Miles
Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
alt+Lclick will allow cavalry to switch from their standard spears to swords.
I am considering that since sword infantry beat spear infantry, sword-wielding cavalry kill infantry faster, at least when they are not charging. I have been assuming that for charging, spears are better.
Can someone who knows clarify this speculation?
Also, is there any way to tell from which direction routing units are going to flee?
Last edited by piranha45; November 25, 2009 at 01:29 PM.
Praeses
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
For cavalry spears are definitely much better for charging. In regular melee swords have a slight advantage, so it's worth switching after the charge, although it won't make a huge difference. Some cavalry units have maces or axes, in which case switching can make a very big difference, especially against armoured opponents.
Civis
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
So, then if one wishes for the cavalry to charge spears down and switch to the alternate weapon once in melee would alt / double Lclick work?
Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
--Thucydides
Miles
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
alt+ double Leftclick would make your horses charge with their swords
you must manually switch to swords after the charge; alt + 1 leftclick after the charge.
Senator
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
I think it is more useful to pull back your cavalry and make another charge with the spears, especially if the targeted infantry are already engaged with your infantry.
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
Alt + Double left click, IIRC, is the best way to do it, as the cav will charge with spears and right away switch to swords.Originally Posted by piranha45
Senator
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
I usually use the double right click. Is it any different or is it up to the game settings?
Miles
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
er you are right, it is right click not left click
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
Yeah, its right click, I was mindlessly responding to piranha, my mistake.
Ordinarius
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
On the subject of maces having the AP tribute, the Egyptians used to fight the Hittites as everyone knows, and basic maces would just crush a skull literally in half. When the Hittites brought helmets, the maces probably would of rendered a man unconscious, but not of actually pierced the armour, so I was wondering are the maces stronger than the ones used against the Hittites?
Rest in peace, Calvin.
(28th April, 1975 - 28th October, 2009)
Civis
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
I don't have any inside knowledge to draw from. But since the time period you're referencing is perhaps a thousand years or more before the start of this mod, I don't know how much comparison could be made.
Right, as the world goes, is only in question between equals in power, while the strong do what they can and the weak suffer what they must.
--Thucydides
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
Here's a good example; in Medieval it was fashionable for the knight to use maces or warhammers because bludgeoning was useful against plated opponents as well as piercing weapons. An arrow or sword hit can glance off an armor piece easier than a bludgeon weapon.
Last edited by Hurlbut; November 28, 2009 at 01:11 PM.
Praeses
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
If armour doesn't deform under impact, then the energy of impact will be transmitted straight through it.
A Newton's cradle provides a good illustration of the principle.
Assume each ball has a diameter of 2cm, then there's 6cm of steel between the ball impacting on one side and the ball flying off on the other side, but because the steel in between doesn't deform at all, the transmission of energy is nearly perfect.
Now imagine that the ball on one side is a mace, the ball on the other side is someone's skull, and the balls in between are a steel helmet. The helmet might as well not be there at all. This is why modern bicycle helmets are designed to crush on impact. That way some of the energy is absorbed by the material instead of all being transmitted.
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
Yeah, that's what happen when you take a big hit from a mace or similar weapon through armor; it may not break the armor, but it'll crush the bone and pulverise flesh underneath it.
Ordinarius
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
I see.
I was just interested, because I know basically nothing of the weapons in this time period.
Rest in peace, Calvin.
(28th April, 1975 - 28th October, 2009)
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
personally I don't see any use for using the sword on your cavalry. a mace/axe on the other hand would be a different story. the thing with swords is that they're better against spear type infantry, but when fighting infantry with your cavalry you should charge, run back, charge, run back, and repeat. now, in cavalry vs cavalry fight I heard somewhere that spears are stronger than swords, however this would go against the sword has bonus vs spear that infantry seems to have, so I'm really unsure about this... mace/axe have armor piercing so they're obviously useful against armor targets, aka armor cavalry such as Cataphracts or Companions. against armored infantry you'll still be better off charging and retreating...
Primicerius
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
No, swords will always have an advantage over lances.(unless you're playing Fire Emblem, hehe)
It's why in online battles you always use alt left click in cavalry vs. cavalry, it is sometimes what seperates a win from a loss, to think of that when you have praetorian cav vs. praetorian cav.
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
Except in the first strike when you are charging; the lance has better reach over the sword and concentrate all that power of the charging man and horse behind a very sharp spearhead point.
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
yes the routing effect is part of a good cavalry charge, but it's far from the only part. killing is still the main function if any unit, including cavalry! also, the routing effect works against lower tiered units, but against elite infantries it will be greatly diminished... also, the simple truth that an infantry that gets run over by a horseman should not be back up on his feet and fighting clouds the notion that cavalry charge is only good for its shock value.
oh and if discussing kills while chasing down routers, that's more of a light/skirmisher cavalry job, not a heavy cavalry...
Semisalis
Re: Cavalry-- when to use their spears, and when to use their swords
I have a (somewhat) related question: which units in XGM have a mace/axe as their secondary weapon?
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