Open Field Battles Anti-Cavalry

[GOBBLINKINGREATLEADER]

I shouldn't be contributing to this thread considering my own interests...

However, I think it wouldn't be unwise to just buy extra boar spears to be used my 1H/shielders so they can double into protection against cavalry. The only downside would be that they'd be a little more heavy.

[Butan]

alway seem like there no enough pike/spears in battle but we tend to die from inf more than cav.

It is true that cav superiority is more a moral shock than anything. People caugh unaware and getting run over, or couched/ran through have a feeling of being uncapable of doing anything about it OR must look around them all the time: and doing 360° while in the thick of a melee fight is quite the trick.


When gold isnt a problem, the perfect army should look to have everyone using up all 4 slots for optimal versatility.



I also played with the idea of having a 1 slot crossbow +3 in great numbers so people not in shieldwall/doing anything requiring them having melee weapons at the ready could shoot the enemy increasing their casualties at a low cost.

At that time the crossbow was 1 slot so I put it in +3 in Almerra Castle...
At least now I equip armies that operate in the open with crossbows instead of arbalests: the reloading time on arbalests in an open field, without the protection of walls is very inefficient if you arent camping like a bitch. And the 2 slot requirement make them only usable by people who knows how to aim with them

[Corsair831]

yes it is rather troll to have all your guys taking hunting crossbows and the like butan ... not sure about how effective hunting xbows would be but hey, they'd reload fast as shit

[Teeth]

Shielders get fucked by cav when they are fighting, having a pitchfork on your back won't help a thing. You do not have time to get it out. Which means they will either use the pitchfork and be useless and passive, you need your shielders to be agressive and push. Or they are going to do what shielders are supposed to do and put the pitchforks on their back, which will get them still fucked by cav.

Corsair, your playstyle with light armor at the flanks might benefit from having a polearm, but that is not what you want your shielders to do in Strat, luckily most shielders don't.

[CrazyCracka420]

Agreed, I'd rather have my shielders with their shields up, taking hits on their shield (not from enemy pikemen mind you, close enough where your own team can hit the enemy with melee). 

1h'ers usually make it easier to get your swing off without getting hit compared to a hoplite trying to do the same (hoplites usually have to hang back a little, which is not what you want your shielders doing).

But I think Daruvian is talking more about everything right up until the infantry actually engages (even up until they are 5 feet away)

[Corsair831]

Shielders get fucked by cav when they are fighting, having a pitchfork on your back won't help a thing. You do not have time to get it out. Which means they will either use the pitchfork and be useless and passive, you need your shielders to be agressive and push. Or they are going to do what shielders are supposed to do and put the pitchforks on their back, which will get them still fucked by cav.

Corsair, your playstyle with light armor at the flanks might benefit from having a polearm, but that is not what you want your shielders to do in Strat, luckily most shielders don't.

nooooooooob teeth, if a shielder has even a modicum of awareness he will --easily-- have time to switch to his pitchfork before a cavalryman is upon him, in an open field strategus battle you can see them coming from miles away. Besides this, shieldiers spend vast amounts of their time not fighting, during this time they may as well have their pitchfork out (remember, it's free).

[Jack1]

Idk what battles you partake in, but in NA we have the common sense to beat the shit out of the dumbass that changes weapons in the middle of a fight just to stop a cav.... Polarmers are supposed to do that not the guys in the trenches

[Teeth]

nooooooooob teeth, if a shielder has even a modicum of awareness he will --easily-- have time to switch to his pitchfork before a cavalryman is upon him, in an open field strategus battle you can see them coming from miles away. Besides this, shieldiers spend vast amounts of their time not fighting, during this time they may as well have their pitchfork out (remember, it's free).

Lol, I have been a long poke polearm exclusively for like a 1000 hours now and I deem my battle awareness above average at least, but when you are fighting an enemy team and there is about 5-10 cavalry consistently harassing the clusterfuck, you do not see them coming all the time, even when you are focusing on watching for cav only.

Maybe you are talking about the way towards the fight or when waiting for the fight, but cav deaths in those situations encompass only a fraction of total amount of cav deaths in a strat battle. The bulk happens when people are fighting, which is when you want your shielders to push and fight infantry, not have them watching for cav with pitchforks. Sure cheap poke polearms are nice for walking towards a fight, but even a 1h can defend against cav if hes aware, so I don't think the weapon will help much in those situations, because most just get caught unaware. In the actual fight, where cav does their damage, having a pitchfork would be detrimental, slightly so due to the added weight, but more so because shielders might spend a lot of time doing what they are not best at, which is watching for cav.

[Visconti]

nooooooooob teeth, if a shielder has even a modicum of awareness he will --easily-- have time to switch to his pitchfork before a cavalryman is upon him, in an open field strategus battle you can see them coming from miles away. Besides this, shieldiers spend vast amounts of their time not fighting, during this time they may as well have their pitchfork out (remember, it's free).

I have to agree with Teeth here. In strat battles once the infantry combat has started, no matter how good your situational awareness is, when you have 4-5 enemies coming at you spamming mauls and picks, there is always gonna be that time where you can not guard against cav, and thats when the cav strike. At the moment it seems the only way to really counter cav in a field battle is to simply have more cav (or stakes, but that only works when your defending). Adding pitchforks or low tier horse rearing weapons isnt really gonna help because they are such shitty melee weapons that the user is just gonna get owned once an enemy infantry gets close to him, or his crap weapon simply wont be able to kill the warhorse that he just reared.

[Corsair831]

ok, crpg players just noobs

[Jack1]

I believe what corsair means is like in NA 1 (EU1) when you don't have that huge teamwork mob it's good couse there are 1v1's vs cav. 

But in the situation of a strat battle the pitchforks and whatnot are useless couse no cav would attack the infantry mob when there not allready fighting. And infantry can't turn around to wack the 50mph horse , let alone stoping him and distracting him during the actual fight.