I didn't state there was anything wrong with Theory crafting, I just think there could be a different thread for it as this thread is related purely to Calvary and issues with it. When you start adding in archers or various nuanced situations, that changes the initial discussion of the thread. It's fine to discuss the issues, but it's probably best reserved for another thread when you start delving into the many variables and strategies a player might use in a given a situation.
That is my mistake, tonality can be hard to detect in written word.
You're probably right this should be discussed in a seperate thread, but after looking at the plethora of abandoned cavalry discussions and threads I thought keeping the conversation at least somewhat active in a single place would encourage more inputs from different perspectives yet to be heard, if there are any left.
Also if your team has just you and one other person, the rest of your team is dead, and you're surrounded by archers and Cav, they have the last flag ticking down, then it sounds that simply the opposing team has all but won the round. The options at that point are to try and at least get a kill before the round ends if it isn't the final match to cost the team some gold to spawn next round or withdraw and try to stay alive to not feed the other team some gold. If it's the final round, might as well try to valiantly make a stand to get an extra kill or two before it ends.
The daunting prospect of the theoretical combination is it is unfortunatley irrelevant if there are two, four or six of you together. The situation remains the same as long as archers/cavalry are in equal number to you, your mobility is too slow to catch either cav nor archer if in combination, your attention is split leaving you open to rear strikes and arrows, and if you strike at a heavy horse you'll be lucky to do 1/4 rider/horse health whilst once again, exposing yourself to arrows.
That is to say, this theory crafting on these specific situations does not address the inherent issues with Cav as it's already setting up advantageous situations for them. If a team has an advantageous situation against the opposing team, unless the other team is more skilled or the team with the advantageous situation is highly incompetent, then they should win, it's an advantage afterall. I don't think we should be theory crafting ideas to nerf classes into the ground to have a disadvantage when in an advantageous position to gain an edge, that will make the class perform much worse when in situations on even footing.
I'd have to disagree here. Context is everything, and the disturbing prospect is any situation is at least indifferent for cavalry, if not advantageous. For example, a Knight and Spear Sergeant's duel will probably end in stagnation until one's attention slips and they get stabbed.
Now, have the same situation of equal competency between Knight and Spear Sergeant. Except, now there is a seperate duel happening 10 yards away.
-A-
If the Knight has greater competency he'll run down the Spear Sergeant and then probably run to the other duel to assist his team mate.
-B-
If at equal competency, either Knight hits sergeant (50 dmg range) Sergeant or the Sergeant pokes the knight (30 dmg range). If the Sergeant gets stabbed, he has to stand and fight. If the Knight gets stabbed, he can just hop over to the other duel and hope for an easy back stab, long before the Sergeant has any chance to defend his ally.
-C-
If the Sergeant has greater competency, maybe the Sergeant gets lucky and one-shots the rider with their shorter spear, however this is exploiting incompetence and not a consistent skill given the rider's spear is avg. 20-30cm longer. More likely, he stuns the heavy horse and stabs the rider (30 dmg range). At which point the less competent Knight skedaddles out of there and goes to the other duel, to go for a backstab.
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So, where Knight is more competent he gets 2 kills. Where equal, Sergeant might get 30 dmg on him, Knight gets chance at 50 dmg and a free backstab skill. Where Sergeant is more competent, maybe a one-shot then backstab on the duel, Knight probably takes 30 dmg but maybe picks up a free kill on distracted dueler.
In all three scenario's the Knight is either in a fairly equal position, or an advantageous one. If we were discussing cavalry in context to a Duel Server, I'd agree that such discussions do not address the inherent issues. However being that Skirmish, TDM, Siege, and Captain Mode are all designed around teamwork I feel leaving out the teamwork part will give you distorted results that are not representative of a real game.
Since TW have unfortunately chosen to remain silent on any progress made towards any of the MP issues, this theory crafting is the best I or anyone can do without the actual statistical results of Skrimish, Captain, Siege and TDM game modes, as selecting individual units and having them battle each other Deadliest Warrior style will lead to typical Deadliest Warrior style bias'.