Light Cavalry Tactics Primer

[Kophka]

Hello cRPG'ers and Strategus warlords. I've noticed a growth in organized cavalry units ingame lately, and thought that a small primer on tactics for light cavalry (including missle cavalry) and heavy cavalry, as well as mixed units may be appropriate. Remember that these are open field tactics (very very very rare in NA) and must be adjusted, or thrown out altogether in maps with towers, bridges, or villages. Either long practice together, or good communication is key here. There IS both an NA and an EU Teamspeak3 server provided for the general population in crpg. I advise using them, if you want to try tactics and team play. If you can get infantry and archers to play along with you, some amazing things can be accomplished.

NA : dallas.jestservers.com port 7400
EU : 78.46.65.211 port 9987

Characteristics

Light Cavalry :

Light Cavalry is the first step for many cavalry players, with some choosing to move on to heavy cavalry, and some choosing to stay as light for the rest of that character's life.

Light Cavalry is characterized by Tier 2 and 3 horses, and lighter personal armor. Many light cavalry carry a ranged weapon as well as a primary melee weapon (sword or lance/spear), and a secondary melee weapon, such as a lance. For the purposes of this primer, missle cav, even plated horsearchers on a plated horse shall be grouped with the light cavalry.

Heavy Cavalry :
Heavy cavalry are the big spenders of the crpg world, often in heavy plate armor, with a tier 4 or even tier 5 horse. Heavy cavalry's tactics are more straight forward, though they are still very vulnerable to a pike, pikesword, or awlpike thrust. Heavy cavalry can bull through an unaware enemy formation, and the pure fear they engender can be a handy distraction. Those tactics will need to be written by someone more experienced in heavy cavalry than I.


Light Cavalry Tactics :
All Tactics Based on Assumption that at least 3 light cavalry are on the same side.
All points on the map are Positions/Units, not actual individuals
With the new FF Horse Bump in place, these tactics must be used with the utmost caution. Make sure you have a clear lane of approach when maneuvering.

A light cavalry units tactics are primarily those of support. The light cavalry unit is not being used to its maximum effectiveness charging headlong into the fray, though at times, the headlong charge can be very usefull in turning a flank or hitting from behind into tied up enemy infantry.

You are best used in 3 modes. Harassing archers, screening heavy cav to support their charge, and screening your own lines from enemy cavalry. I will give examples of each below :

Harrassing enemy archers :
Ugly paint illustration :

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The above illustration removes the enemy cavalry, as well as any heavy cavalry you have from the field. If they are present, then adjust movements as needed. Be aware enough of your surroundings to adopt a weaving pattern of forward movement to keep arrow hits to a minimum. Your job in this scenario is to keep enemy archers DISTRACTED, as well as having the possiblilty to kill unaware enemies. Archers watching you are easy targets for friendly archers, and they will appreciate your help. Having a ranged attack option will make this manuever even more fun for you, but be sure to stick to the primary purpose, and not be a K:D whore.

Screening Friendly Heavy Cavalry, in preparation for a charge :
Ugly Paint Illustration :

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The above illustration points out how much damage your heavy cavalry can do, if they have the support of their team. The panic and distraction they cause can allow your infantry and archers to completely obliterate the enemy in the field. Your job in this scenario is to distract pikemen/spearmen, and distract archers. The crossing of the battle field will attract attention, while your heavy cav charge home as fast as possible. You must be able to time your attacks into the flanks so that enemy pikemen attack (possibly killing) YOU, instead of stopping the heavy cavalry charge, so attacking too early is the main mistake here. Give your heavies time to form up and pick a spot in the enemy formation to charge.

Screening your formations from enemy cavalry :

Ugly paint illustration :

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The above illustration demonstrates keeping your formations intact and destroying or turning enemy cavalry away. Notice that you DO NOT rush to engage enemy archers or infantry. You adopt a circling formation ahead of your own units, adjusting as needed when they move forward. This is a screen, you are playing the role of defender/interceptor, not a harasser/attacker. For this, I recommend a ranged option paired with a couchable lance. Notice that at NO time do you meet enemy cavalry head on. Light cavalry is a playstyle of angles, misdirection, and quick footwork. Working in tandem with friendly foot archers, you can completely eliminate enemy cavarly from the round with some skill, timing, and a bit of luck. Enemy light cavalry will be brought down by ranged fire, while enemy heavies can be dehorsed with a couched lance, or a swung morningstar or barmace, and easily shot to pieces on foot. Use your speed and maneuverablility against them, and it will pay off for you.

