How to use cavalry

[MSGT John Drew]

You all talk about cavalry but you don't talk about their retreat dice. So what if cavalries lose 80% of the time against riflemen - cavalries can retreat and those 1 hp cavalries you have can rush to nearby cities to replenish to full health in 3-4 turns.

And the 3 movement of cavalries make them good at long-range attacks. If you can position your troops at a hill 3 'flat' tiles away from a city, then even without musketmen, they can defend themselves this turn and capture that city the next.

Cavalries are really only defeated by cities with lots of riflemen (6 above). If you have to face those, better go the domination victory since it will take some time(with only two of you) to get to tanks and that war will only become bloodier (tanks do not have such a huge advantage over infantries.)

 

[Evincar]

Also, use the 3 movement to pillage their rubber ASAP. Once they are stick to rifles, they are doomed!! Sometimes, that will send your cavs straight to death, but if they can no longer build infantry, it is worth it.

 

[Richard III]

As others above have also said, I tend to treat them as what they were: not an attacking force alone, but a force to break up the strength of the enemy in advance of the main infantry/artillery columns. Also great for cutting roads and rail lines to isolate the enemy. "First we'll cut it off, and then we're going to kill it."

 

[Grey Knight]

Originally posted by Evincar
Also, use the 3 movement to pillage their rubber ASAP. Once they are stick to rifles, they are doomed!! Sometimes, that will send your cavs straight to death, but if they can no longer build infantry, it is worth it.

Then, after the AI has exhausted it's offsensive units, can't the cavs be used to strip the entire enemy terrain of improvements?

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[Evincar]

Originally posted by Grey Knight


Then, after the AI has exhausted it's offsensive units, can't the cavs be used to strip the entire enemy terrain of improvements?

Cheers,
Shawn

Not sure if I get you right, but I think you mean that one they have suicided all their cavalry, you can go and pillage lots of roads just to slow them down. Is it that? Well, I can't really tell since I hardly pillage anything other than strategic resources and luxuries if I know that will hurt them. Anyway, don't be decieved by the fact that they have no cavalries left...after all infantry can also attack your cavs and usually chew them up, so be aware of the risk.

 

[Grey Knight]

I thought I read something about AI units being either offensive or defensive, and that the AI won't attack with a unit classified as defensive.

Cheers,
Shawn

 

[ukrneal]

Calvary are super for pillaging in any age, since they have 3 movement.

IF the enemy is entrenched - meaning you don't have enough calvary (yet) to take their cities, an excellent strategy is resource denial followed by general improvement destruction. One you get rid of all their horsies, they can only send longbowmen to attack, and they tend to lose about half the time. If you position your units well, you can reduce your losses by using the terrain to your advantage. Removing their luxury connections will also cause their production to slow.

At this point, the AI will be really strapped for cash (you may seriously disrupt their trading causing other AIs to declare war) and science, thereby significantly reducing their power. Once you make peace, this enemy will spend forever digging out of their hole and is ripe for the taking for quite some time.

 

[Evincar]

Originally posted by Grey Knight
I thought I read something about AI units being either offensive or defensive, and that the AI won't attack with a unit classified as defensive.

Cheers,
Shawn

Yep, that's right I think. The problem is the AI can build offensive riflemen and infantry, so just because they don't have cavalry left that doesn't mean they won't attack you.

BTW, sorry to say this Firaxis, but the way multiple AI strategies has been made sucks beyond compare