Skeleton/Animation information in the EDU, but I'm not sure if you can just change things around or if you'd have to actually make new animations to fit the overhand skeleton being used (probably).

[the man, the myth, the legend]

You can change it in the descr_model_battle.txt, search for them and change "fs_o_f_spearman" to "fs_spearman" or "fs_fast_spearman"

[nottorus]

If you end up doing this for all overhand units, I'd like a copy please.
I was thinking of doing this myself today, but theres about 30 of them : /

[the man, the myth, the legend]

Cool, looks good man.

[BroskiDerpman]

Can't form shield wall if you hold your spear like that. If you use a underhand style grip you would hold the spear higher at the V line in the Thuero shield. i.e Roman Comitatanses forming a shield wall against Alemanni.

Though there is no animation made like that for RTW so this is the closest thing of course.

Good job tweaking it though, could be quite useful for some people. Perhaps you can release the files so other people can use it? (I'm not going to though )

[Cigol]

If you end up doing this for all overhand units, I'd like a copy please.
I was thinking of doing this myself today, but theres about 30 of them : /

Sorry I've only done all the non Hoplite units except the Liby-Phoenician infantry who actually did use the spear underhand.

Can't form shield wall if you hold your spear like that.

Well these guys seem to manage it just fine.

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[BroskiDerpman]

I guess I need to clarify: In real life you can't form a shield wall by holding the spear to the center area of the shield. (Not literally the center)

Even in game the models clip a bit but it's just a animation. (Note how I never said you can't do that in game )

Adding to my above post; Cigol, you need to pay a little more attention to my post, has nothing to do of if you can put it in game or not.(I already know how to so...)

[War lord]

Seems bizarre to me that you'd download a historical realism mod and then make such a bizarre change for the sake of personal aesthetics.

[Cigol]

TWC is being unresponsive again, won't let me edit again...Adding to my above post; Cigol, you need to pay a little more attention to my post, has nothing to do of if you can put it in game or not.(I already know how to so...)

The way you set out your post it gives off the impression that you are slightly bamboozled by my antics.

Seems bizarre to me that you'd download a historical realism mod and then make such a bizarre change for the sake of personal aesthetics.

Yeah the concept of aesthetics can often seem quite bizarre.

[War lord]

Thank you for showing the validity of you position by resorting to insults.

Now, my point is downloading a total conversion, a labour of love inspired by a twin love of history and gaming that took a large group years to created and then deciding to make nonsensical edits out of ones own sense of what looks good, is simply bizarre, one could even say Iconoclastic.

[Sarissofoi]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klOc9C-aPr4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I-xtFXThEOc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RmaYtNW_wR8

http://www.lloydianaspects.co.uk/weapons/spear.html

Hear what this guy have to say(or read what he write). He bring perfectly valid points about underhand spear usage - especially in formation.
Anyway underhand spar usage mod - I will gladly see it. If somebody can do it or share the method I will be grateful(and probably many others too).

[War lord]

While I'm generally a fan of his videos, I feel he is fixating on the idea of the spear as a weapon intended for keeping an opponent away. The well attested Hoplite shoving match was a cramped environment, an underhand grip would leave a sharped buttspike going back and forth near the Loins of the man behind you. The spear would also be rather useless since you can't easily stab under your opposites Hoplon without giving him a force advantage in the push. With overhand you can stab at the face of the enemy, not to kill him, but to make him flinch or panic.

EDIT: Also, he seems to have entirely missed that the goal of Hoplite on Hoplite was to win the push, a disproportionate amount of Hoplite casualties happened when the formation broke, not during the fight.

[Slaytaninc]

If you look at the reenactment his point actually makes even less sense since the reenactors look completely inflexible with their spears. Let alone the studies that show that an overhand grip imparts more power. Not to mention that it actually is perfectly comfortable to do.