Cavalry Charges

[Dervish al-Rumi]

How do you get cavalry to charge in this game? It seems the cavalry worked just fine in Rome but on Medieval they don't have nearly as much charging strength and often just run up with their swords instead of spears.

[Matthew The Mad]

What do you mean? are they not running or do they just have a weak charge.

[Lord Jake]

Sounds like you are not allowing enough space between them and their target. If you start them too close they won't use lances... Try starting your charge from a longer distance.

[Vissewalde rex de Gerzika]

How do you get cavalry to charge in this game? It seems the cavalry worked just fine in Rome but on Medieval they don't have nearly as much charging strength and often just run up with their swords instead of spears.

Always remember this when coming from rome to medieval:

The big difference between charging in Rome and medieval is that
the Medieval horses need a lot of spaces to generate a good charge.
They need to run a couple meters straight ahead to build up a charge.

Also try to keep your cav in a good formation instead of spreading them out by constant change of direction etc. Cav is much more powerful in med2 than in rome from my experiences.

[totalwar_legend]

sounds to me like you have an unpatched M2TW game. get it to 1.3 and you'll notice the difference.

[Kataphractos]

Assuming your cavalry are already engaged, pull them out at least 20 yards. This will give them enough time to consolidate somewhat before you turn them around and so they can build enough speed to hit the target. If your cavalry is just a gaggle of horses hitting the target one at a time, you're not going to do much damage at all.

[Highlander of Scotland]

yep as above. form them facing the enemy. try and make it so that they charge without having to turn or change direction. Keep them in a 3 rank line for maximum efficiency. Run them at least 25 metres from the target but dont start to early or they will tire out and come in a wave. Even the measly unmodded prewarscape cav of med 2 will destroy any infantry of the same quality when charging like this

[Sitalkes]

• What's the best way to use heavy cavalry?
  
  • Cavalry Guide
  
  
• Why won’t my cavalry charge properly?

http://forums.totalwar.org/vb/showthread.php?72109-M2TW-FAQ-and-Strategy-Tips (scroll down a couple of screens)