[Fall Update Time!] Have Cavalry Become your New Staple?

[Strio]

I'm sure you're all excited to hear about the new update that rolled around a week ago? After some diligent playing I've noticed a two huge changes that have completely reshaped warfare.

• Pillaging grants +25 health
• And cavalry can move after attacking

These two updates make cavalry exceedingly powerful. Dust those lancers off, because horsemen just got a new spot in combat! With a combination of hit and run tactics, 4 movements points, and a new reservoir of health cavalry have become a force to be reckoned with.

After some testing of this new horseman force on Immortal I've found it very potent and it has replaced my previous forms of warfare.

So what do you all think about cavalry after the update? I'd like to hear from your recent conquests.

 

[fernetekhd]

I used to make armies mostly of infantry, but yeah nowadays I try and make as many cavalry/tanks as possible.

 

[BlueSignofDeath]

Never actually played a domination game... The few times I DID go to war as my peaceful culture/sci civs, I had the tendency to create an army of archers with a few melee units to act as support in the front. With this post in mind, I think i'll go ahead and try a domination game.

 

[bpower]

Didn't think about cav much but after reading your post I'll give them a closer look. You should write commercial or something. I half expected you to say "but wait there's more!" at some point

 

[Jelster]

Cavalry have always been able to move after combat......

 

[MisterSaturnine]

Cavalry have always been able to move after combat......

But they have not always been able to heal themselves by pillaging, giving them a lot more staying power.

 

[manu-fan]

But they have not always been able to heal themselves by pillaging, giving them a lot more staying power.

The OP said - With these 2 updates?

There was only one update, the pillaging one. That's why it was being clarified.

Cheers.

 

[Strio]

Didn't think about cav much but after reading your post I'll give them a closer look. You should write commercial or something. I half expected you to say "but wait there's more!" at some point

Haha, thanks! I'm starting to think I'm OCD about my sentence fluency!

Yeah, I absolutely love domination games. You get the greatest feeling when you are a total Warmonger on Immortal.

With this new pillage ability, Horseman UUs are godly! Atilla on Immortal my Horse Archers were useful all the way up until Industrialization.. And after that the upgraded Cavalry could fend off whole armies swapping off and pillaging.

 

[Jelster]

As I play on a Mac I haven't yet had a chance of the patch.

However, Knight -> Cavalry -> Landship -> Tank is the backbone of my army, supported by CB's or crossbows, and in the later stages artillery and riflemen/infantry.

Using ranged weapons to take on a city, and then a knight/calvary to capture it, staying out of range beforehand.

 

[EditorRex]

I've been playing as England lately taking full advantage of massed Longbows early (upgrading to long-range Gatlings and Machinge Guns, with 2nd attack bonuses if you use them wisely). Horse units (Horse > Knight > Cavalry > Landship > Tank > Modern Armor) are a perfect complement to this strategy, since your ranged units can't take cities. Horse troops are poor at capturing cities, but if your ranged units have taken them down to nothing first it won't matter. More importantly, you can use the extra speed and moves of your horse units to spot for your long-range bombardment units, and still retreat out of range. I usually mix in some melee units as well to hold the cities or give ranged defenders some cannon fodder. With this strategy, you won't need a large number of horse units, but they are an important component of your offensive strike teams. I had a game about a month ago in which I got DOW'ed while en route by sea to an AI's capital, just as my horse units were passing off the coast of a CS allied with the AI. I lost three Cavalry without warning, and suddenly had to watch my super-Gatling units fend off wave after wave of defenders around the AI's capital, while I waited for more cavalry and melee troops to cross the map and capture it. For this strategy, your horse units, especially Cavalry for much of the game, are crucial and not just an afterthought.

The pillaging ability is nice, too, but I find that I only really use it when I've got a unit that has taken too much damage, which typically means I miscalculated somewhere. If I'm playing right, I should only be at risk of losing units I've planned to be at risk of losing.

 

[Tabarnak]

I actually build more horse units than before. Not only because they can pillage easily but also because they are doing a good job against ranged units.

 

[Gamewizard]

My last immortal game I played as Russia, built a bunch of cossacks and then beelined tanks as soon as I teched Biology. WOW! Tanks are crazy good now. Tanks with blitz can attack, pillage, attack, move, pillage. My bombers had a hard time keeping up with the destruction. The AI never built a single anti-tank unit...too easy.

And oh yeah, they eventually upgraded to Giant Death Robots! Lots of fun with Russia's double uranium.

 

[Strio]

Haha! Cavalry awesomeness confirmed after beating Immortal with the Huns fielding nearly exclusively all cavalry armies. Science victory ftw.

 

[Jelster]

The other usefulness of horse/mobile units is once you get to dynamite and have range 3 artillery, you need to get closer to the target to see it. With cavalry you can move forward to spot the city, use your artillery, then withdraw out of range.

 

[Matthew.]

The maps are too small in Civ 5 to effectively use cavalry and chariots. If I am forced into a cramped area, I'd much rather have regular melee bunkered down. The pillage change does make cavalry more useful, but unfortunately the size of the maps is still the same.

 

[Gamewizard]

The maps are too small in Civ 5 to effectively use cavalry and chariots. If I am forced into a cramped area, I'd much rather have regular melee bunkered down. The pillage change does make cavalry more useful, but unfortunately the size of the maps is still the same.

Play bigger maps?

 

[Hammer Rabbi]

cav isnt particularly a new staple for me. pre patch i ran with 6-10 archers and 2 horses. i still run with 6-10 archers and 2 horses. by they time im at the last Civ to conquer i start flooding more horses as bait because im usually at the civ with The Great Wall. i dont get deep into techs for the tank upgrades very often.

 

[EditorRex]

Actually finding Lancers a useful tool for the first time ever. I'm playing Medieval/Renaissance rushes using massed ranged units and need fast and cheap units to take cities. It doesn't matter than mounted units suck at taking cities, because I'll wipe out nearly all the defenders with the ranged units. Just need a fast unit to grab it and hold it until I treaty the opponent. Lancers are faster and cheaper than Cavalry. Doesn't hurt that they upgrade a few of the spears and pikes that I bothered building (or got from ruins) back in the day. I've been playing as England, but could see this strategy working really well for civs like Greece or the Celts that have spear-based UU. Lancers are also nice during this type of advance because one of the main issues is Knights and Cavalry, which Lancers are excellent against.

 

[Matthew.]

Play bigger maps?

Doesn't change much. It is the size of a battlefield, not the overall map. When two huge armies clash in a space of ~12 tiles, the horse's mobility is nearly completely negated -- especially considering most of those tiles will be occupied by archers/siege.

A bigger map would just mean more of those small battlefields.

The only two uses I've had for the increased movement is as follows.

1. Easier to send in a melee unit on powerful cities. Not much of an issue, more of convenience.

2. When overwhelming the last one or two Civs, I get impatient and send all production to horse/tank to send across the map quicker. Again, more out of convenience than any actual tactical reasoning.

 

[smallfish]

Unless they are part of the civ's UU or there is just insane amount of distances involved in trekking towards target... then not really. But I will get around to building them once I get core complement of siege engines/meatshields up and running.

p.s. Janissaries with new pillaging is some really sweet deal.