How many points in riding are you going to have?

[Leesin]

False (hopefully).
We already had Strategos where 5 most important things were:
1. Strong bows
2. Khergit bows
3. Long bows
4. Crossbows
5. The rest of the bows

Let us hope we don't get the same shit again.

You say false yet you list crossbows in your top 5,  .

 Crossbows definately do well in Strategus, they did when I played anyway, used to use them myself at one point. The fact that most of the time the equipment is never expensive stuff, tons of players end up using cheap shields which = pierced by bolts, crossbows were most certainly good for placing at the top of static ladders and/or other vulnerable locations. As it stands now, bows also no longer have pierce damage, crossbows still do.

Regardless of balance, ranged weapons are always going to be a huge part of sieges, that's just how it is and always will be, but now that only your Strategus character can take place in the battles, the amount of bowmen will drop by far, I can't imagine everyone wanting their main character to be an archer, it's boring as hell.

[Balton]

I've tried 8Riding/4PS & 4Riding/8PS on a courser.

You do ride with much better control at 8 riding, but even on a courser your lances won't 1-shot people unless you hit their face. With 4 riding & 8PS you can 1-shot most people, even if you don't hit their head.

It's just not worth funneling skill points into riding past your horses requirement.

[Tristan]

I aim for 3 riding at lvl 31. +1 riding at lvl 32 and 33. At lvl 34 I will be 5 riding.

[KaMiKaZe_JoE]

14 riding next build. no need for silly power strike WHEN YOU TRAVEL AT HYPERSPEED!

[Bull]

I never thought I'd say this, but I'm with Balton.

I'm going 8 PS/4 riding. It's enough for my destrier, and what I lack in speed I compensate for in punch.

I could be wrong, but it seems to work for me so far.

[KaMiKaZe_JoE]

6 Riding seemed perfect for me when I had it. I moved just fast enough, and was still able to maneuver about.

7 Riding was crazy. I moved amazingly fast, but it seemed that my maneuverability suffered (courser). Weird, since riding boosts maneuverabilty supposedly. Still, In order to get nice tight turns I need to slow down to a certain speed, and the faster I travel the harder it is for me to slow down to the 'sweet spot' of turning.

This build is all sorts of fuck

[Magikarp]

Riding 7 increases your speed and manouverability, but at high speeds manouverability sucks. This is a classic mistake made by lots of people. In real life you don't push the gas all the time, you need to do the same in cRPG.

Ive seen people talk about not focusing on riding but on powerstrike: don't! Powerstrike only adds little damage, you should focus on riding because it increases the damage you do much more. Plus you survive way better, which is very important on horseback.

[Michael]

6 - I want to have the option to ride the elephant once in three months.

More doesnt make sense, at least not for my playstyle.

My light lancer-elephant rider hybrid has power strike 8, over 100 wpf in polearms, at full speed I can kill most archers with 1 stab, what is kinda necessary.

My light lancer polearm Ninja hybrid had power strike 4 and wpf 170 in polearm, and everyone I didnt hit in the head at full speed perfectly survived. That means, the ranger, being wounded, just 1 shot the rider off the horse.

Its an arcade game. In rl a guy that got stabbed in the back would be dead, and even if he was still alive, he wouldnt be able to kill the horseman with 1 shot. Its silly, but thats the way it is in crpg.

So my advice is get as much power strike as you can. 

[Tigerclaw]

I took my hoplite and added four points of riding, traded the war spear for a heavy lance and the huscarl's shield for an elite cavalry shield, and poof, instant lancer. I already had six points of PS, and I usually one shot most people with my a lance thrust, and sometimes with my niuwei, so I would definitely say take PS over riding. If I want my horse to perform better, I'll heirloom it.