Cav outside the gates in a siege

[Lyons6]

I have found in my limited experience with the game that cav aren't really that great when someone is attacking your castle and only really come into play when chasing down routers if you win. My question is this do people merit the idea of having them outside the castle to attack the rear or side of the attacking army??? Opinions would be greatly appreciated

[Barser]

when the enemy gets through the gate I usually smash the cavalry in the side of them while some spearmen hold the line. That is when they finally push the spearmen back long enough for your cav to be usefull.

[Lyons6]

ahh good point though if you are confident enough in your spears to know they won't get pushed back is it worth having them outside the gates?

[Barser]

I suppose that if you want to micromaneget them all the way around it would be worth it.

[delra]

I usually send cavalry through side gates to take out enemy siege equipment, archers and whatever else they decide to leave behind. It's cheap but at least they are useful for something.

Sending a unit of light cavalry somewhere to the edge of the map before the battle ensures that whoever decides to run away, will be caught by them.

Inside the city though, they aren't that good at all. AI often brings huge spear crowd which just decimates cavalry. Your best option for a defensive stack is lots of spearmen and AP units (if they still have militia, swords too).

[Badg3r]

useualy just loop them around to the back out one of the other gate houses
and the AI won't bother protection their rear, so they'll just pour every thing instantly straight in the the first wall breach they can
so if you just keep chargeing the rear of them, they'll caouse a tone of damage

[Busta]

Another option: When the enemy attacks your walls with cannons (or catapults), there is a chance of smashing the guns in a fast frontal strike and retreat with your cavalry, leaving the attacker only with siegetowers, ladders and rams. You dont have to go through sidegates to do this.

[ConquerAll]

As others have already suggested in the thread, I use them to harass enemy catapults/trebuchets or ladders. Anything to force the enemy to use the slower rams and siege towers. Normally I'll deploy them directly at a side gate and hustle them out at the onset of battle.

A word from personal experience: if you've decided to have archers deploy stakes behind your gates, pay close attention to your cavalry's morale. Apparently, routing cavalry will take the shortest path back to the town square - right through the front gate and the stakes.