I have been having a ton of issues lately with teams taking 3-6 cav players, am I doing something massively wrong or are they as overpowered as they feel. It seems that whenever I see a premade clan playing they run minimum 3 cav which feels very different from how warband worked? My spear doesnt feel like it can compete with a couched lance even when aiming to rear the horse. Even when I successfully rear the horse I often just die to the lance anyhow.
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Nantafiria
Recruit
Cav is weaker in captain mode, but only because the cavalry AI is terrible at its job. Agreed that cav is too good in the other gamemodes for sure
Spears need to actually function like spears.
I find that option being the only option to be false...
Inf and Ranged have a lot of tools available to them to counter cav. Majority of players simply don't know when to target the horse and when to target the player, and waste their opportunities.
If you're Ranged, you should be shooting horses (particularly in the head if possible). Cav are only superior while on their horse. You take their horse, their weapons and maneuverability as infantry are trash.
If you're Infantry- you should not be playing without Javs or a Spear (preferably Spear). Either Jav the horse til it dismounts the rider, or play chicken vs them, spear in hand. When they approach- Spear the horse so it rears upward, THEN spear the rider. Rinse & repeat while watching your back/other angles for sneaky archers and other inf/cav. Spearing a charging cav simply comes down to timing. More often that not, a Cav's reach will not exceed your own (Unless they have spec'd for it, and even then it's really not that much more). With the right timing, you will make contact with the horses face before they are close enough to make contact with your body. It also helps to mix up your strafing to inevitably end up on the opposing side of the horse than that of the Cav's spear (Spear's are held in cav's right-hand, so you wanna be on the right-side of a horse charging you when they are closing in)
You should not be wasting the space you have trying to shoot the rider. Engage the rider when the gap has been closed, resume jabbing away at the horse when they back off.
Obviously there are instances where you deviate from these guidelines- it all comes down to who you are vs'ing, and how they are coming at you.
Inf and Ranged have a lot of tools available to them to counter cav. Majority of players simply don't know when to target the horse and when to target the player, and waste their opportunities.
If you're Ranged, you should be shooting horses (particularly in the head if possible). Cav are only superior while on their horse. You take their horse, their weapons and maneuverability as infantry are trash.
If you're Infantry- you should not be playing without Javs or a Spear (preferably Spear). Either Jav the horse til it dismounts the rider, or play chicken vs them, spear in hand. When they approach- Spear the horse so it rears upward, THEN spear the rider. Rinse & repeat while watching your back/other angles for sneaky archers and other inf/cav. Spearing a charging cav simply comes down to timing. More often that not, a Cav's reach will not exceed your own (Unless they have spec'd for it, and even then it's really not that much more). With the right timing, you will make contact with the horses face before they are close enough to make contact with your body. It also helps to mix up your strafing to inevitably end up on the opposing side of the horse than that of the Cav's spear (Spear's are held in cav's right-hand, so you wanna be on the right-side of a horse charging you when they are closing in)
You should not be wasting the space you have trying to shoot the rider. Engage the rider when the gap has been closed, resume jabbing away at the horse when they back off.
Obviously there are instances where you deviate from these guidelines- it all comes down to who you are vs'ing, and how they are coming at you.
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Nantafiria
Recruit
Only a certifiable idiot of an cavalryman is going to engage you head-on. The clever ones pick glaives or other long polearms while knowing that their reach outweighs yours, and then proceed to swipe your way while steering their horses to the side.
More often than not, decent sound and gamesense will give away a horse approaching you. You should always (when plausible) be ready to protect your back. Glaives and Spears can also both be blocked, Spears being easier (when not being couched) only needing a downward block. Glaives are pretty bad in CQC; push into 2-handers on horseback vs giving them the space to swing.
I'm not arguing that 2-handed cav isn't broken right now (it is on a lot of levels), but to say they are unbeatable/impossible is an overstatement.
it takes around 10 arrows to put down a horse. If hes not retarded and runs around in ur face...then ur chance to kill it is very slim
more like 5 arrows unless ur sturgia (which is less than warband). alternatively 2 headshots
on a heavy horse with barding, it took 3-5 hits in warband
yes. I played knight yesterday and a battanian archer headshot my horse for half the HP
i meant a normal bow, battania got low attack speed. Well i dont feel like archers should get buffed vs horses. The problem are the new cav mechanics that made it hard for infantry to punish them for mistakes. Their tankiness just makes matters worse isnt the root of the problem though, but will definetly help.yes. I played knight yesterday and a battanian archer headshot my horse for half the HP
The new cav without being cced when bumping into something is without doubt far better in sp. For AI behaviour aswell, to prevent them gettting stuck on random obstacles.
The acceleration and slow down are fun mechanics to play with aswell.
+1
Cavalry are really tanky, I've seen so many heavy cav charge straight through the enemy spawn on Xauna. Even infantry with spears can't stop them from just charging through even in a tight space like that. Actually, infantry with spears are just really weak against heavy cavalry in general. I think heavy horses should be less tanky.
Cavalry isn’t very hard to counter. Horse archers are tougher IMO. Archers counter cav especially if they’re in a spot cav cannot reach easily. There are spots on every map where and archer can hide and shoot down enemy horses. Also spears are very important in your teams composition. If you get swamped by cav one round and you aren’t prepared the next round, your team is just bad. Your up attack with a spear outreaches a couched lance. I play cav a lot and it’s still pretty wonky.
Horses are way too tough, and in general spears need to be made good again - not only against horses. It's no coincidence that the spear was the main weapon through the history of mankind. More often than not now it damages around 5-25 depending on your range and movement, which is way too low compared to other weapons - oftentimes also resulting in no stun, so you will get hit in return if they can reach you.
I very often find myself stabbing a fully charging horse (people have learnt not to fear spears) that then takes around 60 damage (which is ridiculous) rears, then if I stab it again it takes about 20-25 damage each time, which means it simply rides off again. Utterly stupid.
If spears could be braced, that would also be an improvement. Horses riding into a braced spear should be completely dead...
I very often find myself stabbing a fully charging horse (people have learnt not to fear spears) that then takes around 60 damage (which is ridiculous) rears, then if I stab it again it takes about 20-25 damage each time, which means it simply rides off again. Utterly stupid.
If spears could be braced, that would also be an improvement. Horses riding into a braced spear should be completely dead...
+1 the idea of having braced spears- it'd add a great dynamic to Inf like cav has couching. I'd even take a movement penalty for it.
PW let you brace pikes. I liked the feature a lot. You couldn't move while doing it which is a fair trade-off. Was useful hiding around corners catching cav if they were running past too fast.
