I have had the original M & B and played it through for several months. I got the warband version. I am a lance and big axe guy. I hire others to do the delicate work. The aiming system in warband is driving me crazy. I have used all 3 options in the options section and see no difference. When I run into the bad guys with my lance and horse, I just bounce off. In the original the only way to fight the horseman i.e. Khergit is to take out the horse and put the rider on the ground. Is there a mod out there to goes back to the original lance aiming. I get frustrated watching my lance bobbing up and down as I ride into battle. A similar question, about using my 2 handed axe on horse back. Is there some kind or penalty?

Yeah, using a lance in Warband kind of sucks. Not that I know of. I do not think the modding system allows for changing basic mechanics like that. There is a penalty to damage and speed. I think the damage penalty is something like 30%; not sure about the speed.

Thanks, I guess I'll try to rearm my champions with single handed blades or start a new character as I am about 600 game days in.

I have mine set to automatic, and while sometimes I do hit something I totally wasn't aiming it- for the most part it's pretty good.

The way I do it is when I'm charging forward to lance someone, I hit R to go to first-person mode, then it follows my view. In this way I can angle my horse and still hit something even if it's not directly in front of my horse.

It's one of the most significant changes from original M&B. In the original you could couch like any polearm, but you can't aim it, it's firmly locked into position at your side.

I will say that sometimes it's better to just manually stab someone, even if you've got a lance on horseback. This is often the case in tournaments when you're one-on-one and just can't get a good charge set up. In Warband there's a lot more momentum and ponderousness to melee, so with a training/jousting lance I have to release the attack a good second or two before I get into range for the best effect.