Alright, folks! Let's discuss the military history of Eorzea, shall we?
Starting out, it seems like Eorzea is currently in a period of transition, militarily-speaking. Mostly, I'm thinking we're edging towards a renaissance, "Pike and Shot" era. It seems like the main military weapons of the day are pikes (or lances), bowmen, and chocobo cavalry, with the development of early gunpowder weapons.
To me, this presents an interesting problem, because historically, the "pike" didn't evolve until armor got good enough that massed groups of archers were less of a threat than cavalry charges. While there is full plate in FFXIV, i think there is a point made in-game about how Lancers mostly stick to chain or scale mail. So, one question I might ask is why Eorzeans developed the pike formation without heavy armor, or whether or not massed archery is still effective in Eorzea.
Starting out, it seems like Eorzea is currently in a period of transition, militarily-speaking. Mostly, I'm thinking we're edging towards a renaissance, "Pike and Shot" era. It seems like the main military weapons of the day are pikes (or lances), bowmen, and chocobo cavalry, with the development of early gunpowder weapons.
To me, this presents an interesting problem, because historically, the "pike" didn't evolve until armor got good enough that massed groups of archers were less of a threat than cavalry charges. While there is full plate in FFXIV, i think there is a point made in-game about how Lancers mostly stick to chain or scale mail. So, one question I might ask is why Eorzeans developed the pike formation without heavy armor, or whether or not massed archery is still effective in Eorzea.
