I think there are some distinct balancing issues with regard to heavy cav, namely their armour values particularly with regard to the horse armour. In all factions except Battania, the horse can get close to 50 armour (45-49) whilst the rider gets 32-50. This creates an extremely tanky unit with little equal - in Vlandia, Khuzait, and Azerai this is more than the infantry. The Vlandian Knight rider is tied for the best armour in the game, with only the Empire Legionary matching it, and the Knight gets an entire horse with 49 armour on top.
The slight extra expense for these units, in my view, does not account for the huge extra utility and tankyness you gain by taking them. Further, there seems to be little downside - in most cases, the overall speed of the horse is either the same or only slightly less than the unarmoured horses either in the lower tier class, or via different perks. It would seem intuitive to me that a very armoured horse would be much slower and so vulnerable on the battlefield, but able to tank damage and knock down enemies, whilst a fast and lightly armoured horse would be better at hit and runs and repositioning. Instead, what we have is a straight upgrade with only slightly more cost.
There is also the extra utility inherent to cav to take into account, namely:
-being able to move across the battlefield quickly and help multiple fights/capture flags
-couched damage instakills, full speed stabs can often 1 shot or do over 50% health damage, and gets a bonus vs armour, stabs can be spammed
-knocking down enemies
-horse hitpoints effectively add to your own healthpool unless the rider is specifically targeted, primarily only ranged units can do this consistently (exception here currently is that it is extremely easy to hit the rider's legs by accident and do heavy damage - this sort of "balances" things, but I don't think it's good gameplay)
All this for an extra 40-50 gold.
From a purely stats-perspective and from a gameplay mechanics perspective, cav currently outclasses every other class on the field, and is a very forgiving class overall due to the shorter window for rearing with a spear and no punishment for riding into walls or friendly units (often just moving them out the way which is disruptive to them).
IMO cav needs to be rebalanced from the ground up - how armour buffs it as a unit is extreme, and how it plays mechanically is too influential for its cost.
The slight extra expense for these units, in my view, does not account for the huge extra utility and tankyness you gain by taking them. Further, there seems to be little downside - in most cases, the overall speed of the horse is either the same or only slightly less than the unarmoured horses either in the lower tier class, or via different perks. It would seem intuitive to me that a very armoured horse would be much slower and so vulnerable on the battlefield, but able to tank damage and knock down enemies, whilst a fast and lightly armoured horse would be better at hit and runs and repositioning. Instead, what we have is a straight upgrade with only slightly more cost.
There is also the extra utility inherent to cav to take into account, namely:
-being able to move across the battlefield quickly and help multiple fights/capture flags
-couched damage instakills, full speed stabs can often 1 shot or do over 50% health damage, and gets a bonus vs armour, stabs can be spammed
-knocking down enemies
-horse hitpoints effectively add to your own healthpool unless the rider is specifically targeted, primarily only ranged units can do this consistently (exception here currently is that it is extremely easy to hit the rider's legs by accident and do heavy damage - this sort of "balances" things, but I don't think it's good gameplay)
All this for an extra 40-50 gold.
From a purely stats-perspective and from a gameplay mechanics perspective, cav currently outclasses every other class on the field, and is a very forgiving class overall due to the shorter window for rearing with a spear and no punishment for riding into walls or friendly units (often just moving them out the way which is disruptive to them).
IMO cav needs to be rebalanced from the ground up - how armour buffs it as a unit is extreme, and how it plays mechanically is too influential for its cost.
