Best cavarly ratio in an army?

[WhiteShark]

Hello,EB Comrades

I just wanted to open a thread about "cavarly ratio" in an army.

For instance, I use about 4 units of cavarly in a full-stack army( cuz i often use cavarly to flank enemy infantry battle line or strike enemy missile units)

What is your cavarly ratio in army?:hmmm:

[Companion Cavalry]

two units of best available cavalry
four units of second-to-best-available cavalry
two units of skirmisher/archer cavalry

In a full stack army

[Watchman]

I just tend to match it to the expected opposition, the other elements of the army, and the limitations imposed by considerations of recruitement, retraining and raw finances... Although, having once tried chasing down routers with an all-hoplite force, whenever possible I make a point of having along at least 1-2 units of light cav for the express purpose of disposing of routing enemies so they don't do something rude like rally and rejoin the fighting at an inappropriate time.

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

I'll usually have a general and one or two units of cavalry with an army, depending on size and faction.

If I'm someone like Pahlav, though, I'll have about 20 units of cavalry with a full stack.

[Aketi]

for a full stack I use
1 general
2 light cavalry preferably horse-archers
2 heavy cavalry

I only use cavalry for desperate attempts to save a battle that I am about to lose and of course to ride down poor fleeing bastards. It's just that I have invested so much money in them I can't accept possibly throwing them away.

[Imperator Sulla]

I only use cavalry for desperate attempts to save a battle that I am about to lose and of course to ride down poor fleeing bastards. It's just that I have invested so much money in them I can't accept possibly throwing them away.

I've got the same issues with using my cavalry. They're just too expensive to use in battle and to let them take serious casualties. I only use them to charge wavering units in the flank or back and to run down broken units. When I have to, I use them to intercept flanking enemy cav. but always in combination with spear infantry support.

I've only played with the romans sofar and always outfit full(consular)armies with one heavy roman and one medium/light roman cav. unit. Halfstack(Praetorian)armies one light and optional medium local cav. When I replenish my forces after a battle I only send roman infantry and usualy don't bring allong roman cav. but start using local cav. units

[chenkai11]

1 unit of general bodyguard
2 units of medium cavalry or 1 unit of light and 1 unit of heavy cavalry.
for army with heavy and elite infantry

1 to 2 units of general bodyguard
2 units of heavy cavalry or cataphract
2 units of light cavalry with missile weapon (javelins or archers)
for eastern or persian army

They are just too expensive to lose and reinforce

[WhiteShark]

I see people use about 2~5 units of cavarly in their full stack armies.

[chenkai11]

I see people use about 2~5 units of cavarly in their full stack armies.

why, what's wrong with that?

[konny]

Depends very much on what faction I am playing.

Now, with KH I do not lay much emphasises on cavalry. I have two units of cavalry, one heavy/medium and one light/medium, on the list for every army (so far three), but usually I don't have the money for that and end up with 1x Hippakontistai per army, crossing fingers that the Successors charge their heavy cavalry and FMs right frontal in my Hoplites in every battle - what they not always do.

Before that I had played the Maks and took care that every army had at least two units of Prodmoi (+General). I had rather skipped the light cavalry or sticked to Peltastai as flankers.

[Sidus Preclarum]

Hello,EB Comrades

I just wanted to open a thread about "cavarly ratio" in an army.

For instance, I use about 4 units of cavarly in a full-stack army( cuz i often use cavarly to flank enemy infantry battle line or strike enemy missile units)

What is your cavarly ratio in army?:hmmm:

As romans, I use 4 too.
Equites Campanici and Extraordinarii on one wing (or locally hired cavalry), Roman cavalry (Equites + General) on the other ...

[WhiteShark]

I would use more cavarly in my armies, but the upkeep for cavarly units are too expensive to operate them.

That is why many of my infantry take casualty to withstand enemy attack while few cavarly units crush enemy cavarly and attack them from behind.

[Mathias]

Playing as the romans I use 1 unit of cavalry: Eqivtes extraordinarii
Cavalry is so devastating that if a have several units of it, there is no way I can loose. I actually never have full stacks either, just 16-17 units.

[WhiteShark]

As Romani, i would use around 6 cavarly units, but upkeep cost is too expensive.

Due to that reason, my infantry has to withstand enemy attack while my cavarly crush enemy cavarly and come back from behind.

[Mathias]

How can you guys play with that many cavalry units, if you don't play as a cavalry faction? It is completely unhistorical, and even more importantly; completely unbalanced. You can wipe the field clean in a few minutes, with few losses on your own side, and complete losses on the enemy's side. Not what I would challanging, or even fun, but that is just me; you can play however you want to.

[Sidus Preclarum]

I usually play my cavalry in a rather realistic manner: I charge whatever the enemy has on his own wings, wether cavalry or skirmisher. Then I turn my attention mostly on the infantry combat, leaving the cavalry to its own devices, only checking they're not getting entangled with heavy infantry units. Usually, the Equites end up routing on one side of the map, while the Italians allies end up pursuing on the other side. I then call them back in order to kill the routers / deal the final blow to the enemy's resistance / support the infantry effort / try desesperately to turn the tables ( depending on how the battle goes)

[chenkai11]

For me the best EB cavalry unit......The Hayasdan late body guard. No recruiting cost, upkeep is the wage you need to pay for your family members. The KING of hayasdan can have a numbers of 100+ units.

I once charge with my three generals in three direction to a seleukid elite phalanx, somehow I managed to hit them all at the same time, the elite phalanx reacted instantly to a rout.

In melee combat they fight tough with their heavy armour, even seleukid generals cannot match them. It's them who led me to glory.

[Renegen]

Wow people really use a lot of cavalry, I barely bring 1 or 2 just to pursuit fleeing enemies. If I sent more then they will usually flank.

[eelorriaga]

well while i was playing with kh,i used to have very few cavalary...1 or 2 unit in full army staks,just trying to play historicaally

[gaius valerius]

i agree it depends on what faction your playing. for example the pahlava and the like (nomadic) have very good heavy horse archers so in the beginning my armies were all cavalry.

the thing is that the AI cant handle flanking to well so i rely heavily on cavalry to win my battles. especially against higher end enemy armies. i pin enemies down with infantery and then bash'm in the rear. depending on which faction you use you can use more cav/less inf.

for example the succesor faction need less inf. units cuz their phalanxes can pin down much more enemies than their own count (and not rout ). i usually have 3-5 heavy/medium cavalry units in my (non nomadic) armies (general included). 3-5/20 seems a good ratio to me, had bad experiences with only 2. if i use more than 5 mounted units thats because my infantery is pawning gooood . their cost is pretty high, which is generally an issue in the beginning but they do help me own all the early battles. i prefer a number of my cavalry units to be generals (they auto-refill in towns, gain exp and traits = training), though i dont want them to die, so i need to look after them in battle.


most of the time i put in battles goes into commanding cavalry. the KH gave me a hard time since they have no cavalry in the beginning (generals are spartans), so flanking was out of the question.