Ah I think 'role they're designed for' might be a bit subject to personal playing styles. To me I use *no* cavalry whatsoever to repeatedly charge whatever unit; unless I am feeling otherwise really confident about it.
Instead I use my cavalry to:
1) Dispatch enemy cavalry with (one point to the Thessalians or Brihentin for that matter)
2) Dispatch lighter enemy missile troops: no point in attacking guys with pointy sticks...
3) Quickly push back some enemy units which are getting a bit too succesful for my liking You'd be amazed at what a full charge focused on the corner or a small gap of a unit can do when that unit is already in full melee.
4) Destroy routing units
5) Break shaken or wavering units; or at least speed up the process.
6) Break enemy bodyguards. Heavy cavalry with kopeis? Hell, yeah!
Seriously: units of Thessalian heavy cavalry tend to be extremly valuable when dealing with an endless steam of Ptolemaioi bodyguard cavalry... Especially if you can't afford or can't get your hands on anything better (Kinsmen or better yet, Hetairoi).
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Also someone mentioned Scythed Chariots as being bad? What has he/she been doing to those?!Best thing to break those annoying 'surprisingly good units' the enemy AI tends to field -- I mean Hoplitai Haploi, Peltastai and the like. Very useful against a lot of cavalry also.
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