Persian Cav vs Horse Archers

[g0ra]

I've been pissing around with Parthia recently and I've begun to find some big advantages for both units, and funnily enough I'm leaning towards the cheaper, easier to recruit, Horse Archers. Purely in battle they give me the feel of having a greater attack, although I'm sure their respective stats are lower - plus I find the ammunition limits of Persian Cav to be nothing short of pathetic. I have to admit I was excited by the prospect of moving up a step in the area of HAs as the standard Horse Archer units were fairing me very well, but safe to say I'm disappointed with the Persian Cav - am I doing something wrong?

So what are your opinions? (please don't grill me)

[Entropy Judge]

Persian Cav
stat_pri 7, 3, arrow, 170, 30, missile, archery, piercing, none, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 9, 5, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, sword, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 6, 4, 0, metal

Horse Archer
stat_pri 7, 1, arrow, 120, 40, missile, archery, piercing, none, 25 ,1
stat_pri_attr no
stat_sec 3, 2, no, 0, 0, melee, simple, piercing, knife, 25 ,1
stat_sec_attr no
stat_pri_armour 0, 2, 0, flesh

So, the two actually have the same Attack for their arrows, which might explain the feeling you get - when a 'lowly' HA makes some shots, you get impressed, but not when the 'superior' Persian Cav makes the same one. The difference with their bows is that the PC has 10 fewer Arrows, but a much higher Range. If you're attacking cities the PC might be better for the range, but in most field battles the HA will shine brighter due to the slightly higher capacity.

The *real* difference between the two is in melee - the Persians carry a much more dangerous Sword and have some actual Armor to keep them alive in melee, while the HA have a pathetic knife and Defense Skill (which is no help against Arrows, BTW), so if anyone so much as breathes on them they start dropping.

All in all ... if you just want a HA, stick with the HAs. If you're having problems with enemy cavalry or archers, the Persians might serve you better due to their armor and melee ability.

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

peasants are good for getting in the way of horse archers. heck, the peasants may even beat the HA in a straight out melee

[Plant]

If you find your arrows are less effective, move closer.

[g0ra]

So Extra Missiles vs. Better Melee, in Laymans terms. Good job to keep a mix of these stacks. Thanks.

[Plant]

Or you can make all Persian Cavalry.

[Maxent]

Just stick wit HA,I`m pretty sure a full HA stack could beat most AI armies and if you want melee go for catas,Until then HA

[Titus Maximius Thongus]

you should be able to beat an AI army using anything

[asianboy]

you should be able to beat an AI army using anything

Not with an all-peasant army.

[Lucarius]

Not with an all-peasant army.

yes,
even with an all-peasant army,.

[RTW AAR] Achtung - Peasant!

here this is a guy who plays the campaign mode with only peasents and FM.

[g0ra]

you should be able to beat an AI army using anything

More than likely, I was just pitting these two units against each other as I was unsure about them.

[Parzival2211]

Since the PC have a longer range, they shoot more early, but less accurately. That may explain why they perform worse than the simple HA.