How to do cavalry in 1.4.1

[DooomRider]

Hi guys & gals,

First time posting, I just wanted to ask your thoughts on an all-cavalry force playthrough?

I've started a new save, (not my first playthrough) made my own new banner based on Grimbold's banner from Lord of the rings and started to try and use only cavalry, but I'm struggling;
1) Which units should I be using? (I'm trying to avoid Khuzait and Aserai as they don't fit the Rohirrim aesthetic that I'm aiming for) I've recently just lost my entire army and trying to rebuild
2) I need cheap horses and warhorses for my units to advance is there anywhere that is consistently cheap?
3) Are javelin cavalry worth it? they appear to be acting more like horse archers now but I'm unsure if they are the way forward (I have throwing weapons tweaks mod which makes javelins super scary)

Any help would be appreciated

 

[arsenic_vengeur]

Get rid of theis Rohirrim idea imo, it won't get you far. The Rohirrim aesthetics looks a bit like Sturgia or Battania but these factions have the worst cav.

Javelin cavalry is very bad, it is a problem of tempo, because when you order your cav to charge you want them to do it ASAP, all together, in a mass. The jav cav will instead skirmish a bit and then charge 1 by 1 and die. The only way I would see them useful is with a lot of micro, having ONLY jav cav, not mixed with bow cavalry or shock cavalry and 1) have them attack the rear of enemy and send their hundreds of javs, 2) charge all together.
For that I would go with Sturgian they have 2 jav cav in their roster instead of just 1 in the Battanian. The desert mercenaries also have some cool jav cav or jav camels.

You get cheap horses and warhorses in Khuzait territory, the southern most and the northern most area. Then you use the battle loot.

 

[DooomRider]

Thanks for your reply,

Honestly I was thinking of sticking my jav cav in a separate formation to use as support for heavy shock cavalry. Would you suggest vlandian cav as shock then? are vanguards any good? Sorry for the million questions but I'm trying to get an idea of what to do next.

 

[HalfMetalJacket]

I will say that javelin cavalry are no real use against infantry, but they do come into their own when you use them to intercept enemy horse archers. Sturgian Horse Raiders will do this better than Battanian Mounted Skirmishers, but Aserai Vanguard Faris are the best at it. Of course, the Aserai Aesthetic does not fit.

I would personally suggest modding in your very own Rohirrim if you really want them. Get notepad++, take either Addonay's Troop Changer or Argalord's Custom Troop Template, learn how to edit XML, mix and match some equipment, and try make your very own Rohirrim army. Otherwise, you will have to go for Vlandia or Imperials for cavalry.

 

[arsenic_vengeur]

Thanks for your reply,

Honestly I was thinking of sticking my jav cav in a separate formation to use as support for heavy shock cavalry. Would you suggest vlandian cav as shock then? are vanguards any good? Sorry for the million questions but I'm trying to get an idea of what to do next.

There is a guide around ranking the best units for each role. I didnt check myself but the guide ranks the vanguard as pretty bad. I use them sometimes from prisoners but i dont bother to recruit and train them. Best heavy cav is noble cav, i take any of these aserai imperial vlandian sturgian... check these druzinik cavalry they look pretty Rohirim to my standards if you have to start from scratch maybe vanguard and jhuzait lancer is the only and best choice. I personnally starts with archer heavy army and then recruit more and more noble cav from prisoners.

 

[Goods]

Aesthetics aside, even battania scouts are fine cavalry. Yeah, cav X has 40 more armor and cav Y's sword does 8 more damage, but the skills are similar and you won't notice much of a difference when you're riding down archers and crashing into the backs of infantry. The biggest difference comes when they are dismounted.

Use whatever you like, they all get the job done. A tip for mid to late game is to capture bandits. The various different types upgrade into the noble line of the corresponding culture. With a big army you can get groups of 10 or more to instantly join your army.

As for the rest, in battanian country, one of the towns frequently has dozens of battania horses for 50-70 sense. The khuzait are a pretty reliable source of warhorses. I like javelin cav fine. I wouldn't go out of my way to get them as archers are better, but if you play sturgia they are good at distracting other cav and disrupting archers... and they're all you get until you can farm sea bandits for druzhinnik.

 

[Capillati]

I do cav only armies. Horse Archers from khuzaits early and mid game untill I`m ready to start conquering cities. Then I switch to Aserai Mameluks. As for counter horse archer tactics, I keep like 15-20% of Aserai Farids or Imperial cataphracts but I don`t rely on them very much as horse archers will do just as good of a job of killing other horse archers, just move them to your leftmost part of your flank, that`s where the AI sends his horse archers on the suicide mission, it will cause both groups to bog down and start meleeing each other most of the time, after which I just send the farids or cataphracts to charghe and it`s job done real quick.

 

[hruza]

1) Which units should I be using? (I'm trying to avoid Khuzait and Aserai as they don't fit the Rohirrim aesthetic that I'm aiming for) I've recently just lost my entire army and trying to rebuild

Sturgian units would fit aesthetically the best. But as for actual effect in the game, it does not matter.

2) I need cheap horses and warhorses for my units to advance is there anywhere that is consistently cheap?

Cheapest horses are in the Asseray villages.

3) Are javelin cavalry worth it? they appear to be acting more like horse archers now but I'm unsure if they are the way forward (I have throwing weapons tweaks mod which makes javelins super scary)

They are definitely worth it. The best variants are i my opinion ones with spear/javelin combination. Do no about mod you're using.