apz2488 said:
Yeah I don't expect to be as good right away, and I realize this game has a steep learning curve, I just seem having problem landing any blows with my lance. (I tend to use a regular or heavy lance because great lances are too slow, I never hit anything.
If I don't catch infantry off guard, its almost impossible to hit them with it.. even if they don't have a shield. I guess these guys are just good, But I whiff a lot in single player too.. so I you guys are right, I need to play more.
When fighting infantry.. is it better to do counterclockwise circles and thrust to my left.. or clockwise and thrust to my right? Im assuming I have more reach to the right?
thanks again
If you are a lance cav and you're up against infantry, you'll want to mostly do ride-bys instead of close quarters fighting. You lance outranges most weapons infantrymen have access to, so whether you'll hit them is usually entirely depending on how well you control your movement and how accurate you thrust your lance. If you execute perfectly, unless the infantry has a pike or bamboo spear or something anti-cav, all he can do is block.
Every lance has a lag time between you releasing the mouse and your character actually thrusting it to its maximum length. You'll want to time it so that by the time you are passing by the infantry, your lance is at the maximum reach of its thrust. If you think in these terms, the great lance's slowness shouldn't be a problem, it just means you need to predict your thrust more in advance. You release it early, then direct it into the enemy as you go forward.
At the same time, you'll want to minimize the likelihood of your horse or you getting hit (either due to you missing your target or simply due to his weapon being long). This is why you want to be as far away from your target (while still within range of your lance) as possible when passing by the infantry. This is the reason why most decent cav players pull their horse to the side just as they ride by and thrust.
As you engage the infantry in the ride-by, you need to make good judgment on whether you'll win the encounter. If your aim is good and he doesn't have anti-cav weapons, you'll win. If your aim is off due to bad angle or riding by too close, you'll lose. If your aim is good but he has a pike and also ready to attack you, you'll probably lose. If your aim is good, he has a pike, but isn't in the attack position yet, then it's a close call... etc... make this judgment! If you don't feel confident enough to win the round, you can always pull away at the last minute. Your horse is fast, so usually you get to choose what happens and the infantry is forced to react. A good cav player makes good judgment on whether a round can be won or whether he should pull away and try again.
It is extremely difficult to play lance cavalry well with a bad ping, more so than playing infantry or archer well as far as I know.
When fighting against another lance cavalry, one rule I've found to be very reliable is simply that, you'll win the round if you release your lance earlier than your opponent does, and you'll lose the round if you release your lance later than your opponent does, so what you do is you release the lance, if it turns out that you did it first, go ahead and strike. If you did it just after your opponent did, then raise your shield and defend. This is assuming that both of you are using the same lance, otherwise, the longer lance has the advantage and the shorter lance need to rely more on maneuvering and surprise. This also work against pikemen (provided that your lance is similar in length to his pike), although the fact that you're a larger target means they have an inherent advantage. But usually, you have a chance if you released your lance before he released his pike. Otherwise, you're pretty much dead meat in a direct encounter.
Couched lance give you a sure kill if you can land it, but it's risky and landing a hit can be difficult. Personally I don't think it's worth it, so I never do it, but because of this I don't have much couched experience, and players who use couched lance a lot may say otherwise and provide another POV.
As a cavalry player, movement is your best defense. You're usually safe as long as your horse is moving, but if your horse stops, you're open to all sorts of threat. This is why it is very crucial to be able to maneuver around rough terrain and battlefields and not run into any obstacles or unseen threats. Awareness is very important. Since you're moving so fast, you better know what you're running into.
With a fast and agile horse (e.g. Sarranid), you can usually intelligently zigzag your way and dodge most arrowfire as you approach a lone enemy archer. Up close, you can use your horse to bump him repeatedly until he draws his sword, in which case your lance has the advantage. Against multiple archers who are all aware of you, especially when they're all on a hill, is usually suicide.
Lastly, unless it's a duel, there's nothing wrong with backstabbing people, especially in team games. You backstabbing them means they lack awareness, which is their problem.