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Old 04-08-2008, 07:18 PM   #11
combatmedic
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Super magic assisted wire drawing action? : )
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Old 04-08-2008, 07:25 PM   #12
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The pump action crossbow thread has started me thinking about Yrth's technology. We know about Yrth's finger printing, germ/demonet Theory of Disease, etc. What other 'benign' things slipped through, or have been invented by clever Yrthians?
Yrth is intended to do classical "fantasy", which to a large extent means it is late TL4 but without gunpowder or the early edges of industrialization. Though sometimes it has their *effects* anyway. It should have all sorts of TL3 "anachronisms" ranging from articulated plate armor, to window glass, to cheap, brightly colored textiles.

That last by the way is an example of one the problem of thinking to hard about this. The target is essentially a visual and storytelling style, and trying to justify logically what is and is not present, is largely an exercise in futility. You have cheap polychrome textiles because fantasy nobles have lots of fancy clothing, and clean neat dress of even the goat girls in fairy tales needs cheap cloth too. But you will never, ever see the improved spinning technology this implies, nor the chemical industry that generates the affordable soap or the color fast dyes across the entire spectrum.

This sort of thing is true all around - fantasy cities are huge (though Banestorm did scale them back some) because fantasy cities always are, never mind where the food comes from. Every plot significant noble will have a castle, don't ask who built them, or why. Tobacco and coffee and whiskey are all over the place, regardless of their probable absence from the times and places of origin of Yrth's cultures. Pagan religions appear likewise because they are cool and in genre, as do ninjas, and samauri, and any number of other anachronistic details of religious practice and heraldry and.... I really, really wish that it could have just been admitted and the effort to fake up "reasons" abandoned.
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Old 04-08-2008, 10:48 PM   #13
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Or the fact that classical-style knights exist for no apparent reason.
This is always one of those arguments that I don't understand. Why do they exist for no apparent reason?
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:01 PM   #14
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This is always one of those arguments that I don't understand. Why do they exist for no apparent reason?
Too easy to create impassible terrain, too easy to make trouble for horses. Given magic, infantry is much more effective than cavalry.
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:10 PM   #15
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Too easy to create impassible terrain, too easy to make trouble for horses. Given magic, infantry is much more effective than cavalry.
Under magic illusions can be devastating. After all you are just trying to beat the Horse's IQ...
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:37 PM   #16
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Too easy to create impassible terrain, too easy to make trouble for horses. Given magic, infantry is much more effective than cavalry.
I'm guessing we're just looking at things from two very different viewpoints. To me a Classic Knight is someone who rides to the fight, then dismounts and fights on foot as heavy infantry, or at best performs the duties of most cavalry if they stay mounted, which is to harass the flanks while not getting tied down in a fight.

So from that I still don't see what the problem is. Unless you're viewing it as the nearly mythic Heavy Cavalry charge a la Braveheart.

Trained Warhorses are just too expensive to use outside of a tournament, and the farm horses gathered for combat will refuse to charge at anything solid looking.
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Old 04-08-2008, 11:55 PM   #17
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I'm guessing we're just looking at things from two very different viewpoints. To me a Classic Knight is someone who rides to the fight, then dismounts and fights on foot as heavy infantry, or at best performs the duties of most cavalry if they stay mounted, which is to harass the flanks while not getting tied down in a fight.

So from that I still don't see what the problem is. Unless you're viewing it as the nearly mythic Heavy Cavalry charge a la Braveheart.

Trained Warhorses are just too expensive to use outside of a tournament, and the farm horses gathered for combat will refuse to charge at anything solid looking.
Historically that "nearly mythic" heavy calvary was what knights were. Horses are expensive, so are tanks. Its the reason why knights had land in the first place, so they could afford their equipment/mount. They primarly charged with lances couched for shock effect to break infantry formations. One the lance was lost/broken they would then fight from horseback with sword, mace, flail, axe, etc. They tended to fight on foot only when unhorsed, in a fortified/prepared postition, attacking a fortified/prepared postition, or heavily outnumbered. Take a look at the Crusades for a good model of the Knight in medieval combat...
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Old 04-09-2008, 12:00 AM   #18
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Originally Posted by Witchking
Historically that "nearly mythic" heavy calvary was what knights were. Horses are expensive, so are tanks. Its the reason why knights had land in the first place, so they could afford their equipment/mount. They primarly charged with lances couched for shock effect to break infantry formations. One the lance was lost/broken they would then fight from horseback with sword, mace, flail, axe, etc. They tended to fight on foot only when unhorsed, in a fortified/prepared postition, attacking a fortified/prepared postition, or heavily outnumbered. Take a look at the Crusades for a good model of the Knight in medieval combat...
Well, going solely by the description of the knightly mounted combat styles from MA, this was only really true during the High Medieval period, 12-14th centuries. I don't know a whole lot about the period, but I'm guessing MA is thoroughly researched, as all the stuff I DO know about is correct. So while the Heavy Calvary Charge was always an important aspect of the Knight, they certainly weren't one-trick ponies.
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Old 04-09-2008, 12:04 AM   #19
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Welll, you have to have mages to cast those spells. Mages are people with a special, inborn talent. Not just anyone can learn and cast spells [unless you are in a high mana zone]. How many mages will spend all their time doing mundane sorts of work? Also, factor in single college mages, illiteracy among the general populace limiting educational propsects,etc. Magic is not technology.
A mage can live very comfortably off the proceeds of Create Earth and Earth to Stone, used to create iron out of thin air.
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Old 04-09-2008, 12:14 AM   #20
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Well, going solely by the description of the knightly mounted combat styles from MA, this was only really true during the High Medieval period, 12-14th centuries. I don't know a whole lot about the period, but I'm guessing MA is thoroughly researched, as all the stuff I DO know about is correct. So while the Heavy Calvary Charge was always an important aspect of the Knight, they certainly weren't one-trick ponies.
Even before the Heavy Calvary Charge IIRC Knights still tended to fight from horseback more with swords etc than with lance spear but still using the mobility/position advantages of horseback. Now OTOH troops like Saxon housecarls of 10th-11th centuries would ride to battle and then dismount to form the shield wall. Hungarian hussiars would similarly ride to battle and dismount to fight. But the Knight as I recall was specifically trained to fight while mounted.
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