How do you use heavy cavalry

[JLea]

as opposed to light? they seem to be no better in melee, and they're extremely slow and get tired easily.

I would rather go with some vetted light than heavy at the moment

[happycynic]

Aren't heavy cavalry a little better in melee versus other cavalry? I've always assumed that but never really tested it out much.

[Travisk]

Actually, they are better at punching a hole through a line or distracting another group of cavalry.

Light cavalry are better at skirmishing and taking out important targets such as cannons.

[WarpGhost]

Its a question I often ask myself. Lancers are so much better at killing enemy cav (and, indeed, everything else) with their charge than anything heavies can manage, and at much higher speed with much lower cost. Infantry squares defeat heavy cavalry with absurd ease, which makes heavy cavalry's sole other utility extremely situational and tenuous at best; they're usually much more at the mercy of your opponents micro ability, rather than the cav's numbers and combat ability. And all this on top of the endemic and silly practice of shooting into melee, something which has never been taken into account regarding TW game balance. At least with light cavalry I can put them to other uses if the main ones dont work out...

All that said, I rarely leave home without at least 1 unit of heavy cav; sometimes you get lucky, and at a pinch they can offer lancers backup against tough targets that doesnt rely solely on the charge being unobstructed.

[Stilgar CG]

I group my (usually single) heavy cavalry unit to general bodyguard and use it as quick fix to whatever emergency comes (defend general, fighting enemy cavalry, bridging the gap in the line, etc.) Lancers have very decent charge bonus, but die fast in melee. Hussars and similar cavalry can stand in a melee longer.

[Yin]

Heavy cavalry is good to bash through enemy's line, and stay put for a bit. Lancers have charge bonus, but if you don't pull them back you'll suffer heavy casualty, unless you manage to route them on first contact.

Light is good, but I usually charge the middle of their line from the back and have my heavy cav bash through it. You can't do that with light, once the shock factor is gone, your light cav will get massacre by their line. This is against fresh troops of course, if you're planning to use it after you worn them out with infantry that's a different story.

[TheAussieDigger]

heavy is far superior in melee

[Dreamw4lk3r]

@magister E: hussars are light cav tho, right? o.O

Heavy cav fights notably better vs light cav (or lancers in melee :p) and they do fight better in close quarters, slightly better morale, charge & melee skill & def than light tho being usually slower, less stamina and more expensive.

Imo they do a well enough job vs light & line infantry as long as you flank or attack from the back and the line isn't in square... can best be used if you confront line from ahead with your line (melee or gunfire) and when their morale is a bit lower charge with heavy and you'll see them go.

This can also be done with light, to the same effect but less efficient. I myself also favor lights because in N:tw they get trained with a chevron more, cheaper and by then almost as good + cheaper + faster & better stam... so yes, light cav certainly with some chevrons have my favor, but there is a noticeable melee differnce between light & heavy

[Stilgar CG]

@magister E: hussars are light cav tho, right? o.O

Heavy cav fights notably better vs light cav (or lancers in melee :p) and they do fight better in close quarters, slightly better morale, charge & melee skill & def than light tho being usually slower, less stamina and more expensive.

Imo they do a well enough job vs light & line infantry as long as you flank or attack from the back and the line isn't in square... can best be used if you confront line from ahead with your line (melee or gunfire) and when their morale is a bit lower charge with heavy and you'll see them go.

This can also be done with light, to the same effect but less efficient. I myself also favor lights because in N:tw they get trained with a chevron more, cheaper and by then almost as good + cheaper + faster & better stam... so yes, light cav certainly with some chevrons have my favor, but there is a noticeable melee differnce between light & heavy

Hussars are light cavalry, I think (have to look closely at their stats), but I'm pretty sure they have weaker charge and better melee stats as compared to lancers. Importantly, light cavalry is faster and tires significantly slower than heavy cavalry. And this could be important at times.

[Monglor]

I use heavy cavalry in the same sort of way that a boxer uses the big punch, you have it there, ready, and that in itself forces the enemy to act differently, and if they don't, POW. So for instance if the enemy want to get into a line on line shooting make I'll ride the heavy cavalry into the flank of their line, either they brace up into square, in which case I back off and they lose the gunfight, or they stand and shoot and I put the swords to them.

The big advantage with heavy cavalry is that they can stay in a fight. Light cavalry can't really stick around and fight, it has to really pick weak targets. Heavy cavalry can get stuck right into a block of militia or light infantry (groups which can both seriously wear down light cavalry) and drop bodies all day long. They can even go toe to toe with line infantry but I tend to avoid this because it's a bit of a waste.

Worth considering too for all the pomp and prestige of heavy cavalry, isn't it actually rather cheap?

[CerealGuy]

i use heavy calv for defending my Artillery and attacking from the front while my light calv flanks

[richardsharpe]

I group my (usually single) heavy cavalry unit to general bodyguard and use it as quick fix to whatever emergency comes (defend general, fighting enemy cavalry, bridging the gap in the line, etc.) Lancers have very decent charge bonus, but die fast in melee. Hussars and similar cavalry can stand in a melee longer.

This is real close to what I'd say is the best use of cavalry. As far as a "punching tool", I think lancers work better. Heavy cavalry really shines on large funds in the endgame, when units have poor morale/fewer troops. A single unit of heavies can rout an entire army at the end of the game (note, units often cant form squares anymore due to casualties, and many of those pesky skirms will be out of ammo). As far as early on, i think a well deployed infantry formation should have little problem mopping up almost any amount of cavalry of any type.

