Experiment on fully Calvary Armies

[Wardruid]

I've been doing this experiment in my Seleucid campaign VH/Mon normal scale (militia hoplites are 80)
I have an army on Italy that's composed of all of my current 5 Cataphract unit (largely silver chevron experienced),2 Scythian mercs, 4 Greek cavalry, 6 Militia cavalry, 2 Companion and a general.
There are no infantry what so ever.

My tactic compose of dividing my army into several units, Cataphracts and companions, Scythians and Militia, General and Greek.
And then it's a case of maneuvering around the enemy, having them chase around the element of my army

The AI tends to divide it's into unequal groups. On one case, the romans send velites to attack the Cataphracts and Companions.
If there's an obviuos gap between a unit to the main body I have the heavy cavalry take it out. When they're routing i send the Greek and General took make sure stay that way. The Scythians and Millitia soften up the enemy with their arrows and spears, when they're out of ammo, I convert then into router chasers.

So far this army been doing good, beating all of the roman armies sent at me as long as I control the army direct. I once beaten a 1530 Roman army with a reinforcement army, (one was 800 and the other 870) they composed of Imperial and Republic units it took me a while, but eventually beaten them. Leaving me with about 40% casualties but at least I won.

Has anyone else tried doing this with other factions?

[Comrade Alexeo]

Pffft, its not really a secret that all-cavalry armies are the simplest way to advance armies in vanilla RTW.

I've done it with Praetorian Cavalry, Gothic Cavalry, Cataphracts, even Round Shield Cavalry. Whether against barbarian warbands or armies of hoplites and pikemen, a single all-out massive charge is generally enough to cause the enemy to break and flee. Even if a few hardier units are more stubborn, local superiority in numbers is easily acheived with half of their comrades running away and they soon break as well...

This is not to say they are 100% effective, but its worked most of the times I've tried it; the AI's penchant for deploying all their forces in a single massive but relatively thin line only aids the success rate. The excessively powerful charges of vanilla cavalry - which would really have been much weaker, because without stirrups charging at full speed meant you were very liable to go flying off your horse - allows them to smash phalanx lines and even assault and garrison cities.

I've tried to avoid exploiting this in my more recent campaigns, but its still rather seductive; a fast-moving army on both maps thats easy to command in battle and has a high success rate.

[professorspatula]

I used to use heavy cavalry armies (with some War Elephants also) with the Seleucids and destroyed my foes outright. Although I still had a few pikemen and archers for good measure but they never got a look in what with the 'tanks' bulldozing everyone. That was back in the original v1.0 Rome where the AI was even worse and had no idea what a battleline was, much less what to do when the player charges his cavalry at him. It was just so easy I had to stop using cavalry like that again. However, I had to resort to all cavalry armies when I was commanding the Numidians early on in their campaign. My Numidian Cavalry force ousted the Scipii from Africa and left the Iberians looking for a new homeland. I must have had somewhere in the region of 6-8K kills for about 500 losses.

But now I always try to use as little cavalry as possible so I don't just destroy the AI completely, as it just can't cope with the human player's use of them. Anything more than 4 cavalry units tends to be a bit overkill. but it depends who I'm in charge of I suppose. For Romans, I try to rely on their heavy legionaries instead, but for more cavalry orientated factions I may use a bit more cavalry. But never 100% cavalry if I can help it! I've modded my game and weakened cavalry now so that's another reason for me not to rely on them.

[x-dANGEr]

Well, playing as Sassaidns on VH/VH, all-cavalry armies is really the only way to go.

[Avicenna]

What about Sughdian infantry? I heard they were pretty good, if a bit annoying due to transportation times.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

Sughdian's are very good, not sure how they fare on VH, but they've always worked fairly well for me. They aren't quite as good as Comitatenses with no upgrades or chevrons iirc, but with a few weapon/armor upgrades and a little experience they can easily equal and even crush the finest of Rome's men.

[CBR]

The excessively powerful charges of vanilla cavalry - which would really have been much weaker, because without stirrups charging at full speed meant you were very liable to go flying off your horse - allows them to smash phalanx lines and even assault and garrison cities.

Stirrups doesnt help preventing you from flying off your horse.

http://www.classicalfencing.com/articles/shock.php


CBR

[Puzz3D]

Try the XGM (Extended Greek Mod) for RTW/BI. You won't be using any all cav armies that's for sure.

[orangat]

Sugdian infantry is a full 6 points lower in defense from the front compared to commies and are 2T units but they have ap maces.

[The Spartan (Returns)]

im a cavalry guy but in RTW im an all out infantry guy. but cavalry is vital in an army.

[Avicenna]

The armour piercing more than makes up for their worse defence, since the Sassanids tend to fight only the ERE.

[Uesugi Kenshin]

I may be wrong, but I think Sughdian's still lose against Comitatenses without valor/armor/weapon upgrades, but that may be from my experience as the ERE using their javelins before charging, which is irrelevant to the player since the AI refuses to volley before charging....

[Tamur]

CBR, that page is a great read! Highly recommended.

[x-dANGEr]

On VH, it takes 3 Sughidians to kill one Comitatenses/Plumbtarii unit..

[roman pleb]

I've done it with Praetorian Cavalry, Gothic Cavalry, Cataphracts, even Round Shield Cavalry.

Ah, I remember the good old noob days when i would play as Carthage and make whole round shield cavalry armies and charge them into early legionary cohort units. Very messy on both sides.