Why are cavalry units so slow and weak?

[QuintusSertorius]

No units are motorised, like they were in RTW. They have much more realistic movement speeds. Yes, heavy cavalry may struggle to catch light infantry, you need light cavalry to chase them down.

You need to know how to use cavalry in EB; I'd recommend reading Ibrahim's guide thoroughly to make sure your charges are actually working. Distance and formation matter. Furthermore, make sure you use Alt+double click so that they switch to their secondary weapon after the charge. If you charge right into the front of formed troops, the charge won't work.

Personally, I think only light lancers (Illyrian Hippeis, Curepos, Thraikian Prodromoi) and Epirote FMs are worth recruiting. Heavy cavalry are knackered after a couple of charges, and thus are much less effective. You shouldn't be leaving cavalry in melee anyway, which is the only reason to keep heavies around.

Another factor is that most pre-CE horses were only as large as modern ponies.

That's not true at all. The Iron Age is characterised to an extent by the rise of cavalry as a battlefield force precisely because they'd bred bigger horses that could be used for more than just pulling a chariot. You also had breeds like the Nisean which were huge compared to the already big horses used by Thessalians and others.

[The Stranger]

cavalry are really good if used well. as said before they have specific roles, and you want to keep them fresh. if a battle goes long its advisable to keep them in reserve, or pull them back to rest for a while because a charge of a fresh unit and exhausted, is a big difference.

heavy cavalry, especially cataphracts are used for the frontal or flanking charge, because they can just smash into even heavy infantry blocks without taking much damage in the initial charge. try to run through the enemy or smash in and retreat to a far enough distance to charge again. light cavalry and light lancers should be used for flanking and chasing down routers only. generally you dont want any cav engaging in prolonged melee, except if its cav vs cav and you cant really outrun the enemy anyway.

i personally really like how cavalry works in EB. FM cav can win you games with charge and retreat and repeat. but if you dont use them well, then their impact is limited.

[Vincent Butler]

if a battle goes long its advisable to keep them in reserve, or pull them back to rest for a while because a charge of a fresh unit and exhausted, is a big difference.

In melee, cav vs heavy infantry will get owned, unless it is something like the Baktrian Late Bodyguard Cataphracts, who simply have the defense to keep fighting. Even so, better hoplite-style units or heavy spearmen still inflict a beating on them. The strength of cav comes from their charge bonus.

light cavalry and light lancers should be used for flanking and chasing down routers only. generally you dont want any cav engaging in prolonged melee, except if its cav vs cav and you cant really outrun the enemy anyway.

i personally really like how cavalry works in EB. FM cav can win you games with charge and retreat and repeat. but if you dont use them well, then their impact is limited.

That was a surprise, coming from RTW. In that game, cav owned just about anything other than spearmen, elite cav even beat elite infantry, usually. Different in EB Even skirmishers in EB can put up a good fight against cav, or even beat units such as Equites Romani or Hippeis, and more archers in EB have spears instead of swords as a backup weapon, so cav have a more limited role in EB.