cav charge: reflections

[Giurza]

ok... this is my first post since I got my hands on the game. and I've been playing the game, I've been reading stuff on TWC and comparing my own experience with that of others.
the following conclusions may be somewhat doublepost, but this is ment to be my two pense.
first off with the cavalry charges.
I read many stuff about cav charges... that they are bugged that it is impossible to accomplish one, that cavalry acts like stupid ****, that unit cohesion is terrible...
my own opinion is as follows:
cavalry charge issue has been approached from tataly new point of view in this franchise and I like it. I like it more over because it is very realistic. I guess I am destroying my sceptic image but... the only bug that is making cavalry somewhat unusable is they pursuing cohesion and pursuing action overall. otherwise cavalry charge micromanaging is very good. I found that very challenging and realistic. so thumbs up for CA for this new feature
the one really annoying bug is when enemy is sieging you and you destroy all of theirs wall attacking equipment... the lag that follows is gamebreaking. after sitting for one hour and waiting for enemy to try to reach the top of the wall with their ladders (0,5 fps) was enough for me. i never play sieges now...

[Scarlett Letterman]

Yeah a "feature" CA didn't bother explaining to the community at all, not even in the manual. Not exactly an easter egg imo.

Its a bug, but this edit community is turning it into a feature that CA now only has to 'tweak' in the patch.

Please, try pulling off a successful cav charge in a siege, or on a slope, its impossible.



edited by H.A.

[Aldaris]

Well, then I am part of the "idiot community" that likes the new mechanic. I agree with the OP that the cohesion is buggy, but once you have figured out how charges work, they work. On slopes too, btw. It's just an additional check you do on the terrain when the enemy closes or vice versa: where is a good, clean runup for my cavalry?

[alanschu]

Yeah a "feature" CA didn't bother explaining to the community at all, not even in the manual. Not exactly an easter egg imo.

Its a bug, but this edit community is turning it into a feature that CA now only has to 'tweak' in the patch.

Please, try pulling off a successful cav charge in a siege, or on a slope, its impossible.



edited by H.A.

I did a successful one in a siege, though it was in the town square which is nice and open.

[Remo]

Feature..........

"Feature" my big sausage 'eatin texan ass!

[Insertion]

Karma for finding the good in the new mechanic. I like it too!

[Wurfspiess]

They explained it how it works on their website (srory but i dunno how to make links)

They claim that it is a feature but it needs some tweaking
/shrugs

[Scarlett Letterman]

They explained it how it works on their website (srory but i dunno how to make links)

They claim that it is a feature but it needs some tweaking
/shrugs

that explanation (the one in the blog i assume your referring to) came, what, two-three weeks after release?

"Oh by the way, about that feature you clever buggers discovered, here's how it works..." yeah ok

[Wurfspiess]

that explanation (the one in the blog i assume your referring to) came, what, two-three weeks after release?

"Oh by the way, about that feature you clever buggers discovered, here's how it works..." yeah ok

Hey i didnt say its the truth
they also claimed first that the load/siege bug is a feature in RTW

but after all i think it could be a bugged feature

[Ironside]

Don’t know if it is a bug or a feature but I like it when you can pull it off, very rewarding. Only thing I have a doubt about is if the AI plays by the same rules. Seen the enemy turn on a dime no more than twenty feet from my front line and charge in with full force. No line up or waiting for the right wind direction just turn and smash

[God-Emperor of Mankind]

Hey i didnt say its the truth
they also claimed first that the load/siege bug is a feature in RTW

but after all i think it could be a bugged feature

The load/seige bug thing was never a feature and the whole uproar over it was because some people misread.
The post in question simply stated how things was suppose to work, not that it worked which the post clearly stated that the mechanic did not work as intended. And of course in the readme for 1.3 they clearly stated load/save bug, not much of a feature then huh.

[Oracle]

Sorry but I don't see how 300+ heavy cavalry charging straight towards a thin line of peasant archers and then instead of punching through them like an heavily armored fast moving object would against anything that's not a solid wall of spear tips, they slow down and stop, while the first ranks engage in hand to hand combat of swords vs ****ing knives. Please explain how that's "very realistic".

Cos that's precisely what happens on many many occasions whatever the terrain.

Now you can argue it's a matter of training and experience but honestly, just how much training does a horse rider need to run towards a stationary target and keep running until it's putty under the hooves?


Bring back the RTW cavalry charges I say, as it is they're no better than a bunch of fast moving armored swordsman.

[Stalins Ghost]

I like the feature. A lot actually. It's far more realistic, and its one of those little realism enhancing extras that they shouldn't have to point at with massive arrows.

That said, it is bugged. They've said its bugged themselves!

[Inhuman One]

Knights were supposed to dominate the battlefields though and right now they really arent. I think they should be made stronger and more expensive, with stronger I mean a better chance for a charge.

[Ringeck]

The idea of forcing the player to line up his charges are a good idea. The implementation is less good (to put it mildly). Let's hope they fix it in the patch.

[Stalins Ghost]

Knights were supposed to dominate the battlefields though and right now they really arent. I think they should be made stronger and more expensive, with stronger I mean a better chance for a charge.

I tend to disagree; they seem a bit too powerful in my eyes! I'd prefer to see them do less damage - I'm fed up of seeing whole units of infantry destroyed instantly by a head on charge on their prepared line. That said, they do seem to die to easily in the charge. I'd rather see them do less damage but being more resilient.

[Inhuman One]

Getting the cavalry in line is important but there shouldnt be much more to it.

[Aldaris]

Erm... IS there much more to it?
That seems to pretty much do the trick for me, provided the enemy doesn't move away.

[Manji]

I'll have to disagree; the whole point of heavy cavalry is to "charge home", historically and game wise, not to charge home the stop and attack with swords. I've had some knights charging downhill towards unarmored target, spears down, and then they just stop and the front units attack... if that's not a bug then I don't know what it is.
If they wanted to tweak cavalry then they should have made deal less damage not remove or overall complicate their main strength.

[the Black Prince]

if the changes they'd made actually worked properly, perhaps it would be regarded as a good feature.


but as it styands right now, new feature or not, its also bugged. you have to babysit each individual unit of cavalry to make them do anything... no more overall battlegfield tactics, you need to keep a close eye on what your horsemen are doing to make sure they don't do anything stupid.

even if you get them charging they simply do not charge home at least half the time, and the slightest smallest thing in the terrain can cause them to break charge. i find it hard to believe a major cavalry charge of armoured knights could be interupted along the entire line by a single small bush. but so it seems.

worse yet, the charge seems reliant on the enemy standing still and doing nothing. if i were a bunch of peasants and saw knights charging me, i'd run too... but even if the enemy simply gives a new movement order and starts his unit marching somewhere, that breaks the charge, the cavalry switch to pursuit mode, which they do (badly) with swords and then get bogged down in melee once they hit the unit, and get masacred because they never charged.


if a charge works, its powerful. it really is, and thats right and proper, a properly executed cavalry charge was a damn powerful weapon in medieval warfare.

but
in the game, uissues with charging, all the things that need to be in place for a charge to work properly, including AI co-operation, plus the additional effects of the unit cohesion bug and the engagement bug mean that cavalry charges rarely do work as they are supposed to