How much cav?

[econ21]

As Roman, I use the general and two cav - one each on flank. They basically just chase routers or go for exposed missiles; hitting the rear or flank in extremis. Roman heavy infantry really does not need missiles or cav to cope with most enemies - at least the barbarians my Julii have been battling on med/med.

[_Aetius_]

Guess it depends what armies your using and facing, for example i always have more cavalry with the greeks than i do as when im playing the romans namely because Phalanxs require more cavalry protection than roman legions.

My standard roman army in ideal conditions is 10 principes 4 roman archers 4 roman cavalry 1 triarii to protect my general and 1 general unit.

Having three lines 1 of hastati then principes then triarii might be accurate to history but id rather have 2 lines of men who will defeat most infantry instead of one line of men who wont infront of two other lines, who may get routed thus weakening your armies overall morale.

2 cavalry units on each wing, archers tucked in the centre and my general unit and triarii behind the archers.

I dont see much point in Velites, as roman infantry throw pila before they charge whatever survives the shower of 10 units of javelin fire will almost certainly not survive close quarters with Principes. Predictably cavalry flanks the enemy infantry or first destroys the enemy cavalry then flank the infantry.

Roman armies dont need cavalry as much as greek armies as legions can withstand and kill cavalry alot better when the cav has charged amongst there ranks, phalanxs being not the most flexible of units in the world need plenty of cav to make up for this inflexibility.

[Sam Adams]

my main armies always have 1 cav, the general. He mops up the routers and usually gets more kills than any other 2-3 units combined. A young general will quickely get gold chevrons this way, and then you can use him in personal combat.

Just know his limits. You never want to lose your general so never engage more than 1 enemy unit at once with him, and never ever send him into the center of a city.

[aw89]

2-4, i was using 2 in the beginning in my campaign, but then i started with the germans (they grew strong quite fast) and the greeks so i use 4.

[LordKhaine]

I like to have two units of cavalry, as well as my general. In my current Seleucid campaign I would use two Militia cavalry or two greek cavalry (the latter is preferable). They chase down routers and isolated archers. When I got Cataphracts I'd often have a couple of those as well. But I don't really use them as cavalry, I use them as a battering ram

Obviously this changes a lot with eastern factions. When playing as Parthia or Scythia I'd usually use an exclusive cavalry army to keep the army more mobile on the strategy map.

[Red Harvest]

Depends on the faction of course. I would like to limit myself more on cavalry, but it is tough to do so early in the game as Spain or Carthage. I don't get any usable infantry for quite awhile (for VH/VH it is pretty tough to win with infantry), but I do get decent cav early.

One thing you can do is increase the cost of upkeep of cavalry, that seems to limit it more--making it more precious. That way if your tendency is to build cav heavy armies, you will soon find yourself unable to support large enough stacks. Historically, and realistically this makes sense. For most of the civilized factions cavalry was quite expensive to keep in the field. Those civilized Westerners that had it usually hired it from a "less civilized" neighbor.

[professorspatula]

If I play the more advanced factions such as the Romans, Seleucid or whatever, I tend to try and avoid too many cavalry units. But in my current campaign as Numidia, I've had to resort to fielding all Numidian cavalry (+ Generals) armies. It's currently the only way to field a large army that can hold off the advance of the Scipii and the Spanish, Gauls et al without instantly bankrupting my treasury.