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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Griffith Dragonlake" data-source="post: 3913335" data-attributes="member: 40379">The short answer is that a lance does double damage on impact because the rider has the lance (or spear) couched under his arm and he is standing in the saddle when the horse charges.  Whereas if the spear/lance is not couched and/or the rider is in the wrong kind of saddle (e.g. no stirrups) he will be knocked off his horse and will not be able to transfer the energy of the charging horse to the victim.Historically, Mediæval European knights dominated the battlefield because of the lance.  The Saracens like the Mongols were good at stabbing people with spears from horseback but didn't know and/or didn't have the equipment for a proper joust.  And their tactics reflected that.  Saracens were known for hit and run skirmishes and raids rather than a straight out charge like the knights of yore.Bottom line is that in game terms an Arabian flavor would involve warriors mounted on war-camels or light war horses with spears, composite shortbows, and scimitars.  Definitely not lances and they would not get double damage when charging with a spear.  And IIRC the spears were uncommon if not outright rare.  Most Saracens fought with scimitar and bow.  The spear tactics were of Persian/Iranian and North Indian.</blockquote>