[Latorque]

Hussars are definitly light cav. Actually i'm pretty happy with the cavalry implementation - apart from heavy cav.

Obviously i can't tell from experience , but as far as i can tell infantry (line, militia or guard, doesn't really matter) should be shredded by a heavy cavalry charge as long as they're not in square.

That doesn't mean that the cavalry wouldn't take losses in that scenario (a wild mix of sharp objects, angry men, heavy horses and loaded muskets would guarantee losses i'd wager), but as it is now the heavy cavalry has to be regarded as underpowered.

The only time i can safely use them to break up infantry is if i engage an enemy line unit with some infantry of my own from the front and let my heavies charge in from behind. Normally, i'd see this as a job for light cavalry...

in so far, i guess they aren't that inaccurate. They can break up infantry, but ten to take heavy losses while doing so. I just hoped they could take on a little bit more of them before they have to be pulled back...

[Atillium]

I often group a unit of lancers together with a unit of cuirassiers. That way, when attacking an enemy unit, the lancers arrive first as they are faster. The impact of the cuirassiers some 10 seconds later is usually enough to route any enemy unit. Also helps minimizing lancer casualties as they're not all that good in melee.

Besides, I enjoy watching a nice cavalry charge

[kaasbris]

I often group a unit of lancers together with a unit of cuirassiers.

I second that. There were occasions a few enemy infantry units are isolated, while my own infantries are already occupied with shooting with other enemies. I sent two veteran Hussars to swift charge, first one on their back, then the other on front(but as they are already turning to confront first charge, it became exposed rear) in successive seconds, which caused immediate rout on them. I didn't chase but launched another charge on next infantry with same manner. 3rd infantry did formed square causing serious damage on Hussars, so I gave up them and chased routers down instead.

I like your signature: "Impossible is not a fact, but an opinion." Who said that?

[Shiloh]

I like to deploy cavalry on both flanks to protect my edges and thwart any threats to roll up my flanks. Depending on the battle, I'll use them to attack artillery early on if the enemy's artillery is effective. Often, I will use two units of cavalry to attack the enemies one unit of cavalry and eliminate them early.

As a battle progresses, I will often use them to plug a hole in my lines if a unit starts to route and melee as long as necessary to get another foot unit over to plug the hole. I will also seek out the opposing armies General staff and attack them at a critical point in the battle so as to break the morale of the enemy.

With all that said, the battle will dictate how I use them. I can have a predetermined strategy entering a battle, but once the battle starts, my strategy can change at any moment.

[Yin]

Lancers and Cuirassiers are good combination. I usually charge their heavy cavalry with lancers with cuirassiers close behind, after the charge is done pull the lancers back and rush the curassiers up. Minimal casualty and it'll decimate their cavalry.

[setep]

I mostly use heavy cavalry as a soft counter to other cavalry, usually using them to tie them up in an unfavourable melee or to really hit the weak points in my enemy's line. Something else I've found to work in the past is to use heavy cavalry to force a counter-charge out of enemy cavalry, then use an unengaged unit of light cavalry or lancers (the latter being my preference, I'm lancer-crazy) to flank the enemy cavalry. Counter-charging is a pretty much a ubiquitous tactic, so this is something worth testing out at least.

In short, where there aren't exposed flanks or particularly weak points in my enemy's line, I treat them like a mobile stabby fortress.

EDIT: Oh, and people tend to freak out when there's heavy cavalry behind their main battle line and if you can force one or more infantry units into a square they make an easy target for line infantry units (e.g. fusiliers, grenadiers) and it reduces their frontal firepower. Light cavalry or lancers can obviously inspire the reaction and while you're going to lose some cavalry regardless of what type you use, breaking the integrity of your enemy's line should be a primary concern I think.

[saiedz]

If the question is HOW do I use heavy cavalry then the answer to that is simple. I don't like using them aggressively; I couldn't agree with you anymore Setep, heavy cavalry always seem to attract the attention of the enemy's cavalry. Having that in mind, I always use them as a holding force. I move them away from my main body of line infantry and skirmishers usually to the far left or far right. In 90 % of cases my opponent will react by sending the majority (if not all his cav) to that very same flank on his side in an attempt to counter them. This usually gives you u a nice lane on the opposing flank to sneak up a few units of quicker and more devastating lancer cav units to harass the enemy's line and pick off any valuable unsupported units like his general or artillery.

Also, everyone has pointed out that they do have higher attack, defense and morale when compared to light cavalry. Heavy cavalry can easily take out light cavalry in a prolonged melee fight just as long as the light cavalry (mainly lancers) don't shock your heavy cav with a devastating charge while your men are static.

So in short I use heavy cavalry to:

- distract enemy cav away from where I want to push my main attack
- tie down enemy cav with inferior melee stats in a fight they cannot possibly win

However I rarely use them due to the fact that they are relatively slow, lack the stamina of light cavalry and are pretty expensive (and also make a good target for enemy artillery). If you are a player who likes taking the fight to the enemy I would stick with light cav.

[♔ brucedickenson♔]

I get them to bash into an enemy line, and have a unit of my own line infantry head in just after them..