Currently each cavalry unit will need a normal horse as soon as the unit is upgraded from the infantry tier to the first cavalry tier. Additionally a war horse is needed as soon as the cavalry unit has enough experience to level up.
The current problem lies in the different tiers for the different units where a war horse is needed at the moment. For example the Vlandian noble line needs a war horse to upgrade from tier 4 to tier 5. The Imperial Cataphract uses the war horse to advance from tier 3 to tier 4. This can have different consequences to the availability and cost of war horses and also the hiring cost of the units. The villages will have at a maximum a tier 4 unit for hire. So hiring a Vlandian Knight will cost the same as hiring an Imperial cavalry unit at tier 4, but the Imperial unit does not need an additional war horse for the further upgrades, whereas the Knight will need a war horse for the next upgrade.
As far as I know the current availability of noble troops (Beta 1.6.4) is not equivalent to the finished version of the game (you can really hire a lot of them without a problem at the moment). But nevertheless you need to spent a lot more denars to upgrade the Vlandian noble troops if you hire them, compared to the Imperial noble troops hired at tier 4. The next problem is the availability of war horses: as you can lead a lot of noble troops at the moment in the field, but you can not get a lot of war horses in Vlandia (in this example).
This problem will also be much more serious if lords will need the horses for their own unit upgrades.
As a consequence I would propose to change all noble line cavalry troops to need a war horse for the upgrade from tier 4 to tier 5. In turn this would also mean that the Sturgian noble line ditches the required horse to upgrade from 4 to 5 and instead simply uses the war horse (without requiring another war horse at the upgrade from 5 to 6). Additionally you could also adjust the hiring price of the Battanian archers, so that they are a little bit more expensive to hire, although not as high as a cavalry troop.
Another way to solve this dilemma would be to ramp up the war horse production of the various producing villages. Especially if you still plan to introduce the stable workshop that will convert horses to higher tier horses, thus enabling the purchase of the currently unavailable horses like the Destrier.
The current problem lies in the different tiers for the different units where a war horse is needed at the moment. For example the Vlandian noble line needs a war horse to upgrade from tier 4 to tier 5. The Imperial Cataphract uses the war horse to advance from tier 3 to tier 4. This can have different consequences to the availability and cost of war horses and also the hiring cost of the units. The villages will have at a maximum a tier 4 unit for hire. So hiring a Vlandian Knight will cost the same as hiring an Imperial cavalry unit at tier 4, but the Imperial unit does not need an additional war horse for the further upgrades, whereas the Knight will need a war horse for the next upgrade.
As far as I know the current availability of noble troops (Beta 1.6.4) is not equivalent to the finished version of the game (you can really hire a lot of them without a problem at the moment). But nevertheless you need to spent a lot more denars to upgrade the Vlandian noble troops if you hire them, compared to the Imperial noble troops hired at tier 4. The next problem is the availability of war horses: as you can lead a lot of noble troops at the moment in the field, but you can not get a lot of war horses in Vlandia (in this example).
This problem will also be much more serious if lords will need the horses for their own unit upgrades.
As a consequence I would propose to change all noble line cavalry troops to need a war horse for the upgrade from tier 4 to tier 5. In turn this would also mean that the Sturgian noble line ditches the required horse to upgrade from 4 to 5 and instead simply uses the war horse (without requiring another war horse at the upgrade from 5 to 6). Additionally you could also adjust the hiring price of the Battanian archers, so that they are a little bit more expensive to hire, although not as high as a cavalry troop.
Another way to solve this dilemma would be to ramp up the war horse production of the various producing villages. Especially if you still plan to introduce the stable workshop that will convert horses to higher tier horses, thus enabling the purchase of the currently unavailable horses like the Destrier.
