I just played this morning and then came on the forum to see what was happening...
after reading eveybody's post i post a few...opinions..ideas, or call it the way you want.
( btw i play heavy cav lance/morningstar, ... i m not a good player 1,5-1 kd ratio more or less )
The thing is everybody is speaking of cavalry as 1hand / lance / 2hand when we should speak of light / medium / heavy armored horses as a starting debate point:
- Light horse: it should be faster, accelerate more but be easily shootable ( when reached... and here is the speed and manouver question ) by archers. ( a horse with no armour is equivalent to a naked person... )
- Medium and heavy: when more armour, more weight so less acceleration and a bit less top speed BUT ARMORED IS ARMORED.
I mean you should need the hell of arrows in order to kill an armored horse.
THEN we start speaking about playing styles:
You want a 1h on light horse: Be ready to maneuver a lot and evade all aware ennemies AS YOU HORSE HAS NO ARMOUR IT WILL DIE VEEEERRRRY FAST. ( = More acceleration than before and more maneuver - Armour Same HP )
1h on heavy horse: you are a close combat specialist... Your horse is a tank and normal arrows shouldnt even touch ( it s a way of speaking only...) (= Less acceleration, same top speed same maneauver and MORE ARMOR AND HP)
Lance on light horse: more or less same thinking as 1handers... very fast and quick BUT very easily killable horse...
Lance on heavy horse: charging is your daily life: with the bonus to couch -should be a length bonus by the way, as some lances should be able to overpass by lenght any walking spearman- ( except some "Stop the cavalry specialists" with a 3 slot veeeery long pike for example ), you will charge the ennemy kill 1 and certainly be stopped by the others and then have to fight with your 1 hand or 2 hand weapon. ( your lack of maneuver will be compsated by the fact that you don t die in the fisrt approach )
HA: well, for sure they should go on fast horses and keep far away from infantry.... if they play on heavy cav, they take the risk of being quickly reached by light cav.
As a conclusion, i don t know if my thoughts are correct or not, but for sure some points of thinking:
a) everybody is speaking of cavalry as 1hand / lance / 2hand when we should speak of light / medium / heavy armored horses as a starting debate point
b) It's logic heavy horses have less acceleration ( because they are HEAVY ) but light horses????
c) if we are ok with b) then we are okay saying HEAVY horses are much more powerful in armour AND bumping damage.
d) if we had the fact of VERY high upkeep for heavy horses, there should be a HUGE difference between pros/contras between heavy/light horses. ( as huge as the upkeep difference at least ) and this way you will not see everybody with the same kind of horses ( 1hand / lance / HA )
e) Couch, as i said before pls buff reach.
f) Bumping: depending on horses again, but if you Bump an unaware player with a HEAVY Horse even at low speed that should hurt a lot....( of course it will be harder as your lack of acceleration and manouver will make it hard for somebody not to see you coming...
Hope this helps in thinking in new ways of thinking lol!!!