How to use cavalry?

**13westst** · 03-18-2011, 18:52

First post here. Ill start out by saying that this mod, which i just downloaded, is essentially amazing. The level of detail presented still leaves me confused at times, but I know that it is all to add depth to the game. Anyways, now to my question. I find cavalry especially hard to use. I find that they lose or suffer significant losses versus peasant slinger like units. So how do you use them? thanks in advance!

**Ludens** · 03-18-2011, 19:03

Hello 13westst, welcome to the .Org and to EB!

Given that the EB2 modification hasn't been released yet, I assume your question is about EB1. I'll move it to the proper forum.

**vollorix** · 03-18-2011, 19:08

Hier is Ibrahims guide: https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showt...+cavalry+guide
You can allways search the forums for some usefull topics - no need to invent the wheel again ;)
Also, there are different types of cavalry ( light, medium, heavy ), each with different secondary weapon, partly armour piercing, etc. And each type has it´s own purpose on the battlefield. You might like to take a look at EB units in detail without reading the EDU ( the files, which define the stats of the units in game ): http://europabarbarorum.heimstatt.net/index.php?
Gl&HF.

Edit: hm, didn´t notice the topic was actually in EB2 forums...

**jirisys** · 03-18-2011, 19:09

Originally Posted by 13westst

First post here. Ill start out by saying that this mod, which i just downloaded, is essentially amazing. The level of detail presented still leaves me confused at times, but I know that it is all to add depth to the game. Anyways, now to my question. I find cavalry especially hard to use. I find that they lose or suffer significant losses versus peasant slinger like units. So how do you use them? thanks in advance!

Slings are blunt and therefore the force of the impact (being that it's huge nevertheless) passes through the armor and renders most armors useless to slingers.

Horses are far easier to kill than teeth armored men, since in RTW they die both for some reason, you should keep them away from fighting even archers, they can kill your horses fast.

Tactic: Hit and run. Ahistorical? Maybe. Sadly the AI always brings some foot unit to a cavalry fight...

~Jirisys ()

**VikingPower** · 03-18-2011, 22:26

Always see the cavalry in context with that how they can support their infantry or the infantry support their cav.

Like when fighting enemy cav then never go with your cav against the same number of their, but try to use infantry as a moveable wall which can isolate the cav from their main army.

Don't divide your cav to both flanks in equal number, but try to horde them against the enemy's cav on other flank. If possible leave out 1 fast moving cav on the other flank to help main infantry by attacking the enemy infantry in the back, while the enemy cav is busy fighting yours.

The good thing about fast moving cav is that they can easily outrun heavier enemy cav and they can chase up with other fast moving cav to STOP them untill your heavier cav can come in support.

Never let your cav go alone behind the enemy's army to fight some cav duel if the enemy cav and archers are better than yours. Never chase fast moving enemy cav too far from your own army but ignore them and attack the enemy infantry in the back.

**moonburn** · 03-19-2011, 05:49

another fact i´ve noticed is that for instance you can kill slingers with cavalry and loose x amount of soldiers if your cavarly is stronger then the enemies cavarly (and stronger normally means heavier with decent kopis for hand to hand so always remember to change to swords when in melee) you can kill their cavarly with x amount of casualties but when you fight them ombined you always loose xy*z (meaning you get beaten badly) and not just x+y casualties so even the crapiest cavarly and the crapiest peasents can defeat your strongest cavarly when it´s not properly suported

**vartan** · 03-20-2011, 06:26

Originally Posted by jirisys

[...] you should keep [cavalry] away from fighting even archers, they can kill your horses fast [...]
~Jirisys ()

This misfortune can be frustrating, but I tell myself that the archers are fighting back by dragging down those pony riders.

**Lazy O** · 03-20-2011, 12:12

The proper way is to harrass the enemy archers so they dont get their volleys off in time and your skirmishers gain the advantage. Ofc, heavy cavalry are useless for this role in EB

**Titus Marcellus Scato** · 03-20-2011, 20:37

Combined arms is absolutely crucial in EB, unless you are a horse-archer faction.

**fomalhaut** · 03-20-2011, 22:08

Originally Posted by Lazy O

The proper way is to harrass the enemy archers so they dont get their volleys off in time and your skirmishers gain the advantage. Ofc, heavy cavalry are useless for this role in EB

it seriously blew my mind when i figured this out myself. Oh bye Cataphract... yes i see you've been stabbed by this peasants dull dagger... yep.

**Atraphoenix** · 03-21-2011, 03:56

I have nearly forgotten how to use infantry phew...

In summery, with patience mate.

What worries me so much that in M2TW Cavalry sucks, their charges suck, they secondary weapon sucks (you you double click they changes to swords before hitting with lances),...

In EB I have played nearly all the battles myself but in M2TW it is around 50/50...

Golden rule is for EB is simple never charge from front and kill slingers first.

and yes, my worst concern about EB2 is going to be this question