agreed, the only cav you can be atm is ninja. and that's also the reason why there aren't so much onhanded cav, because onehanded cav isn't the sneaky ninja style. because they need a way to get up-close to infantrie and smash them. so not would this idea give more variatie to lancers, but also to the different weapon kinds used from horseback. another reason to add this idea.
No, the only cav you WANT to be is ninja.
Well, let's start this by saying you can never expect to kill a good footman in a 1vs1 duel as heavy cav (well, sometimes you do but chances are it's you who are dead whenever you try) - let's go back to that later.
You can easily backstab with heavy horses (or destrier & whatever light horses are turned into with more health and less maneuver, too). Before the upkeep patch everyone used cataphracts etc. and they just ninjad around the map all the same, with two differences, they'd be slower but they'd live longer. There is exactly one player I remember doing actual charges and with great effect that is Phazh. The biggest problem with that nowadays is that the masses of fast horses will beat you to the unaware prey or friendly fire couch lance into the side of your horse.
People choose this because with every other horse tactic that works you have to give up your expectations to make many kills easily and you always have the choice to just ride off and backstab for better scores. The heavy horse tactics you can employ to good success revolve largely around pulling aggression on to you for tactical benefit of teammates and taking out enemies while they are engaged by infantry.
For example, the day before yesterday I went into siege and there was no castle (just a flag on the open field). So, on defense I loaded out with horse and whenever I saw a group of attackers going for the flag I'd charge them, turning away when they poked at me and bumping when they didn't. The result, they got split up and arrived at the flag one by one against 5 defenders there all the time. I ended the map with hardly any kills, but full multiplier being switched all the time. Lucky, maybe but there's no denying that 5vs1 5 times is better than 5vs5 if your team is competent.
Or you see an ally ganged so you ride over and engage enemies not with the intent to kill them, but to give him more breathing space. Three enemies dead and the ally alive is better than the ally dead and you backstabbing three people in the same time. If he dies you just ride off, as a 2h player you'll often just arrive in time to see him die and get ganged yourself.
Or you let someone engage a good footman, and then bump or bumpslash him.
Or charge into a group and cause mayhem so your allies can kill the footmen who don't even know which direction to face if they aren't on the ground anyway.
Well, that's not saying these tactics always work or are easy (heck I don't know how many times I've bumped an ally I was just trying to help against superior enemy, or when I tried to killsteal from a 3vs1
). But if you prevent a good 2h or shielder who can make 6 kills this round flanking into the group and get him dead before he makes a single kill that's gotta be worth something, even if you end the round with 1 or even 0 kills (and nothing prevents you to get a couple of backstabs before and after that).
As to winning 1vs1 from horse. Go on the duel server and try it, your only chance is by riding away as soon as you have spent your attack or he steps back and stabs at your horse while you can't reach him. But if you expect to win by charging, riding away and charging again, that's kind of broken for the footman because he can always just defend, wait until you come back and defend again. If you want to duel him 1vs1, dismount.
