Hobbilars vs alam mercenary cav

[DeadRunner]

what unit is the best i see that are similar none of them are for frontal atacks, they do work better as scouts our routed units hunters.

[Eastside Character]

Heavy Steppies are the best http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/idea.gif

Hobilars - not a missile unit, kinda weak
Alan Merc Cav - similar to Hobilars plus GAH - think where can you get them

Regards,
EC

Edit: Heavy Steppies eat Alans and Hobilars for breakfast http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/tongue.gif http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

[Doug-Thompson]

Alans:

Much faster and much better for chasing routers; better attack, much better morale.

Hobilars:

You can actually find one once in a while.

[Cebei]

Alans are hardy light cavalry. I usually expect Alans to put up a better fight than hobilars. Though in early, high valor hobilars are my saviors.

[mbrasher1]

Need Alan mercs but cannot find them??

Go for szekelys. The stats are the same -- speed, attack, defense, etc, but they have 28 arrows and a bow Nobody eats them for breakfast because they cannot catch them.

[Captain Kevin Darling]

In the multiplayer games AMC are the best cavalry you can buy, cheap and have good stats. The fast component of the stats is the most important because you can chase down horse archers without them skirmishing like they would against hobilars, they can run away whenever they're in a bad situation and they won't tire too easily. Also in the multiplayer mode they won't be hit with the morale penalty that all mercenaries have as i found out.

If I saw some hobilars scouting I would attack them with any cavalry I had including horse archers well only if they turned the other way and tried to retreat with AMCs I couldn't do that they'd be gone too quickly. But in the campaign hobilars should be used to attack infantry and to shock as they are quite sturdy.

For scouts in the campaign you should use horse archers, mounted crossbowmen or turcoman horse. They have terrible melee stats but will kill anything routing and you have the option to use their arrows, the problem is you can't get anything good like them for the english.

In the campaign I would use hobilars definately but maybe I'd get some fast cavalry from the inns if I was fighting the turks. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-juggle.gif

[VikingHorde]

I like the Alans, very fast. I don't like Hobilars, never use them. Steppe cav. are allso good and fast.

[The_Emperor]

Quote[/b] (Doug-Thompson @ April 21 2004,15:36)]Alans:

Much faster and much better for chasing routers; better attack, much better morale.

Hobilars:

You can actually find one once in a while.
Yeah aside from ones spawned by rebellions or the single Byz unit in Trebizond in early I have never seen them

Dude Where's my Alans?

[meravelha]

AMC's are really good on the attack I've found.

They are able to force the enemy HA's away so you can redeploy you army from the silly choice you've made before the battle :)
If you can arrange you attack in relative peace, you are more than halfway to winning IMO.

In fact, just the other day with a single unit of AMC's, I was able to:
threaten flank,
redepoly,
threaten flank,
redeploy...

so that the enemy was maneouvred off the field without fighting LOL. That was not the result I was looking for :)

[Lord Armbandit]

Hobilars Rule

I pretty much always play as the english, and on early they can be devestating, as well as cheap and available. Once you've had them run down some rebellious peasants, or enemy kingdom's archers, their valour will shoot up, and then you can even use them to take out royal knights, and their speed means you can take spearmen in the flanks or rear without too much trouble.

The problem with Alans, by the time you can pick some up (for catholics anyway) there are fewer weak enemies to crush, and it is therefore harder to get their valour up.

[Xecthilor]

I would say hobilars. Alan merc cavalry are probably better units overall, but unless your byzantine, what are the chances you'll be able to get them early enough for them to matter? At least for catholic factions hobilars are pretty easy to get early on when you don't have access to the higher quality mounted soldiers. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-gossip.gif

[bighairyman]

hobilars are the worst cavalry ever, i would even use Steppe cavalry over picts cavalry over them, i don't know but light hobli horses just turns me off. Since i don't used any light cavalry for combat, i don't need them to be strong, just fast to catch those fleeing men for slaughter later, and steppe cavalry fit the bill. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/cheers.gif

[katank]

alans are definitely faster and stronger. they are 24/26 run/charge vs. 20/22 for hobbys.

steppe cav are also fastest but their morale is 0 vs. 4 for alans.

alans are also decent in melee.

however, their availability is an issue.

thus, I modded them to be buildable http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

still, for general light cav use, steppe cav is your cheapest and most cost effective alternative.

[Ironside]

Are hobilars really light cav?
I would call then medium cav, considering that they got the same stats as mounted sergeants, except the charge, wich is lowered by 2.

[CBR]

Hobilars are light cavalry but without the fast speed of most light cavalry. Compared to mounted sgts they have 2 less charge, 1 less attack/defense and 2 less morale.


CBR

[Bezalel]

AMC are better IMHO. Sacrifice some heavier cav to counter a flank, then use maybe 2 units AMC to double up on inf, and they'll be routing soon leaving your tons of inf facing a couple groups of tired cav. Of course, you can really do this w/ any cav, but AMC are fast and hardy.

[Doug-Thompson]

The best router-chasers have very fast speed and good melee. Even fleeing units resist being captured. That resistance has to be overcome.

These factors make the Szekely the finest router-chaser in the game, followed closely by the Alan Mercenary Cav. I'd put Steppe Cav and Spanish Jinettes right behind them.

Hobilars, frankly, are pretty far down the list. They're far less expensive than feudal knights, for instance, but no faster.

I'd put Saharan Cav as a better pure router-chaser than hobilars, although SC are a far less useful unit overall. They're melee isn't good but their speed is better. They're one of the few units that can catch a fleeing royal guard general who's broken into an open gallop. Even then, it helps if the SC is fresh and the royal unit exhausted.

============

While we're on the topic, some infantry units bag prisoners better than others.

Sure, cavalry is the router chaser of choice, but it doesn't hurt if the horsie riders have fewer routers to chase. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

The extreme example of this is Janissary Heavy Infantry. Any infantry that fights them will probably get beat, and then captured. Other, less imposing examples are Murabitin javelins (which you have to deliberately put into melee mode), Muwabid foot, Crusader fanatics, Ghazis, highland clansmen, and Slav infantry.

Attack some good infantry unit with good troops, then add one of these fast units to the melee before it ends. When the enemy breaks into a rout, you'll see your bag of prisoners go up and the routing unit just disappear. If these fast units can hit the flank or rear, so much the better.

I first noticed this in battles where I started using Murabitins in large numbers for the first time, and only recently figured out what was going on.

Some archer units are also fast, but don't have the melee for the job. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/frown.gif

[JAG]

Hobbilars everytime, they are suprisingly good. They are very good at gettign in the flank and I have taken out teutonic sgts, royal knights and feudal knights with them, they rule :D

[Doug-Thompson]

Quote[/b] (JAG @ April 22 2004,13:30)]They are very good at gettign in the flank and I have taken out teutonic sgts, royal knights and feudal knights with them, they rule :D
By that definition, camels are wonderful. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-jester.gif

[son of spam]

Damn right. Camels rock. 125 florins a pop. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/gc-guitarist.gif

[katank]

yep, they are not that good.

I've hobby rushed as English or French several times and they are useful, but they are outclassed otherwise by other light cav.

only real thing going for them is the very low reqs.

camels are even better against cav as others mentioned in the desert, preferably in a sandstorm. http://www.totalwar.org/forum/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

[Xecthilor]

I still vote for the hobilars, they might not be as good one on one, but they're a lot easier to come by. And I'm afraid of camels, stupid things routed my hospitaller general which cost me my entire army in Tripoli.