How Does Horse Armour Work?

[merocaine]

Does anyone know how the Armour ratings for horses work?
What is the difference between Mail and Barded Armour, armored horse and eastern armored horse? does it make any difference in Game play?

Chivilric Knights have the same armour rating as Noble Knights, but Chivilric knight rides a Barded horse rather than a Mailed Horse, is this better or worse? :hmmm:

[Conquistatore]

I don't think there is any difference, only in the armour values and stats.. not entirely sure though.

[Old_Scratch]

Horse armor doesn't make any difference. Noble knights and Chivalric knights are exactly the same. Same goes for Cataphracts and English knights, they're the same except for a lower charge bonus on the Cataphracts. The horse is just a model, the stats only concern the rider. The only mounted animals that have armor are elephants.

EDIT: Actually, just a quick check on the English knights and I found that their secondary axe does 11 damage and the Cataphract mace only does 10, as does the Imperial knights mace. Weird.

[merocaine]

Thanks man, bit of a bummer though, the only difference is up keep then!
what a waste of a unit slot

[Surgeon]

Horse armor affects the horse's speed, that's about it. Also, it looks cool.

[Conquistatore]

That's true, the armour does look cool.

[Soulghast]

It is mostly visual flair. I wouldn't call it a waste though, as such units were used back then, and not portraying them in the game would be loss. Generally, I think the speed of the unit is determined by whether it is labeled as "heavy" or "light". Which would mean that barded and steel armored horses have the same speed, as they are both in the "heavy cavalry" category. That is just an assumption, which might be correct,as I haven't noticed any different in speed between Gothic or Chivalric Knights.

[Conquistatore]

Indeed speed would logically be determined by cavalry class, in this case, light or heavy.
Heavy should look better than light but move slower.
Light should not look as good as heavy but move faster.

[Surgeon]

Strangely enough that doesn't seem to be the case. Mailed Knights, whose horses are naked and are classed as heavy cavalry, are no slower than Mounted Sergeants, Hobilars and other light cavalry. However, Feudal Knights and their barded horses begin to fall behind. I'm not sure whether barded and armored horses have different speeds, but naked horses are most certainly faster regardless of cavalry class.

[Conquistatore]

Hmm, perhaps it is divided by type of armour?
The heavier the armour, the slower the movement?

[Viking Prince]

What aabout the captain with heavier armor than than the cavalry unit itself? Always seems to be heading the charge even though heavier?

[Niterider1784]

I think the heavy amour also makes them fatigue faster, but they are obviously slower. But you would think they'd have a better def rating.

[Wraith.]

Well, there have passed more than two and half years but still no reasonable clarification available... Like - exact or comparitive variables of cavalry units speed - rest of variables ceteris paribus - depending on horse armour type. This would be great to find out figures, not just guessings.
As far as it concerns charge values, they - at least, according common laws of physics - they might be the same for heavy and light unit - if the speed of light unit is same times more as its weight is less...

[sumaznguy]

At first I thought it was lame that some units with less advanced armor has higher armor stats. but my friend said "just imagine them as different quality armor". so italian spear miltia with 4 stat leather armor (iirc its 4) is the highest quality vs some poorly made light mail your seargent spearmen wear with 2 defense stat.

[Teutonic Warlord]

If you are wondering what affects the speed of the cavalry, it is not dependent on the classification of it being heavy, light, or horse archer. However, that is a somewhat accurate means to figure out the speed. The cavalry speed is dependent on the armor/defense rating. The higher the rating, the slower the cavalry. Mailed knights outrun general's bodyguard, for example, because they have lower defense. Light cavalry have lower (armor) stats than heavy cavalry, so they generally run faster. The only other factor is the 'fast moving' ability, which counteracts the defense rating. Vardariotai have a whopping 17 defense without an armor upgrade but outrun all or the majority of other cavalry. You can also notice this with infantry and their defense stats. Those with less defense/armor can outrun those with more. If you want proof, do a custom battle and put one of every cavalry type of your faction in battle and basically have them race each other from one end to the other. 'Fast moving' will be first, then those with the least armor with heaviest bringing up the rear.

[Aeratus]

Horse Armor affects the unit's mass value, which affects the charge's effectiveness.

Horse Armor does not determine speed.

Horse Armor does not determine fatigue.

[Silverheart]

But Heavy cavalry (that is, heavily ARMOURED cavalry) do move slower than light cavalry. In turn, the heavy cavalry have more punch, and lasts longer in melee.
The only real exceptions are the Mercenary Frankish Knights, Druzhina, Arab Cavalry and the Mailed Knights - and in all cases, I would rather classify them as Medium cavalry because they have the armour and power of heavy cavalry, but the speed and stamina of light cavalry. On the downside, they do not excel at either field, like the "real" heavy or light cavalry does.

However, all in all, the horses´ armour doesn´t effect the whole soldiers´ performance in battle - it´s usually the armour of the rider that counts, and the horse only dies when he dies. The ONE exception would be when they´re riding into stakes, since there, the rider dies when the horse does.

[D00d]

OK, here's how horse armor really works.

Horse armor, or mount, how it's called in game files determines 2 things.

First thing is speed. All cavalry using the 'mailed horse' mount will move at the same speed. Armor value has nothing to do with the actual armor on the model. You could have armor 30 on a horseman riding a 'fast pony' or armor 0 on a horseman riding an 'armored horse' (plate armor horse used by gothic knights).

Second thing is mass. Mass stat is compared to infantry mass when cavalry charges to determine how many infatrymen get trampled. Horses kill more infantry than lances. Only infantry can get crushed by horse mass, it doesn't work on other horses, no matter how light or heavy they are. Standard infantry mass is 1.0. Light infantry, such as archers, have 0.8 and they are more vulnerable to cavalry. Spearmen have 1.5, that's why they take less casaulties from charges.

So, light horses are faster, heavier horses crush more infantry. I hope that explains it.

[Aeratus]

Regarding speed, it appears that it is one variable for speed, but doesn't solely determine speed because there's a separate variable that affects speed. Horse armor is only one variable.

Horses of the same horse armor do not move at the same speed. For example, the Royal Mameluk and the Khassaki both have the same mount (Eastern Armored Horse), but the Royal Mameluk moves a lot faster.

BTW, Here are the stats for horse armor:

mount               speed         mass 
fast pony              3          2.75 
pony                   2          2.75 
heavy horse            2          3.25 
barded horse           1          3.5 
mailed horse           1          3.5 
armoured horse         1          4.5 
eastern armoured horse 1          4.5 
camel                  1          2.0

[Wraith.]

Regarding speed, it appears that it is one variable for speed, but doesn't solely determine speed because there's a separate variable that affects speed. Horse armor is only one variable.
[/code]

This is I am exactly meaning. If we drop variables of environment, there still should be several variables like multiplicators of what consists the speed of particular cavalry unit. So - what are they, these variables, what equatations have been used? Where to gain this info?
And - this awesome fast movement attribute... Where, how has it been added to unit's characteristics? EDU? Anywhere else?