How to beat horse archers?

[Slashas]

Just started a campaign as getae (hard/medium) and got attacked by one of the nomadic factions. They attacked me with a stack of only horse archers, any idea of how I beat that? They skirmish so they run away before I can get to them. Slingers maybe? or do they do enough damage?

[Maximus183]

What I usually do is place my main forces anywhere on the battle map where they're forced to come close to attack you and then come on with hidden units from the rear, catching them in the middle. Or if you have light cavalry or any other cavalry unit just chase them until you catch them. It's less effective but works at times too.

[Augustusng]

You know, there should just be a sticky thread about this. It seems like there's a new one every day. Anyway, I'll link some other threads that might answer your question.

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...Scythia-on-DeI

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...is-it-possible

http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showt...-horse-archers

[Scythion]

If Rome 2's price would be reduced by 1 cent when a thread like this shows up, then the game would be free long ago.

[Tundra98]

If Rome 2's price would be reduced by 1 cent when a thread like this shows up, then the game would be free long ago.

Well, theres a reason for it. of ALL the armies that the AI recruits in this game, the nomad armies (which consist on purely cav) are the most difficult to beat, SPEACIALLY horse archers. The reason is that you go there with you army, everything is nice, thinking it will be like beating any other faction, but then BOOM, there goes the spam. OH, you try to chase them down with spears? LOL we'll just run away AND kill you while doing it. OH you try to charge us with cav? WE'LL JUST RUN AWAY AND KILL YOU WHILE DOING IT.OH, you try to fight fire with fire and kill us with horse archers? well guess what, even if you kill us there goes half your army, and all your time since microing horse archers is really time consuming. so ya, i would face 10 roman legions, successor phalanxes or barbarian hordes rather than 1 spam of horse archers (personally).

[Damocles]

The Byzantines used archers and heavy cavalry.

Supposedly, the archers outranged the horse archers. And when the horse archers closed in on the foot archers, the heavy cavalry would charge and disperse them. Will this work in Rome? Probably not. Battles don't really correspond to real life, since everyone has the same 20 units...and 130 horse archers is way more powerful than 160 archers.

[KAM 2150]

Focusing fire from few units on a single target mauls each horse archer unit in few seconds. When you command each unit to fire at a different target, then it takes ages, but when 3-4 units are fireing at single unit of horse archers then they kill it with 2-3 volleys.

[zombieflanders]

I don't know about DeI as I just started playing, but in vanilla massed skirmisher fire that outranges the horse archers (i.e., an army of 40%-50% slingers and archers) plus some light- to mid-weight melee cavalry absolutely decimates horse archer armies. Unless they're outnumbering you severely, you'll win at the cost of a couple units here and there. In my Baktria game, any nomads that didn't have armoured horse got absolutely slaughtered.

[ThatWhichThinks]

Use massed slingers to beat light horse archers, archers to beat meadium/heavy horse archers. Two units of slingers focusing their fire can beat two or three units of light horse archers easily in a shoot-off (keep heavier troops nearby to prevent the horse archers from charging). Heavier horse archers are a bit tougher to counter. I use one of several tactics:

1. Massed archers with spearmen. Focus fire (like with the slingers vs light horse archers) and keep the spearmen in case the horse archers get desperate and try to charge.

2. Light cavalry and heavy cavalry/shock cavalry. Use your light cavalry to chase down the heavy horse archers, with your heavy cavalry in pursuit as well. The light cavalry will catch the heavy horse archers, and when your heavy cavalry/shock cavalry catches up you should win easily.

3. Artillery. Artillery can beat anything at range and often induces desperate charges from the AI. Keep supporting infantry and heavy cavalry near by and either kill the horse archers at range or draw them in to attack. You should probably also keep some archers/slingers around to revert to another tactic if the enemy doesn't charge before your artillery runs out of ammunition.

[Arimnestos]

It is almost impossible fighting the steppe hordes in a 1 on 1 battle. You need to be a lot more tactical on the campaign map. Agents, attacking their port settlements (they can't sally) and hitting them after they have had a battle. I like how its a totally different war to fighting the standard factions. Just sacked sakas capitol after a 10 year war. Epic

[Summary]

I really feel horse archers need a major nerf. Yes they were good against traditional armies. But, was it possible for them to wipe out shield equipped infantry before a unit of more foot archers could wipe them out? I doubt it. Horse archers have no protection against missile fire, and should be more susceptible to it. Cavalry men have always been extremely vulnerable to missiles and artillery because they present a bigger target and hence, are easier to hit. However in the game, a volley of fire from horse archers kills more shield equipped infantry, than a volley of fire from foot archers killing horse archers. Not good balance.

I usually play as Sparta, but this tactic can be applied to any faction. I try to wait till one of the tribes in the steppes expands. And then I start tearing away at their empire, liberating territories instead of annexing it. This way I do not have to defend those territories and I gain a military ally who can fight fire with fire (horse archers with horse archers). Catiaroi is one of the best factions to liberate because they are reliable.

I tend to watch for which factions are reliable, that way when I gain their territory from their former enemies, I can liberate them and gain a steadfast military ally who is less likely to turn against me. Liberating is extremely powerful because you gain military allies and therefore cumulatively you have more standing armies. You also have to worry less about defending a front if you strategy liberate factions along your borders.

I even tried Alexander The Greats tactic at the Battle of Jaxartes, and it has proven to be a more successful approach towards combating horse archers (At least the lightly armored ones, beating cataphract horse archers, ..... mmhhhh cchheeaaa you should probably not even try because they are ridiculously overpowered).

I will soon post a .GIF that will explain the battle. I am working on it now

Edit:

Please find the .GIF attached now. Note that the half yellow colored units are horse archers. The solid red is the hoplites that advance ahead of the flanking unit. The half red colored units are light melee cavalry for flanking. The red with black dot units are foot archers that will advance in the end to pick off the horse archers further away.

http://makeagif.com/i/kBYKH4

You might have to zoom out to view it.