Soliciting Cavalry Tips!

[Leptomeninges]

I'm going to launch a Takeda game in the next week or so. I'm looking for tips on cavalry use, which I'm pretty bad with except for the occasional charge when I remember and to chase down routing armies to turn medium victories into big ones.

Part of the problem is that I fight a huge portion of my battles either attacking or defending castles where cavalry seem to have little role.

So which flavor of cavalry do you prefer? Are katana cavalry more worthwhile post-patch? (I know things changed with the patch but haven't paid attention.) Do people still stick with the Yari cavalry? Anyone finding bow cavalry to be useful?

Any special uses aside from the "morale bomb" cavalry charge?

Thanks in advance!

[econ21]

Yes, I struggled to find a big role for cavalry even as Takeda. The problem is the mass of the enemy, at least early on, are cheap ashigaru which are lethal to cavalry close up with yaris or at range with bows.

If you have time to micro it, the "Benny Hill" tactic of luring away spears to chase your cavalry could work - shooting them down as you do so. However, it is a bit of an exploit and rather hard to pull off in a proper battle when you are busy, given the very fast movement rates in the game. Bow cav may be best for that, given they can skirmish. A variation on this might is to lure out enemy cavalry into a premature charge into your spears - however again it takes quite some micro. Trying both things early in the Takeda campaign, I would often mess up and lose my lure due to inattention.

One thing I've started doing more while playing EB and the Third Age (where units have quite high morale) is double teaming the morale bomb charges - have cavalry stacked one behind another. IIRC the usual hammer and anvil tactic of earlier TW games is not quite as effective in S2TW as in earlier vanilla TW games, so a double tap may help. Waiting until the committed enemy infantry is no longer eager or steady may also be wise. Hiding the cavalry prior to charging should also help the morale bomb.

I have not done the maths or tested it, but I suspect Katana cavalry are superior to to yari for countering enemy cav - especially if you can't be relied upon to get a proper charge in.

[Fridgebadger]

Most maps in S2 seem to have lots of trees, and I find the best (only?) way of using cav is to have them hidden on the flanks, preferably some way ahead of your line. Then wait til the battle proper has started, and steam in on any unprotected bow units, the general, or into the flanks/rear of the big melee. That usually works!

Defending sieges, a couple of units starting outside the walls can sometimes find either three unprotected bows, or two bows and one spear. Even if they get toasted, they can tie up a few enemy units/one whole flank for a while. If there are no obvious targets, you can just bring them back inside.

Having said that, horses are always a late game luxury for me, and I'm about to start a Takeda campaign myself, so not sure how it'll work form the start.

[Monk]

In the early game cavalry are only useful for one purpose, running down routers. Sometimes you can get lucky and get a good roll-up, but by and large, Yari Ashigaru (which make up 90% of AI forces for the first 10 years) are absolutely deadly to cavalry.Cavalry only start to become a real power in the mid to late games when you're able to bring Yari and Katana cavalry into the mix, and even then they fullfill a very specific role. Either being anti-cavalry or for quick strikes against the enemy missle troops.

Personally I use my cavalry on a delayed charge tactic. If i can I'll hide them in some trees or keep them loitoring far from the lines of battle. When the Ai commits its forces to deal with my main line, thats when i strike. I use Katana cavalry as General killers, a good charge from those guys and the AI's leader can be in some really hot water.

If I'm playing a clan who's expanded near Kyoto before realm divide, I might tech up and try to siege the city just to get Great Guards. Those guys are incredible and are useful for pretty much everything.

[Servius]

Takeda are my new favorite. My standard army is 1-2 generals, 2-3 katana cav, 4 yari cav, and 12 Yari Ashigaru.

Battle tactics are simple:

1) If attacking in the field, form the Ashigaru into a single line, with each unit about 4 ranks deep, with a pair of Yari Cav on each flank of that line, and the generals and Katana Cav behind the center. March forward until close to the enemy line. Single-click (so, walk until in charge range, then auto-charge) the Ashigaru into the enemy line, which pins them, send the yari cav around the flanks and charge them into opportune targets (preferably in this order: enemy generals, cav, bows, and then everything else). Use the katana cav to reinforce the line if necessary. Use general(s) to boost Ashigaru morale with Rally if necessary.

2) If defending in the field, same as above, except you place your Ashigaru line in the most advantageous position possible: far from the enemy's initial starting location (so that they tire themselves out marching to you), perferably on a hill (to decrease enemy bow range and tire them out some more), and in the woods (to give your Ashigaru an additional anti-cav bonus and some arrow cover). In particular, try to hide the yari cav in woods further from your Ashigaru line so that they can more easily spring from cover once the enemy engages your line.

3) If assaulting a castle, just lay siege and wait for them to sally, then see #2 above.

4) If defending a castle, fill the inner ward with the Ashigaru and spread the cav outside the walls. The enemy usually breaks their besieging forces up into 4-5 small groups, and they are often unbalanced groups (so some will have all spears, others will have all bows). Use the cav outside the walls to hunt down the small groups that are mostly bows. One of these mostly-bow groups usually also has the enemy generals, so use your yari cav to slaughter them. That will give you a big morale advantage. If the enemy spear/sword guys go for your walls, let them tire themselves out with all that climbing, then swarm them with your Ashigaru when they finally get to the inner ward. If they ignore the castle and go for your cav, kite them to a castle gate and have your Ashigaru sally out and slam into their flank. When the enemy spears/swords turn to fight your Ashigaru, turn your cav and charge them in the back.