Quote Originally Posted by Scorpion
Good idea!

They could even become archers for added safety.

Or would there be other ways to make the units avoid battle? Perhaps taking away the whole unit, leaving just the general with plenty o´HP, would he then avoid battle like the plague? Or would he charge into battle alone?
As far as I know that's the only way really to keep them from going kamikaze. Turning all general units into tough horse archers with generous missile ranges and high ammo counts will certainly keep them out of the action unless chased towards a map edge where they could be cornered and forced to fight it out. Personally I would rather keep them a little closer to the action.

The R:TW engine somehow determines which units are strong enough to charge a front line. This is probably either done by very high stats or attributes, ie heavy infantry/cavalry. You could try lowering the attack stat, or change the unit to light infantry or something.
I don't think the engine makes a judgment call based on attack/defense stats for a unit's general behavior. I believe the unit's type (inf, cav, etc.), class (light or heavy) and primary weapon type determine it's behavior. I think the AI may act just as irresponsibly regardless of whether it's classified as light or heavy cavalry. I'll do some more testing tonight.