How to use Calvary Efficiently?

**Jackster** · February 12, 2007, 03:19 AM

Well, after all the bugs have been fixed (They charge when i tell them to, no shield bug and crap) My Knights still doesnt do well against... well things that i want it to kill.
It quite rediculous that my heavily armor knights cant break some swordsmen militia in battle.
Is there anyway to use calvalry without massive casualties?
Or are they best as sacrificial units ?

**Prince Constantius** · February 12, 2007, 03:32 AM

When using heavy cavalry, there are three important rules.
1.Charge Frontage
2.Formation
3.Impetus
Charge Frontage is dictated by where you cavalry charge, and what unit they are facing. Units who are engaged but have exposed enough flank for all your lances to impact upon for example,are a good target.
Sometimes if you engage targets that are prepared for you and in guard mode,can hold for an unbelievable amount of time.
I did this with my dis. English Knights at Agincourt and only lost sixty or so men against the forst wave of Gendarmes cavalry.
If you can charge tied up vulnerable units, or units that are below numerical strength.
2. Remember to use wedge formation where possible,and to attack on the narrowest frontage, a flank or corner of enemy units are a fine example.
However when charging head-on, wedge formation negates a full strength impetus, so change back to normal formation.
3.If your Knights are reeling from a previous charge,don't let them immediately consolidate into the nearest unbroken unit.
Have them veer out of combat, choose a different frontage from afar,and charge in,gaining the impetus needed for your cavalry's lances to work to maximum efficiency.
Like a sniper(corny comparison,huh?) target,eliminate then relocate before drawing a bead on your next victim(s)

Happy to be of service
Prince Constantius

**silverchickensofdoom** · February 12, 2007, 03:40 AM

About whats the distance you need for an effective charge?

**parvus** · February 12, 2007, 03:42 AM

mmm not very long. about 20 rows of men distance away

**Prince Constantius** · February 12, 2007, 03:51 AM

Thanks Town Watch, forgot about that.
Personally do you have any eccentric or special cavalry tactics you use,and with which unit?
Always pleased to learn, send your reply.

Constantius

Burn the witch,cleanse the heretic!
-Witch Hunters warcry

**Town Watch** · February 12, 2007, 03:37 AM

You should ungroup your cavalry always when charging, because if the cavalry are in one huge group and you order them to charge, then some units will stupidly choose a different target for their charge. This is a built in feature...

And when withdrawing your knights from the battle, double click them away one by one.

When you capture routers, just click ahead the enemy in a straight line towards where the enemy is fleeing. When your knights are in the middle of the enemy, click attack.

**Snipafist** · February 12, 2007, 09:18 AM

The Romans used Calvary pretty effectively. Great place for executions. I mean they even killed Jesus there! Pretty mean place. So if you want to use Calvary effectively, just think "what would the Romans do?".

Oh, or use a spellchecker.

**Serious Spamurai** · February 12, 2007, 04:45 PM

Originally Posted by Snipafist

The Romans used Calvary pretty effectively. Great place for executions. I mean they even killed Jesus there! Pretty mean place. So if you want to use Calvary effectively, just think "what would the Romans do?".

Oh, or use a spellchecker.

Lol, made me laugh. One of my favourite ways of using cavalry is to charge a unit in the enemy line at an angle almost parallel to it, if done correctly it smashes into the enemies line and carries on along it, using this with 33 men (general's bodyguard) I killed/routed about 300 enemy infantry, got a screenie somewhere.

**Mega Dux Bob** · February 12, 2007, 04:38 PM

I have no idea about the complaints about knights being ineffective: I have found you can just walk knights into most infantry and the knight will win the fight. Blade infantry is just plane dead against knights. The only draw back to walking in is it will take a while.

Used properly from what I have seen; strait charge at a gallop and then move threw the target unit after contact knights are just devastating. I've caused the AI armies to collapse into a chain rout at the first contact when I do it right. The only foot that can stop them is pikes. Now if Darth or somebody could come up with a mod to get the AI to use its' horse to protect the pike’s flanks and support the pikes with missile troops, that would be something.

