The Problem With Cavalry In Empire Total War

[@EL_Turo]

"why did he send in cavalry without infantry support" is quite a famous quote from this time period

[@Argacyan]

my biggest problem with cav in ETW was always that if I move multiple cav units around, they always friendly fire themselves to death. Especially archery cav.

[@TalonAshlar]

The cav problem in Empire and Napoleon Total War relates to their large hitbox and lack of hit points. Shooting a horse in real life will not necessarily kill it. Armored cav suffers even more from this problem as the whole point of a cuirassier was that the cuirass could deflect musket balls at longer distances.

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

I kind of disagree, in Napoleon cav other than the few shooter cav units is very well done. All cav is impactful, lot less shooter cav units, and things like heavy cab, lancers, etc actually have good uses and can easily destroy infantry. While square is also done better creating an actual impact against cavalry vs just an outright defense buff.

[@TalonAshlar]

@@thetotalwarsmaster it depends on what pace you like the game to play at. I do agree that in Napoleon cav is better due to improved collision but I actually dislike that forming square magically kills 1/4 of the cav that was attacking it especially when troops weren't even fully formed into square.

[@jamestalbot6916]

what is wrong with your pc?

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

my PC CPU is old and pretty crappy, along with the recording software needing more adjustments, hopefully it is better next time I do ETW, but for NTW it is good now.

[@Kupferdrahtful]

Well you need to know how to use each cav. Light dragoons are obv the strongest (if they get the shots off which is not guaranteed) but you can have fun with every kind. Campaign is about fun anyway which is not winmaxin Light dragoons don’t have Garnison Bonus by the way only normal ones do

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

Stopped light dragoons vs a head-on opponent will nearly always shoot incoming cavalry. As someone who typically played a lot of MP "but you can have fun with every kind" sadly doesn't hold up. While against the AI I can agree there are a lot of less-than-ideal things you can do, against players that isn't so. Light dragoons do have the Garrison Bonus. You can check the Wiki or in-game to confirm that if you so desire.

[@Kupferdrahtful]

@ ok well I only play campaign I’m not gonna play today so won’t check the light dragoons but on very hard Prussian campaign they most definitely don’t get the Garnison bonus

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

@@Kupferdrahtful they definitely do, but the higher religious resistance, resistance to occupation, etc probably make it feel like it doesn't.

[@Kupferdrahtful]

@ I check in the description not going after some feeling

[@Kupferdrahtful]

@ I’ll have to check next time but it would be pretty sick if I oversaw it. Maybe on very hard or something you don’t get it

[@DustyPazner]

I hate to tell you this bro but this is what irl generals had to deal with. Cavalry cant beat infantry that have pike and shot (the beyonet changed the world) anymore but give them guns and they suddenly can. The other cav just needs to be made cheaper and Lt drags need to me more expencive.

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

Except not really, cav wasn't shooting at the same distance with the same to better accuracy than line. In the same Pike and Shot era, for example with Battle of Breitenfeld (1631), it had often proved totally ineffective in the face of enemy infantry and the such. The caracole offered not enough tangible firepower to kill opponents while drawing cavalry inside of enemy range of accurate gunfire of musketeers.

[@jamestalbot6916]

@@thetotalwarsmaster This is correct, until the coming of rifles which could fire at many times the rate of a standard musket or rifle. I would like to reference Gen Buford's stand at Gettysburg for that. On a different note I would like to remind you of the Charge of the Light Brigade. It is a poem written during the Crimean war, and it illustrates why cavalry stopped charging head on into infantry. If cavalry were capable of defeating infantry when charging head on, then why was a square formation any different. I will tell you how it is different, It is impossible to attack a square formation from the rear, every charge becomes head on. So, we can infer that cavalry does not actually win in a head on attack, it wins by attacking the flanks and rear and by harrying a retreating force. And rarely, on occasion it wins a head on attack causing the enemy to break and run.

[@freddovich7925]

Yeah I have never played straight raw empire, always with Pirates Uber Alles. It massively overhauls combat and you can tweak it yourself. Cavalry should easily be able to defeat outmanouvered infantry, but massed and prepared infantry will absolutely slaughter cavalry with firepower. PUA does this really well and also way way more

[@jamestalbot6916]

yes this is exactly why square formations were impactful. Because the infantry could not be outflanked, therefore I find ETW cav to be more realistic than NTW. After all let us not forget that the reason they were able to move away from the pike and shot tactic was because line infantry could defend themselves against cavalry now. Cuirassers in real life did have a better chance at surviving a musket, however it changes little once they engage in melee with line infantry.

[@Burak95Gaming]

After playing napoleon, Empire total war seems slow to me and also after cav engagement to infantry, infantry can make square wtf 😂

[@Troglodytarum]

Dont fast forward, your PC was made by a caveman.

[@thetotalwarsmaster]

It is better for my recent NTW stuff after I used my laptop and changed my settings on my recorder