Mounted vs dismounted?

**Mendyed** · November 23, 2012, 02:41 PM

A unit of 45 mounted royal guards with the stats of:

9 attack 10 charge 16 defence

VS Dismounted royal guards 60 men, normal stats.

VS Swan knights 30 men, normal stats

VS Dismounted swan knights 60 men normal stats.

Which one would you say is Stronger? Do realize I have edited royal guards gave them 45 men and 9 attack instead of 7.
This fight would be on flat grounds.
Sorry for the messy layout.

Thanks!
Mendy

**FC Groningen** · November 23, 2012, 04:08 PM

If it's heavy infantry vs heavy cavalry 1 vs 1 , the cavalry unit wins easily. Unless used wrong. Cavalry is used at best by charging, retreating and repeating the process, not to stay in combat for a longer period of time. In all, the more important thing is that you have a balanced army and/or know your opponent and adapt your army and strategy accordingly.

**The Forgotten** · November 23, 2012, 09:59 PM

I have literally seen cavalry units completely annihilate units that were 3 times their size in one charge. So in either scenario unless comp is controlling then my vote goes to mounted.

**The Doge of Venice** · November 23, 2012, 10:32 PM

cost is also a big factor since cavalry is super expensive compared to infantry and has to be used very carefully and they are usually terrible in settlements.

**Altimis** · November 24, 2012, 01:02 PM

Originally Posted by Mendyed

A unit of 45 mounted royal guards with the stats of:

9 attack 10 charge 16 defence

VS Dismounted royal guards 60 men, normal stats.

VS Swan knights 30 men, normal stats

VS Dismounted swan knights 60 men normal stats.

Which one would you say is Stronger? Do realize I have edited royal guards gave them 45 men and 9 attack instead of 7.
This fight would be on flat grounds.
Sorry for the messy layout.

Thanks!
Mendy

Royal Guard vs Dismounted Swan Knight ? >.> .....

Cavalry would steamrolling them.... dismounted Swan knight have no chance

**ppetrus** · November 24, 2012, 02:16 PM

I will dare to have completely different opinion:
Foot soldiers will always be superior over cavalry. Of course only in certain conditions, i.e. charging at the back of immobile and exhausted cavalry units at the slope of densely growth mountain, being fully upgraded, experienced and boosted with a commander's special ability. And if you are lucky, maybe some of the footmen will return home.

**The Forgotten** · November 25, 2012, 08:40 PM

Originally Posted by ppetrus

I will dare to have completely different opinion:
Foot soldiers will always be superior over cavalry. Of course only in certain conditions, i.e. charging at the back of immobile and exhausted cavalry units at the slope of densely growth mountain, being fully upgraded, experienced and boosted with a commander's special ability. And if you are lucky, maybe some of the footmen will return home.

Huh? How is it always if only in certain conditions?

**brasswire** · November 26, 2012, 07:36 AM

There are few things more satisfying in this game than charging a unit of heavy cavalry downhill into a sea of light infantry and watching them pile up hundred+ casualties in a single charge.

**peoplescavalry** · November 25, 2012, 09:38 AM

Of course they would win, its a very unequal contest. Try the same against the cost value in spear/pikemen might be a different matter and i mean a human opponent not the A.I. Grunts rule!

**muller227** · November 26, 2012, 11:21 AM

Originally Posted by Mendyed

A unit of 45 mounted royal guards with the stats of:

9 attack 10 charge 16 defence

VS Dismounted royal guards 60 men, normal stats.

VS Swan knights 30 men, normal stats

VS Dismounted swan knights 60 men normal stats.

Which one would you say is Stronger? Do realize I have edited royal guards gave them 45 men and 9 attack instead of 7.
This fight would be on flat grounds.
Sorry for the messy layout.

Thanks!
Mendy

Dismounted Swan knights would be in trouble, for sure. Dismounted Royal Guard in Vanilla if used correctly regarding guard mode would likely win given their spear bonuses.

**browersandr** · November 26, 2012, 09:47 PM

the more important thing is that you have a balanced army and/or know your opponent and adapt your army and strategy accordingly

**Mhaedros** · November 26, 2012, 11:18 PM

In open field battle you can always count on cavalry as the best unit for killing lots of enemies very fast, you just have to know when to let them withdraw from the enemy and then charge again. (Genghiz Khan FTW)

Your usual heavy armored infantry unit will not be half as good at killing enemies fast, but they will be able to hold a line against other infantry units. If you charge them with heavy cavalry however they probably won't survive very long.

**Jabberjaw** · November 28, 2012, 06:59 AM

Originally Posted by Mhaedros

In open field battle you can always count on cavalry as the best unit for killing lots of enemies very fast, you just have to know when to let them withdraw from the enemy and then charge again. (Genghiz Khan FTW)

The biggest difference is also the shock tactic value of the inertia of the horse and rider - a half a ton at full gallop concentrated into the point of a lance [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavalry..._using_lances], - basically game over for the unlucky recipients...

Often the person struck in this way bounced into those behind them, knocking them all over [as seen in those satisfying charge animations witnessed in-game] thereby allowing the horses to trample them to death too, while leaving the rider to stab&hack at anyone "lucky" enough to still be standing... So, for it to be most effective, the horses therefore need to impact at the same time creating the most simultaneous bouncing around of victims [which is why the charge bonus is lost in game is there is not enough time allowed for those charging to form up correctly].

**k/t** · November 28, 2012, 06:11 PM

No, it's not all concentrated at the point of the lance, and the horse can't just trample over everything without losing its footing. A densely packed infantry formation wouldn't be easy at all for a horse to penetrate. The fear caused by charging cavalry is well represented in M2, the charge is too powerful and not enough horsemen die in the impact.

Also, it's not inertia, it's momentum.

**Nastrael** · November 28, 2012, 11:09 PM

in reality all the horses would die on impact. theyre not the sturdiest of creatures, believe it or not. cavalry isnt meant to charge head on into anything really. the effect of cavalry is in the fear it spreads in enemy infantry. the goal of cavalry isnt to smash into enemy lines, but to scare the enemy

so they turn and run away, this making it easy for the rider to hack them to pieces. have you ever wondered why becomming an equestrian takes so long and is so difficult? it's because you have to train the horse as well as the rider. no sane horse would ever run directly towards a wall,fence, person, anything really. they would rather turn out of the way at the last moment if you were driving them towads something. which is why its considered so hard to be an equestrian. you have to teach a horse to run directly at something so it can jump over it as opposed to just moving out of the way.