All cav army

[Ender Wiggin]

So I was thinking of going Mongol. All cav, with horse archers, bow general.

Anyone have any recommendations for this setup? I'm also not sure on Bow general. On the one hand, I can outrange any enemy unit barring Bow Hero, but on the other, melee gen can plow through spears.

[crzyrndm]

@OP
You'll get much more meaningfull replies in the MP section (http://www.twcenter.net/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=1553)

[SgtLong]

Yes, I am a cavalry man. I have used cavalry army in Napoleon, with very few if any success without a partner who covered the other end. Best I can tell you is replace one part of the army mechanics with cavalry at a time.

[Plan C]

Warscape engine is ill-suited to all cav armies, I'm afraid. Used to have all cav stacks as Poland in M2TW and I would totally gut anybody mad enough to oppose me, but never since then. In warscape, infantry is king, so I advise you reconsider.

[rakenan]

Warscape engine is ill-suited to all cav armies, I'm afraid. Used to have all cav stacks as Poland in M2TW and I would totally gut anybody mad enough to oppose me, but never since then. In warscape, infantry is king, so I advise you reconsider.

Is that a product of the warscape engine in particular, or is it just that those games happen to give cavalry stats that are inadequate to battlefield domination? I know that in the Empire and Napoleon eras, cavalry was useful for a variety of purposes, but the backbone of effective armies was infantry, so it's accurate for that time period. For Shogun 2. . . I have absolutely no idea. I'm far from conversant with the development over time of Japanese pre-industrial war fighting techniques.

[MrMQX]

Also Japan era are mostly fought with bows and arrows...

[IGdood]

Cavalry wasn't really dominant in Japan. Many samurai (the equivalent to a knight, sort of) fought on foot.

[Robin de Bodemloze]

It's more because there is a massive focus on yari (spears) and naginata during these times. All of these troops have a 15-20 point "bonus against cavalry" which make them cavalry killers, essentially. Given yari and naginata troops were the bread and butter of armies in these times, an all cavalry army would be ill suited for the vast majority of battles.

The other thing is the warscape engine. You can charge a unit of yari cavalry into a unit of bow ashigaru and get 40-50 kills easily with a handful of deaths, but once you order them to disengage they lose their ability to fight and lose 5-6 men and get a "attacked from the rear" penalty for no other reason than that you are telling them to disengage.

Having said that there are ways to implement cavalry heavy armies to good effect. I did some experiments with Takeda cavalry (which are more durable than standard ones) and came up with a fairly effective formation. Take a look: http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=478539

[Jaxin]

Used Takeda bow cavalry armies, fully upgraded bow cavalry building and bow encampment, had samurai event, so +6 xp each, Around 90 accuracy i think.
It was intense.

[TuranianGhazi]

Used Takeda bow cavalry armies, fully upgraded bow cavalry building and bow encampment, had samurai event, so +6 xp each, Around 90 accuracy i think.
It was intense.

How did you afford ALL that?

Tips on how you got to that point and when in the campaign? How did you survive early campaign?

[Condottiere 40K]

Specialization; sometimes when you start recruiting lots of Samurai at the same time, it kicks in; same with Ashigaru.

[AngryTitusPullo]

The last time I used an all cavalry army was on the original Shogun many years ago. It was definitely fun.

[Jaxin]

I owned from the Takeda areas up to the Uesegi, down to the bow province by Hojo and that whole bay area. Massive economy running, so I fully upgraded my bow, armoury and horse province as well as specialised encampments. I then threw three mixed cavalry forces into the Oda, who had the rest of japan.
BTW, my favourite tactic was the frontal charge, even into yari. The casualries are almost irrelevent when you hit them with 2000 horsemen at once.

i played Hard Hard, because i'm not crazy.

As to getting to that point, tactical wise stick with Takeda Light Cav, they are more cost efficent and still do the job. Hit isolated units with several Light cavs at once, timing it so that one hits the back/ side and destroys formation before one hits the front, so your deaths are low/none. Generals can be used for this early game.
Hammer and anvil formations with Ashigari, engage their line then swing your cavalry behind. Don't go for all cav armies until you are rolling in cash. Ashigari and Light Cav work fine for most of the game.

Don't make alliances you can't keep if they are attacked.
Team up with Hojo, or whoever becomes the regional big hitter.
Trade with whoever you can. For a lot of the time you'll be stuck inland. Deal with it, don't make irrational decisions.
Invest in infrastructure. Post roads are key.
If a clan is being bashed by lots of clans, join in.
Don't overextend, expand in a solid blob or with your back to mountains.
Don't try to garrison armies everywhere. Keep quick reaction forces in hubs and agents giving you lots of warning.
keep your honour as high as possible
Ambush
Pray
Autosave
T

[TuranianGhazi]

Thanks Jaxin!

I figured the hammer/anvil or sandwich strategy with YA and LC would do the trick for most of the game, since they're cheat, affordable and do their jobs.

Hahaha frontal charge with all cav army. Wow, that must have looked epic. I'll definitely try that later down in the campaign.

But I'm thinking mostly Takeda Bow Cavalry would be better than Yari Cavalry.

[Jaxin]

Bow cavalry can easily be detached for raiding. Light cav does Yari cav's job fine. Katana cav is only really good in a protrscted melee.

[TuranianGhazi]

Bow cavalry can easily be detached for raiding. Light cav does Yari cav's job fine. Katana cav is only really good in a protrscted melee.

And then if playing as Takeda, Katana Cavalry (KC) is obsolete in favor of Fire Cavalry (FC) since they're both swords and FC's upkeep is just a tad bit higher

[Condottiere 40K]

Is it just me, or every time I look at Fire Cavalry I keep getting images of the Emperor's Imperial Guard?