Why do my horsemen sabotage me?!

[ChesterDaK9]

I try to take a slow even pace when approaching a battle so that if I get ambushed, my footmen will be nice and close (I don't like them getting too far behind.) However, my horsemen keep shooting past me, which to a certain degree I guess is OK ( I appreciate their enthusiasm.) The problem is that as soon as they get past me, they turn sideways and stop - causing me to stop and then I have to readjust every few seconds.

I believe both 'Follow Me!' and 'On My Flank' mean to get behind me! I think that in a real battle, having a troop shoot past the commander like that would suggest insubordination ("Learn to follow orders, soldier!"). Is there any way to get my horsemen to follow orders and stop flummoxing me?!

 

[mujadaddy]

Yeah, "Follow" shouldn't mean "park all your horses as close as possible to my position"

 

[Ni]

Yeah, that's a pet peeve of mine. Your troops don't understand the word "follow".

 

[Zyffyr]

Friendly NPCs in general seem to be programmed to get between you and the enemy. Since the horsemen have the speed to do it more often you are just noticing it from them. Given the chance, infantry will do it as well.

Go do a tournament where you get a ranged weapon and a melee partner. It doesn't matter where you move, when you start your aim your ally will shift towards your line of fire.

Sit stationary on a horse firing arrows at the enemy in a large battle. Count just how many friendly cavalry slam into you. Watch others charge in from the side and turn towards the enemy right when they get in your direct line of fire. They could just as easily head directly at the enemy, but it is SOOO much more fun to block the bosses arrows.

 

[Ni]

Sit stationary on a horse firing arrows at the enemy in a large battle. Count just how many friendly cavalry slam into you. Watch others charge in from the side and turn towards the enemy right when they get in your direct line of fire. They could just as easily head directly at the enemy, but it is SOOO much more fun to block the bosses arrows.

I've killed more than a few friendly horses with my javelins because of this, and I don't feel bad lol. I throw the javelin and a friendly cavalry unit runs in front of me and then turns to face the enemy instead of just charging straight at the enemy. Luckily none of them were my companions so I didn't have to replace the horse, and luckily none of my troops got hit since javelins one shot kill everything. I don't blame the devs though, if they programmed the troops to think of every possible outcome to their actions the battles would be a slide show as your processor caught on fire.