One last thing though, a lance is more likely used to swing with.
All the crits are good but a lance is a defensive thrusting weapon first and foremost and is often merely positioned and braced against a charging enemy. I'm not sure what lances you've been using.....but there's a reason we differentiate between these and other bladed/spiked weapons (like hammers, halberds, etc).
If you ride a horse with a lance, you wont get the time to swing so then yes, you stab and hope you hit.
If you stand in a massive battle with good armor, you can stab enemies that are not paying attention to you in particular, if you're less well armed you'd rather wound everyone around you instead of specifically kill one man so the others may hit through your defense.
If you stand in a one on one battle you get one chance to stab. If you don't kill your opponent there, he'll probably evade the lance and encounter you so close that you'd be off best if you throw the lance away and continue with the knuckles. If you DO stab the opponent but only wound him, it would've been better to swing your lance as it theatens more (keep enemy at distance) en has a greater impact due to speed.
Whe n carrying a lance, fight defensive, and only stab to kill.
that all *sounds* great, but you need to do some research - what on earth are you basing this on?? - the European spear is a stabbing weapon, period. history has a way of proving what works and what doesn't
. things like halberds became a popular alternative because you
could bring it down with force, offering a distinct advantage over normal spear weapons if you could pass Point. Even so, side-side swinging of long pole weapons has never been a european thing (unless you count the ancient bulgarians and other steppe peoples, who probably picked it up from Tang merchants).
The european lance (and any other "true" spear) has a relatively small head, and it is not a good blade. swinging it would only allow the wielder to lose control over it's one real benefit - the point.
As far as the scenario where you fight one-on-one, yeah, you're right, you wouldn't bring a ten-foot weapon to the fight, lances are used to destroy slow-moving (or slow-turning) targets such as cavalry and other heavy infantry. A swordsman or even a billman would, in open ground, quickly advance past Point and destroy his target (yet another reason spear ranks were often supplemented by skirmishers and swordsmen - they would keep infantry away while the pikes protected them from enemy horse. As far as dropping the spear, this they also did when speed and mobility were with the enemy - they drew swords, in the same way that archers dropped bows, gunner dropped guns, and cavalry discarded lances as well, all for swords.
http://www.anselm.edu/academic/history/hdubrulle/WarandRevolution/graphics/Paintings%202004/mil%20rev%20pikeman.jpg
http://www.anselm.edu/academic/history/hdubrulle/WarandRevolution/graphics/Paintings%202004/mil%20rev%20arquebusier%205.jpg
http://exileonthewing.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/archer.thumbnail.jpg
http://www.allthequeensmen.com/images/vf2.jpgAs for the asian stuff mentioned, i know that games tend to be pro japanese fighting styles, and we have our assassin classes that use ninja stuff (to pander to that audience), but the majority of the game is european.
truly the footing would depend on the context, stepping back for a counter and forward for, well, an advance....but he can step back without adding frames so I think that will be the decision.