Quote Originally Posted by Scutarii
I have tried ambushes myself, but every time (EVERY time) they fail, I get the message that the ambush has failed and the enemy has time to prepare, is there some way to make an ambush more likely (apart from with characters as they don't seem to get ambush traits...I assume they actually need to ambush someone to get those!)?
I'm sorry to say that I really don't know why this is. I try ambushes from time to time (sometimes unintentionally) as the Arverni, and they typically succeed. I'm not doing anything special for it, either. Perhaps I'm just a lucky guy.

Quote Originally Posted by Scutarii
What do I need to build cavalry? I can recruit mercenary cavalry, but they are expensive.
Just a high enough MIC ("Military Industrial Complex") level - nothing fancier than that.