Butchering cavalry charges

[Oaty]

I've notice the AI pull off nice cavalry charges on my infantry, run up halt then charge. Quite an effect too.

I've tried it too ever since it was mention on these boards to get an effective charge. Well I run the cavalry square to the unit press backspace(halt) then singleclick to get off a good charge, low and behold the infantry charge my cavalry and butcher them.

So now when I see AI cavalry running to my front lines I tell the infantry to run past a point beyond the cavalry then click on the cavalry as they touch and kill there chances of pulling off a charge.

Guess its not that bad of an exploit considering the AI is better at killing charges than me.

The charge mechanics seem more of an exploit than anything since you can butcher its effectiveness on both sides.

I hear of people getting off good charges but the AI for the most part doesnt stand still to take it.

So how can I get good charges off since they never seem to be successful against engaged units even if I square up in the back perfectly, and if they arent engaged they'll just attack the cavalry.

So far I havent gotten any real good charges in, unlike the AI who can pull off a nasty charge if I'm not paying attention and usually kills 30 out of the 90 infantry with the short duration it lasts, and the cavalry unit being 60 in unit size.

[FactionHeir]

Meh, I usually run up the cavalry in run mode into the correct range (you need to have a feel for that) and double click charge the unit I want to target, on impact remove cavalry immediately and charge the next target.
Except for pikes and cavalry, there is no unit that can really withstand a cavalry charge anyway.

Charging engaged units is a morale killer, but usually doesn't work well at all because the cavalry will stop if it might hit one of your own (even though it cannot kill it) so at most kill up to 5 units unless the engaged unit has butchered most of your holding unit already.

For infantry, you want to be running backwards if the cavalry is charging you. That causes them to lose cohesion and stop the charge whereupon you run back into the cavalry and engage them in melee. Never countercharge cavalry with infantry. Only causes the infantry to lose even more units than it would standing still or walking elsewhere.

[Fisherking]

The infantry will charge or feint when you do that. Just back up a bit and charge them as they move away, then withdraw move to a flank and do it again. A few of these and there will only be about 8 of his guys left in the formation.

[WhiskeyGhost]

If theres more then 1 row of infantry, aim for the 2nd rank. Doing this will make your cavalry charge through the first rank aiming at the second one, but because they don't hit the 2nd rank until going through the first, it doesn't mess up cohesion like charging at the first rank.

edit: also, i've done this before where i've decimated an entire enemy unit, and still did some charge damage to the unit i was targeting