RS2 cavalry - underpowered?

[tone]

What do people think about RS2 cavalry?
I'm really keen that we get this aspect, as with the other stuff, just right.
Are they underpowered, overpowered or just right?

[King Nud]

I think that they are a marked improvement over the Vanilla and RS1.5 cavalry, both of these were overpowered....although their charge needs beefing up a bit more, as they may be just a bit too nerfed. But with a slight tweak they would be pretty perfect in my eyes

[Caius Antonius]

Not sure about the others, but the RS 2 Horse Archers are much like the ones in RS 1.5: if you've got a full army of them you can raze pretty much anything without losses.

[apple]

Not sure about the others, but the RS 2 Horse Archers are much like the ones in RS 1.5: if you've got a full army of them you can raze pretty much anything without losses.

Well that depends on the enemy, spears=not likely others yes. That's why you should always have some spearmen protecting the flanks and back form cavalry charges.

Edit: Never mind, I tought you wrote about the cavalry as a whole not just about the horse archers.

[The Guy With No Imagination]

the are improved, but they still have room for a bit more, hmm, power so to speak.
They should, in my opinion be abit more powwerfull

[cnaeus]

just right only not properly devided between charge and melee...i think they should kill more men on impact and be a significant tat weaker in the following melee. because what i saw in my makedonian campaign whas thet when my heavy cav charged hoplites(or any heavy spear infantry) that they would do hardly any damage but when their momentum was gone they would still put up i big fight. against spearmen!?!. they should be able to run down about one row of men on the entire frontage of their charge but then be quite weak in the ensueing melee. (as far as im concerned offcourse).

cnaeus,

[Gez]

Deffinatley underpowered when charging.

[Arnspac]

Those that charge are a tad underpowered.
The horse archers I have encountered did not seem overly powerful, yet very reluctant to engage in melee. ( I can't give you units tone, sorry )

[tone]

ok thanks, I'll tweak the charge

[torzsoktamas]

I think they are just right.Their charge is good too in my opinion.Today I fought a small custim battle with Parthia against the Seleukids.I had 1 parthian noble,2 persian noble and 3 mardian horsearchers.They had 2 katoikoi and 2 levy phalangites,1 argyraspides thorakitai,i hipaspistai,2 machairaphoroi,1 thureophoroi and 1 heatiroi as general.I lost quite mutch, but I won.Firstly I shooted them and then killed his general.When I killed about 60% I had no more arrows.There were 3 phalangites who had about 100 soldiers.I surrounded one,charged them from all sides and after a half of minute fighting I killed them and gone to the next one.I think the cavalrys are fine now.

[Ibram]

But that's because you used your Horse Archers first torz, which I also think are a tad powered. I also think the charges are under-powered, but normal meele is just right.

[Tankbuster]

I'm used to the SPQR cavalry, and I can tell you that the RS2 cavalry is about as strong (i.e. quite weak). As Gez said, the charges should be stronger: they should be powerful, but when they lose their impetus and close in on them, they should die like flies. Heavy cavalry should be able to make a infantry unit go down 10-15 units in a frontal charge.

I think the cavalry archers and light cavalry are a bit overpowered, but that's my personal taste. I prefer them to weaken the enemy, not to cut away half a unit by themselves. But then again, to keep a good balance between faction, you need the ranged cavalry to be quite powerful.

[torzsoktamas]

I think light cavalry aren't that tough,....they are fine.Giving better charge to heavy cavalry is probably. a good idea

[Calvin]

My main concern when I've fought battles is that cavalry last a very very very long time when stuck in combat. Fair enough, they should be able to last long enough to charge in, melee for a few seconds and then get out without all being slaughtered. But they really shouldn't be able to last 10 minutes against a unit of triarii - or any medium - heavy unit.

[dvk901]

I agree that the charge is underpowered. IMHO, ANY cavalry in a full charge should inflict some bad casualties. Afterall, the horse alone is a 7-800lb battering ram, so to speak. And here is where I think changes need to be made. At present, full charges into the backs of almost anything result in very little damage to a unit. From the front...yeah, that's stupid anyway. I don't charge into the fronts of units. But from the back it should be a 'shocker'.

As far as melee, well, only 'horse culture' armies should have good 'melee' cavalry (they actually NEED this because of the lack of good infantry). The rest should be poor at it. They weren't used for melee anyway...more of a 'shock and awe' charge from the flanks or behind, or to deal with other cavalry, or to chase down routing units. So I'd like to see massive charge from the sides and back, mediocre charge from the front (with many losses), and poor melee for non-horse cultures.

[Caius Antonius]

The steppes should really have powerful cavalry, that could break lines even in frontal attacks (unless it's a phalanx you're dealing with). No matter what shields and armor the infantry have, they simply shouldn't be able to hold off the strength of a cavalry formation. So the first few lines should be definitely broken in such attacks, in the first wave at least.

[torzsoktamas]

Yes I agree that the nomad factions cavalrys should be good in melee.Now I test Sarmatian and I found some medium cavalrys quite good in melee to, but these eastern cavalrys should gate a slightly boost in melee too in my opinion.And I think that light cavalrys(like javelin armed ones)are fine now,....they are quite weak in melee, but quite effective too if used properly.

[Father Jack]

Generally cavalry armed with a xyston or sarissa should have a very powerful charge, but do less well in a prolonged melee.
Medium cavalry of the non-cataphract type should have a good charge (if armed with spears) and the ability to last slightly longer in melee.
Light Cavalry should only be really used to harass the enemy and to quickly cut them down as they rout. So they proberbly should be slightly weaker all round.

This is an age before the stirrup and steel plate armour so we shouldnt see cavalry doing well against infantry in melee lasting more than a few minutes. It was really only in the Middleages when cavalry could happily engage without infantry support, even Alexander's Companion cavalry relied on the infantry to pin down the enemy infantry before using his cavalry to attack the flanks or rear. In many battles of this period cavalry were only used as machines to flank, to take out the enemies cavalry (as Hannibal successfully did so at Cannae) and to run down fleeing enemies. With the exception of the Steppe nomads, cavalry really needs an infantry element to function.

[chaney]

Yes the charge needs a bit more lethality added to it , and as Torzsoktomas and DVK said , Horse cultures definitely need to be better in close quarters , after the charge because the enemy will still be surprised by the charge allowing the cavalry to pick up some easy kills

[Marku]

i'd have to say underpowered as well