**Jackster** · February 12, 2007, 05:59 PM

really? i think my knights start dying in rapid rate everytime they stop and start swinging at people.
Like two groups of Knights Hospitaller cannot beat a group of D-Norman Knghts

**Ulazlo the Warmonger** · February 12, 2007, 08:45 PM

Yes if you have a cavalry unit that has a lance as its primary weapon do not let it get stuck in the middle of a horde of units! Cavalry are meant to go around the flanks, charge them, retreat and regroup, and charge again. As long is the enemy is not facing you, and you have good cavalry, you should not even lose one man per charge and easily kill 60 dismounted feudal knights

**Ippius** · February 12, 2007, 11:39 PM

Well a good charge can kill an entire squad. U just have to charge in the right area and have a fully formed up formation. Its quit hard to not lose a guy though becuase even if the enemy doesnt lay a hand on u, well ur cavalry charge, some of them die on impact due to the sheer resistance of enemy bodies in front of them.

**parvus** · February 12, 2007, 11:46 PM

when dread generals charge all hell breaks loose!

**Zhou** · February 12, 2007, 11:59 PM

I think that there is a current problem in which most players are comparing charging in M2TW with charging in RTW. Given the changed dynamics in the two games, such a comparison is not quite valid. In RTW, it was often better to charge the flanks and rear of the enemy as oftentimes frontal charges did not work well. However, such is not the case in M2TW. Here's a quick 3 step procedure to ensure that your charges work close to 100% of the time:

1) Line up your heavy cavalry parallel to the enemy formation.

2) Wait until ALL MOVEMENT HAS STOPPED from your cavalry (the single/double triangles on the unit card disappears).

3) Either single or double (right) click on an enemy unit.

This will ensure the destruction of that unit almost all of the time. There are instances in which your cavalry will stumble such as if the enemy unit shifts its direction of march at the last minute or if your cavalry encounters "obstacles" before the charge (such as routing enemy units). If the enemy unit counter-charges successfully, the effectiveness of your charge will also be reduced, but not completely negated.

In contrast to RTW, full frontal charges are better for M2TW because of devastation that your heavy cavalry can cause. Yes, they will take plenty of casualties if you have unexperienced troops. However, I have noticed that experienced units (like my 3 gold chevron knights) tend to have less casualties from charging enemy formations compared to inexperienced units. Fortunately, because of jousting lists and the fact that capturing routing units/successful charging greatly increases experience, your units will soon have enough experience so that a successful charge may only cost you ~6-10 knights (supposing that you play on Huge where a unit card of Knights = 80 men), which is not an unacceptablely high number of casualties when you consider the fact that you can easily destroy a full unit of dismounted feudal/chivalric knights (120) with a successful charge.

**andystyle** · February 13, 2007, 09:15 AM

Not sure if it's implied in this thread, but what I do is draw my cavalry out into the longest possible line - in other words, for a stack of 80 men it would be 40 men long and 2 deep.

I line up the horses directly opposite the enemy - useful enough if they're approaching but it comes into its own when the infantry are slugging it out. I run the cav into position, let them form up and then SINGLE right-click the enemy.

The cav trots forward and when it is very close, drops lances and then charges. I guess the idea is that heavy horse is like Gimli...dangerous over short distances only.

The best way to perfect this is to practice in custom battles. Try it with some cav against some infantry and double-click attack one time, single click the next. You'll see the difference yourself.

An extra benefit with the wide line is that the cav can potentially hit more than one enemy unit at a time if they're engaged. Remember and get your horse out of there ASAP though...rinse and repeat.

**Jackster** · February 14, 2007, 12:55 AM

i am not sure if this is true, but cavalry seem to be effect by the unit size more so than other unit.
On Huge, the Casualty they take is quite small compare to what they kill, but on lower sizes, their units die out a lot sooner.
about comparing RTW and MTW2, i think its reasonable that cavalry is tougher on charge due to new inventions, better horse and better equipments.