Guerra's Cavalry Guide.
I've posted it on my E:TW blog:
http://tobattle.blogspot.com/
How to use cavalry in Empire: Total War
Cavalry is often the king maker in matches. If you lose your cavalry, you have a smaller chance of victory, as your manoeuvres are limited.
Basic rules:
Don't tire out your cavalry. Don't double click everywhere. Only when you absolutely have to. You want them to trot. Tired cavalry has a very very weak charge, while fresh cavalry has such an incredible charge its not funny. Some cavalry has better stamina than others. Check the special attributes tab to confirm. All light cavalry and light dragoons, carbineers have good stamina.
Don't attack the enemy head on unless they have already discharged their ammunition. Attacking a prepared opponent and you will have high casualties. Attacking from the rear and you will have much less, and the morale shock on the enemy will be significantly higher. Cavalry is a beautiful thing that should not be wasted. If the enemy is moving forwards it is perfectly acceptable to charge head on, since they are not in a prepared position and their forward momentum increases your charge damage. If you charge the rear of fleeing troops, your charge will do less damage.
Watch out for traps. If you are playing multiplayer, your opponents, will have a seemingly weak flank, but jaegars or other skirmishers are waiting for your cavalry, to shoot them down. One volley from prepared infantry can take out an entire cavalry charge. So proceed with caution! You should also keep an eye out for stakes. A stake will instantly kill your cavalry even if you walk into it slowly. Forests are a hard place to spot them, so really zoom in carefully. Some enemies will try to bait your cavalry with their cavalry to bring you into range of their rifles or artillery. Beware.
Not all cavalry is created equally. Lancers are meant for charging but cannot sustain melee long. Heavy cavalry with swords are better in protracted melee, carbineers and light dragoons are meant for skirmishing and flanking, only charging if you really must. Regular dragoons are mostly for flanking and being used as mobile infantry, not cavalry. Light cavalry like hussars should be used to harrass your enemy, their cavalry moves very quickly and many nations are without quick light cavalry, so you can use this to your advantage.
Now that we have the basics settled, you should know that cavalry should be supported by infantry. This is not Medieval II Total War, where an entire army of horse units works perfectly. You need a balanced force. Skirmishers work particularly well with cavalry. You can fire upon an enemy, when the enemy shoots back, you can flank and charge. If the enemy forms a protective box, use your infantry to break the box with bullets.
Charging from the Side or Rear does the most damage. Charging uphill slows down your charge dramatically, to the point where its not really worth it. Charging downhill massively increases the charge bonus and it becomes one of the most incredible things to watch. Your cavalry charging downhill will puncture right through the enemy, Return of the King style.
Cavalry formation. This is something that is still not entirely certain, it's impact on the game. Generally, you want to have at least 2 lines of cavalry, but it depends on your purpose. I find the most effective formation 3 ranks deep. But if you are doing an attack from the side on line infantry, you want a dense group of cavalry. The deeper the rank of cavalry, the farther the charge goes into the line, and thus the more people it kills, and disrupts while keeping your cavalry relatively unscathed. If you are attacking a thin line of infantry (1-3 ranks) then you want to have 2 ranks deep of cavalry and charge from the rear. This will do maximum amount of damage and tear half their company to pieces. Diamond and wedge formations are good if you are unable to flank the enemy. A wedge or diamond charge is best done into a thin line of troops that has already discharged their weapons. Once the infantry is split up, retreat your cavalry and charge with infantry and take advantage of the gap. Wedge and diamond should only ever be used as a quick hit and run. Slice through an infantry position and continue running, don't stop and fight.
If your opponent has line infantry protecting his howitzers or artillery, use skirmishers in loose formation to fire on the line infantry (thinnest line is best) when they have discharged their muskets on your loose formation, use a diamond cavalry charge to cut right through the line and kill the artillery crew.
Distractions: Use infantry as bait for your cavalry. My opponent had some redcoats coming towards me, so I positioned my French troops at the bottom of a hill with 2 groups of cavalry hiding in some trees at the top of the hill. The British player thought this was the perfect time to attack my infantry, since he had height advantage. As he marched downhill to attack my men, I produced my 2 cavalry groups and charged from the rear, it completely massacred his men and I must say, was a very satisfying cavalry charge. Here's the replay.
Square Formations: If you see the enemy go into square formation to fend off your cavalry, for goodness sake pull them back immediately. Don't waste your precious horsemen. That goes the same if you see skirmishers with pikes set up. Generally, you don't ever ever want to charge prepared infantry head on. The best times to attack infantry is when they have already exchanged fire with your troops or when they are on the move.
Psychological warfare is also a good one. While you march your troops towards the enemy, move your cavalry around, out of range to flank the enemy, make sure to keep them safe. It will make your enemy's movements restricted and he may get impatient and irrational. This a particularly good tactic to use in 2vs2 games or larger multiplayer games, where you want to support your team-mate to crush an opponent, and want to keep the other one busy and out of the fight. Having your cavalry ride around the enemy position will make your opponent bunch up into squares and divert their attention from your line infantry. A defensive infantry square doesn't have the firepower of an infantry line, so you can use this to your advantage. It's also exceptionally useful to halt an infantry advance while your cannons fire canister and shrapnel are their densely clustered infantry.
Artillery hunting. This is a really important use of cavalry, but pretty much every solid player out there and their dog WILL hide troops near the artillery. Does it look like the mortar is alone? It's probably not. He's probably got jaegars or other riflemen guarding it. The only way to be certain is using a squad of skirmishers. Guerillas, Azzars, Long Riflemen and Wind jags are probably the best for this task as they are entirely invisible while moving.
Intercepting enemy cavalry. This is a really important use of cavalry. You want to limit the range of motion of your enemy. It's also important however that you don't waste your cavalry. If you have a company of so-so cavalry, please please please do not attack winged hussars, as they will turn your horses into Polish Sausage. Use your cavalry to slow down enemy cavalry. If they are running for your unprotected artillery battery, or your flank, then charge until some infantry can ready themselves, then run off again. Out numbering enemy cavalry is also good. Charging them from the rear, charging at them downhill all give good attack bonuses. You don't have to finish them off, just surround them entirely and they will route easily.
There are 3 cavalry speeds. Heavy, Medium and Light.
Heavy Cavalry:
General's Bodyguard
Heavy Cavalry/Cuirsassiers
Life Guards/Guard du Corps/Household Cavalry
Winged Hussar
Medium Cavalry:
Regiment of Horse, Yeomanry/Gendarmerie/Provincial Cavalry, Dragoons, Light Dragoons, Carbineers, Chasseurs a Cheval, Chevaux-Leger/Uhlans, Vibornye Stretlsy, Deli Horsemen, Sipahis, Pindari Horses, Silladar lancers, Bargir Lancers
Light Cavalry:
Hussars/Hungarian Hussars, Hakkapeliita, Cossacks, Cossack Ataman
If you have any suggestions or comments, you can always message me.
I also recommend looking at these cavalry manoeuvres from these games:
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by SgtBanter
