Quote Originally Posted by Mr White
By now I've fought quite some battles, with succes ( I'm playing on normal).
I read about how decisive cavalry can be on the forum and in the unit guide but I never really witnessed this. Sure I've routed some units allmost instantly but those were peasant type units, against all the other units a charge results in a prolongued melee.

Am I using my cav wrong, or is an instant rout more rare than I thought?
Head-on charges are best reserved for the heaviest cavalry only, and even then there are better ways to use them. Against decent spearmen or good-quality infantry standing in formation, a frontal charge (or even a flank attack) will not do much. The charge will be absorbed and then the infantry will overwhelm the cavalry by sheer numbers. Since cavalry are expensive, you are wasting both potential and money.

Cavalry are fast: you don't need to attack from the front; you can hit them in the flank or rear. Pin them with a decent defensive unit (basic spearmen can do this, but against more dangerous enemies you should use Sergeants or Saracens) and hit them in the rear. This will cause a massive morale penalty.

Even then the enemy might not rout immediately (unless they have bad morale), so for best results it is often wise to wait a little before trying this. This will thin and tire the enemy units, reducing their morale, so that when the horsemen charge in, they will rout. Remember: you can better afford to use a unit of spearmen than a unit of knights.

For advanced tactics, you can use horse archers to thin and tire the enemy, but this requires patience and a lot of micro-management.