How do you use cavalry?

[Daveybaby]

I like to use my cavalry in the same way that the AI does, i.e. charge them backwards and forwards right in front of the enemy lines until theyre all dead.

[SMZ]

as others already mentioned, the key to cavalry is to charge with them, and then as soon as the impetus of their charge is blunted, double-click them either back the way they came (if the enemy is tightly bunched and standing strong) or straight on thru the enemy unit (if the enemy is loosely formed and/or wavering morale)

often times you may think your cavalry has failed to break the enemy with their charge, but telling them to move thru the enemies formation and out the other side will destroy the enemy morale - which is pretty nice actually to see that the game models shock of the formation being dissolved just as much as actual casualties being taken

if its a particularly sturdy infantry unit however, you need to move back the direction you came so your cavalry don't get bogged down trying to force their way thru and slaughtered... there aren't many units that can take more than two charges, with the second charge followed up by the cavalry forcing their way on thru and out the backside of the formation

oh - and war elephants are absolutely deadly if you can get them into melee with the enemy... they can easily destroy an entire line of battle by themselves by always clicking onto the next unit as soon as the charge against one is finished - i've found that camels pretty much suck however for anything other than scaring horses

[Prussian to the Iron]

cavalry is tricky in this time period; if you try to charge anything with a numreical superiority and/or bayonets, odds are you will end up with a depleted unit.

on the other hand, they are godly at defeating artillery. just make sure not to EVER charge head-on at any artillery equipped with canister or shrapnel shot. take them from behind if you have no other choice. you can lose upwards of 30 men (playing on ultra settings) and get routed before contact, or you can rout the enemy artillery and lose maybe 15 men.

i know this from experience on both sides of these charges. just last night, i routed 3 full units of swedish cavalry using only shrapnel shot. plus i only had half of my cannons being used due to casualties from before.

[Xipe Totec]

I like to have as little cavalry as possible, and during the battle keep them somewhere safe (behind the infantry) until the nasty men go away. Then they are quite useful to pursue already beaten men, as long as they are no fences or other obstacles to trip over, and no sneaks hiding in the bushes.

One cavalry unit is useful to finish off a routing AI pillager force which would otherwise burn down a plantation etc. after running away. Totally impotent against infantry in a building of course.

The upkeep costs are ruinous to the early game economy. Artillery seem to decimate cavalry with every shot. I lost most of a charging Sipahi unit to one blast of grapeshot from one cannon. Even a group of brave Native American lancers charging en masse will be stopped dead by one decent infantry unit in square formation.

It is too annoying to let the routers get away to have no cavalry at all in an army, and in my current Maratha campaign the generals are on elephants and couldn't run down a tortoise, whilst the lancers look way too cool skewering dervishes like some crazed park-keeper picking up litter. On the whole I think cavalry is largely an anachronism in this game. Considering how influential it was during the early part of the Napoleonic wars this may reflect some inbalance in the game.

I'd be interested if anyone has had any success as a cavalry spammer in ETW?

[Prussian to the Iron]

i am the exact same person as you cavalry-use wise.

in my marathas campaign, i like to use a general, 10 Sikh or bargir infantry, and 7 artillery(usually large mortars and 24lbers +rockets). the other 2 slots i usually keep 2 units of sipahis in reserve behind my line, ready to pounce and run down routers.

i like using camel missile infantry(cant remember in-game name) because they have a range of 90 and are recruitable from the get-go. so i sometimes have a unit fo them and a unit of sipahis to chase down routers, but they can also support the main line at any point.

with marathas, deterring a cavalry charge is difficult; you never get trenches, mines, stakes, anything. all the fortifications you get once entrenched is some baskets in front of your artillery. luckily square formation is way overpowered.

one time, a mughal unit of musketeers were in a square formation vesus 2 units of bargigr lancers. they formed up as i charged, and had only part of the formation ready. then i died. bull $#%^.


square formations are drastically misrepresented in-game. rather than squares of infantry used to repel cavalry, they are simply used as squares that not only allow cavalry to charge into them, but also give an enormous bonus against cavalry. the formation itself gives no physical defense against anything. all it does in real life is repel cavalry, who wont charge into a square of bayonets. i think that cavalry should immediately retreat back to their own lines after closing into within charge range of a square formation.