What do you guys do with Horsemen after early game?

[PurplyIcy]

Read title. Considering the next Horsemen unit (the Cavalry) happens well later into the game, what is one supposed to do with their beloved horses once it gets out-scaled by knights and musketmen? Do you just kinda keep all of them in your base and wait? During previous patches I would've just sold them all but now selling units doesn't give any money whatsoever so it seems like such a waste, especially if your entire military was almost exclusively horses (cough scythia cough).

 

[Mahasona]

If I'm close to tundra/snow my spare units fog bust.

 

[King Abbas]

Actually the same could be said about knights.. their next upgrade is tanks!!
If feel that the game would be much more fun if units could be upgraded more frequently, say once per era.

 

[Leyrann]

I'm no expert on the later stages of the game because I positively suck at finishing games, but in the game I am in right now I am in late medieval era, with some knights in my army and something like two turns away from discovering gunpowder, but my horsemen are still really useful, though that might also be because I'm having a really good science game and all AI's are fighting with archers and swordsmen still. And all my units have 3-5 promotion levels due to a lot of wars and Terracotta Army.

 

[greygamer]

I equip them with battering rams for cities that are surrounded by blocking tiles.
Additionally get the pillage promotion and lay waste to the surrounding tiles, this seems to result in lowering city combat values.

 

[bladex]

i don't bother with them i build chariots instead than upgrade them to knights than tanks later on. chariots are way better

 

[greygamer]

i don't bother with them i build chariots instead than upgrade them to knights than tanks later on. chariots are way better

Depends on terrain early on, horsemen are quicker in mixed terrain types. I often seem to lack nearby iron which means I can't always get knights. They are also slightly stronger than chariots so you know who will win that fight until you get stirrups.

 

[Thorrez]

They are still awesome to siege cities with. If you have enough knights to do that with horsemen to spare, you should probably have prioritized more catapults, form a second attack force or plain attack earlier.

Btw, they do "upgrade" at nationalism when they form corps (that plus 10 is an one era upgrade).

 

[diamond geezer]

With Scythia (as the OP stated) then you have double units, so you kill lots of Barbarians and upgrade, use Corps when that becomes available, and keep out of wars while you beeline for Cavalry.

 

[Victoria]

I send em across to a new continent, ever so usefl for a speedyCS and odd village find. By the time theyfinish and get back to a new colonyits close to cavalry time. Not often I use then though.

 

[joncnunn]

Here's what I see as what you can do with Horseman after it's no longer combat effective while waiting for the upgrade:

1. Escorting settlers if you aren't done founding cities yet
2. Scouting / Fog Busting
3. Finishing off damaged barbarian units
4. Military Police (via a social policy)
5. Occupying key tiles to keep AI units from ending their turn there.

 

[VicRatlhead5199]

Home defense. Barbs always seem to threaten one city or another.

 

[PurplyIcy]

With Scythia (as the OP stated) then you have double units, so you kill lots of Barbarians and upgrade, use Corps when that becomes available, and keep out of wars while you beeline for Cavalry.

From what I'm reading here multiple people have suggested that I form corps on them asap. Well it could just be that my culture output sucks, but based on my games I find that I usually unlock nationalism around the same time as I unlock Cavalry units so I can't really rely on that to boost the horsemens' strength a little...

 

[joncnunn]

From what I'm reading here multiple people have suggested that I form corps on them asap. Well it could just be that my culture output sucks, but based on my games I find that I usually unlock nationalism around the same time as I unlock Cavalry units so I can't really rely on that to boost the horsemens' strength a little...

In which case, turning Horsemen into Calvary Corps would be recommended (in whichever order is cheaper)
Note that at Horsemen base strength level, Corps (a flat +10 bonus) is quite a lot, particularly in light of the damage done scale being based on the difference between post modified strength of the units.

 

[juanpavo]

Additionally get the pillage promotion and lay waste to the surrounding tiles

Yes, you can totally cripple a civ with this. Flood them with horses, aim for the districts, and have fun. If you plan on taking the city, ignore the districts and pillage everything else.

 

[FurballRocker]

Primarily they become my scouts as they seem to be able to move faster than scouts in general and more likely to survive any barbarian encounters but they also work well as good rapid reaction force if you have a large spread out empire which can slow down and weaken any invading force before your main troops get there as well as being good to send out to quickly clear any newly spawned barb camps.
If i need some fog busting i often use them also as well as for interference of other civs movements such as blocking their settlers.

If you take into account their weakness they can still be useful in conflicts such as pillaging or capturing civilian units and can often still take at least one hit so can be used to siege cities as well as scout ahead for any potential enemy forces which may be coming or to slow them down by standing in choke points or on roads.

 

[WankIT]

I use mine for ceremonial parades through my capital during special events.

 

[MaximusPlatypus]

I don't know why you wouldn't keep them. Well-promoted cavalry, and eventually helicopters are awesome