Pike vs Cavalry

[JimMorrison]

Originally Posted by Scarlioni

Well.. since wikipedia is no help to me on the difference of pikes and sarrissas (Defining a sarissa as a 13-21 foot long pike) could you please elaborate the difference for me?

That is because of the trend toward the over-association of the term Pike, with any long spear.

There seem to be 3 primary design differences between the Hellenistic Sarissa, and the English Pike. The first being that the Sarissa notably featured the bronze butt spike, so that it can be very firmly set in the ground in anticipation of a charge. The second being that the Sarissa was typically fashioned in 2 pieces, that were then adjoined like a pool cue, likely primarily to make the weapons easier to handle during extended mobilizations. The third difference being that the English Pike was tapered towards the tip, and thus needed to be reinforced with metal strips.

Functionally, the Sarissa is intended to be used with a shield, and the bronze butt spike aids in balancing the long weapon for 1 handed use. By contrast, the English Pike was exclusively a 2 handed weapon, such as the Pike is portrayed in Dominions.

Oddly, the actual "Long Spear" in the game is used with a shield as well, and thus is the closest that we come to a Sarissa, despite the fact that the average length of a Sarissa was actually longer than the average Pike, yet, in game Pike = 6 and Long Spear = 5. Crazy Swedes. <3