BEST overall ALL Cavalry Faction ? (Kingdoms)

[Shahed]

Hi Everyone !

Title says it all. Have'nt got Kingdoms yet and was wondering what the best one is, also; how viable, challenging and " strategically fun" (hope someone knows what that means) are ALL cavalry armies in Kingdoms ?

SALUTE !

[Ferret]

It depends what campaign you are doing, in the Crusades it's probably the Kingdom of Jerusalem, in the Americas it is Spain, in Brittania cavalry doesn't play as much of a role due to the large amounts of spearmen and in the Teutonics most factions have small amounts of cavalry and heavy infantry is the main unit.

[Proletariat]

So far it's Novgorod for me, Teutonic campaign. Cavalry has a lower importance in Britannia because of the factions involved, but supposedly the Irish have a nice selection (haven't tried them yet.) I'd imagine the Turks and Byzantines have some good cavalry options that might interest you Sinan, but I've only browsed their units and can't say how they actually play (one of them will certainly be my next choice.)

Jerusalem and Antioch have some very nice knight cavalry options, but from what I remember of your posts, I think you're prolly more interested in hearing about the more Eastern style cavalry.

[Doug-Thompson]

Hi Everyone !

Title says it all. Have'nt got Kingdoms yet and was wondering what the best one is, also; how viable, challenging and " strategically fun" (hope someone knows what that means) are ALL cavalry armies in Kingdoms ?

SALUTE !

All cavalry armies are better in Kingdoms becuase they dominate the smaller campaign maps. Just this morning, a single all-cav army of mine wiped out the Danes near the Baltic, then rode all the way inland to Novgorod and destroyed another army there on the next turn.

The smaller maps are divided into smaller provinces, making castles and rebuilding sites plentiful. I destroyed the Poles in one battle that cost heavy losses, spread my retraining and reinforcement burden across several castles in the same general area and had a more powerful army than before on the next turn.

=========

Proletariat's right about Novogorod, but the entry-level Kazaks have a hard time killing well-armored Teutonic Order troops. Also, the AI no longer builds the swarms of peasants we're so fond of shooting up. Finally, the forests of Central Europe are a factor.

Give me the Eqyptians, although I haven't had a chance to play them yet. They're in an unassailable defensive position in the southwest of the Crusader map and now have a decent melee infantry unit, dismounted Ghulams.

For challenging and strategically fun, however, go with the Turks. Hands down. I tried a multi-player campaign with them, but my daughter got bored and my sone prefers Teutonic Knights. The Turks have plenty of money, but are between the Byz and Antioch, and are divided. I opted to try and crush Antioch while uniting the country by taking rebel provinces and Antioch too.

Turks have everything they had before and then some. Sorry to tantalize you without details, but I'm at work now. I can update the unit list tonight. Also, eastern Halbs are much improved. Left in loose formation, they tear up Armored Sergeants, for instance.

[The Outsider]

All cavalry armies are better in Kingdoms becuase they dominate the smaller campaign maps. Just this morning, a single all-cav army of mine wiped out the Danes near the Baltic, then rode all the way inland to Novgorod and destroyed another army there on the next turn.

The smaller maps are divided into smaller provinces, making castles and rebuilding sites plentiful. I destroyed the Poles in one battle that cost heavy losses, spread my retraining and reinforcement burden across several castles in the same general area and had a more powerful army than before on the next turn.

=========

Proletariat's right about Novogorod, but the entry-level Kazaks have a hard time killing well-armored Teutonic Order troops. Also, the AI no longer builds the swarms of peasants we're so fond of shooting up. Finally, the forests of Central Europe are a factor.

Give me the Eqyptians, although I haven't had a chance to play them yet. They're in an unassailable defensive position in the southwest of the Crusader map and now have a decent melee infantry unit, dismounted Ghulams.

For challenging and strategically fun, however, go with the Turks. Hands down. I tried a multi-player campaign with them, but my daughter got bored and my sone prefers Teutonic Knights. The Turks have plenty of money, but are between the Byz and Antioch, and are divided. I opted to try and crush Antioch while uniting the country by taking rebel provinces and Antioch too.

Turks have everything they had before and then some. Sorry to tantalize you without details, but I'm at work now. I can update the unit list tonight. Also, eastern Halbs are much improved. Left in loose formation, they tear up Armored Sergeants, for instance.

It would be great if you can please put some details on the new turkish units doug as i also do not have the game yet but i really want to know what they got and also do u know the new stats of the jannisary hi?

[Doug-Thompson]

I'll be glad to do it tonight, but it will be at least a few hours.

[Monsieur Alphonse]

Unless the moderators remove my post (because of serious violation of CAs copyright) see my post in this link for all the units in kingdoms:

https://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?t=91296

[Doug-Thompson]

Re: Basic stuff

This has probably been brought up on the forum somewhere, but I needs mentioning here.

Default cavalry unit size is reduced from 40 units to 30, including missile cavalry.

This is not as drastic a change as it sounds, at least not for missile cavalry. I used to have six to eight HA in my typical stack and four jav-cav. Now I have eight or nine HA and five jav-cav and still have plenty of slots for melee cav. The micromanagement hassle factor is increased but is still not a problem.

Bodyguard units are still 20 men or more, making them relatively very powerful.

About the only real difference I've noticed is that HA are harder to catch if you're chasing them. They don't get trapped as often as a 40-man unit would.

[Doug-Thompson]

New Turkish units:

iqta' dar -- a new horse archer. 8 missile, 8 defense, 5 melee, 3 charge bonus.

Hasham melee cavalry -- 8 attack with a 5 charge bonus. 14 defense.

Turkish Javelinmen -- foot unit, 6 missile attack with an anti-armor bonus. 3 melee with 6 defense and a 1 charge bonus

Turkish crossbows -- 9 missile, 4 defense, 1 charge, anti-armor bonus

Dismounted Hasham -- sword and shield unit. 11 attack, 17 defense, 3 charge

Kurdish Auxiliaries -- armed with an axe. 7 attack with an anti-armor bonus, 10 defense, 2 charge bonus.

[The Outsider]

thanks for the ınfo doug that was great, but ofcourse ıt increased my curiosty now i: want to play! thanks for your tıme and help.

[zerathule]

Ireland in the britania campaign has excellent cavalry : light cavalry similar to mail knights but with axes (ap), javelin cavalry, heavy cav superior to chivalric knights, musket wielding cav.

Kingdom of Jerusalem has tons of different heavy cav, but nothing special, just heavy sword wielding cav.