Cavalry charges & Roman armor?

[Intranetusa]

I have a question - do I have a glitch or bug in my version (.81) cuz all my cavalry charges in the campaign are useless. Both my general and my Roman citzenery cavalry does almost no inital damage when charging into the enemy.
Do they even have charge bonuses? (This was in the campaign)


Also, why does none of the Roman units have their famous iron-segmented armor? Even after the Marius reforms...

???

[Spectral]

Also, why does none of the Roman units have their famous iron-segmented armor? Even after the Marius reforms...

Because the lorica segmentata only appears to be widely issued to the legions well into the 1st century AD, which puts it outside the context of EB ( till 9AD IIRC).

[Intranetusa]

but doesn't the game give you the option to play well into the 100's?
Or was that just vanilla... :/


Also, can someone answer my cavalry question? And why is it so hard to rout enemy units? (I surrounded an enemy on 3 sides with my principes and they fought to the end, without routing, even though their morale was "wavering" for like 5 minutes)


Is this because I forgot to enable the background script???

[Ludens]

I have a question - do I have a glitch or bug in my version (.81) cuz all my cavalry charges in the campaign are useless. Both my general and my Roman citzenery cavalry does almost no inital damage when charging into the enemy.
Do they even have charge bonuses? (This was in the campaign)

Yes, they do, although the early Roman cavalry wasn't exactly famed for its shock-charges. However, in this mod cavalry needs a proper run-up to perform a shock charge. Also, they are less likely to mount an effective charge if they haven't been properly formed-up beforehand. Perhaps this explains why your charges weren't very effective.

Also, why does none of the Roman units have their famous iron-segmented armor? Even after the Marius reforms...

The so-called lorica segmentata wasn't in common use during the period featured in the mod. In fact, the oldest find of lorica segmentata dates to the reign of Augustus, at the very end of the time-line of EB. Instead, Roman legionaries of the late republic and early empire used scale (lorica squamata) or chainmail (lorica hamata).

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

NeverMind

[mcantu]

I have a question - do I have a glitch or bug in my version (.81) cuz all my cavalry charges in the campaign are useless. Both my general and my Roman citzenery cavalry does almost no inital damage when charging into the enemy.
Do they even have charge bonuses? (This was in the campaign)


Also, why does none of the Roman units have their famous iron-segmented armor? Even after the Marius reforms...

???

Make sure you start the cavalry unit far enough back that they have time to lower their lances. Thats how you know they are getting the charge bonus

[abou]

Overhand cavalry seems to work a bit different when it comes to charges than the couched or two-handed spears. Since the Equites have the overhand method, they really are best used at a point when the enemy is shaken, you are chasing down skirmishers, or chasing broken units. Their overhand spear can be pretty effective in a melee, but you need to be aware of when to use them.

For a unit like the Equites Extraordinarii they need to position themselves, which can be mindblowingly frustrating when you need cavalry support immediately. What this means is that if you need to get them to a dire position as soon as possible have them run to a nearby area and then single-click on the enemy to be attacked. They will move to the optimal distance, lower their spears, and then charge. If you do it correctly, a cavalry charge can be very effective and a great example of this would be with Hetairoi.

Even a unit like Pezhetairoi can find themselves bloodied by Hetairoi if they are engaged in a fight with another unit. As long as the Hetairoi can properly prepare themselves and attack from the rear, they might take out somewhere between 20-30 Pezhetairoi (on huge settings) and sometimes even as high as 50 in a single charge.

[antisocialmunky]

I usually hold cavalry (after cav vs cav) in reserve until someone gets 'shaken.' A rear charge usually gets a professional unit down to 'wavering,' any lesser and they just rout which lowers the morale of everyone else and then one by one, repeated cavalry charges cause rout after rout down the line.

Its also a good idea to use one cavalry unit to charge a unit in the back. Too many cav and they can bump into each other which reduces charge bonus.

[C.LVCIANVS]

In my opinion, EB cavalry system is perfectly balanced, either historically or as gameplay.