[Mr_Moe]

Thats a pretty good overall look on the different roles that the cav has!

I started playing light cav aswell, with a light xbow and a hafted blade for backup/close combat. Most of the time I go hunting for enemy heavy cav, because their horses are so slow and theyre easily outmanouverable. Even keeping a big plate charger buisy for a while can save many lifes. The xbow is pretty nice for bringing down heavy horses because the bolts still do pierce damage. Otherwise you sould always use couchable weapons against horses, they just do so much more damage to them. If you want to kill the rider I prefer stabbing if he got no shield, you can aim for his head or otherwise for his legs if you come from the right way. Most ppl have poor leg armor and you also damage their horses this way.

I was wondering if theres any build for light cav. Im at lvl22 with 12 str and 15 agi. Is powerstrike so needful? I prefer wpf in polearm and xbow atm. And I'm thinking about putting some points in HA for my xbow aswell. But somehow my Heavy Lance feels a bit weak if I'm not at full speed. I got 121 pts. in it and PS 4.

[Huey Newton]

This needs to be bumped

good stuff kophka

[Kryser]

Kewl guide, this will really help the new found light cavalry out their I started seeing recently.

[Phazey]

Good tips.

Let me add a few:

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you are playing the role of defender/interceptor, not a harasser/attacker. For this, I recommend a ranged option paired with a couchable lance. Notice that at NO time do you meet enemy cavalry head on.

One of the most effective techniques for intercepting and disabling enemy cav: stick near teammates and bodyblock their horses with your mount as they harrass your team. Just block their horses by riding across in front of them or even just standing still and parking your horse sideways in their path.
Stopping enemy cavalry near the friendly players means archers get in several free shots and the hostile cavalry is almost guaranteed to go down. If close enough to the friendly infantry, stopping their cav allows the footmen to mob around them and take them down. If no infantry is close and you have an agile horse (steppe or sarranid), you can move in behind the stopped enemy cav and get in a few free swings / pokes.

Another thing i'd like to point out on formations: friendly cav should not always ride circles in front of the friendly infantry, unless your team has ranged dominance. With that i mean: more archers, xbowmen and throwers than the enemy team and good positions, so they can surpress enemy fire and create a safe zone near the infantry.
This more or less always happens to a lesser degree near your infantry, but in some cases the enemy team has ranged dominance (they camp, your team charges up some hill for example). In that case, it's often a bad idea to ride in front of the infantry.
So cav needs to be really aware of the positioning of friendly and enemy team and the way the battle is going.

What i really miss in this guide:

Cavalry is great for surrounding. Especially the heavier cav, because they can take more ranged fire before they go down. Just having one or two cav encircle them and put pressure on their archers from behind really opens up the front for attacks and easy pot shots at the turned-around enemy ranged by friendly archers.

Because of their high maneuverability, cavalry can easily flank around widely on either side of the enemy formations and harrass their units from behind. Even better: just by being present behind them, the enemy team is forced to face two directions. Just the distraction can be enough to tip the balance in an even battle.

Especially in the mid- and endgame of a round, having several cavalry alive to encircle and surround enemy postions is a great way to win.

Another thing i'm missing in the guide is this: cavalry's role is to support the infantry. So at the opening of most battles, especially on a full server with 100-120 players, cavalry should stick close to the main body of footmen. Lingering to their sides and behind them allows them to stay close but not get shot (or get in the way). Then, as the enemy cavalry engages your team's archers and footmen on the flanks, you can move in and attack the harassing enemy cavalry with the support of your team.
Going down near friendly infantry gives you a good chance of being able to continue fighting effectively on foot. Even a pure cav build with low athletics and a heavy lance can poke at enemies from behind friendly footmen. So if your horse is wounded, stick near friendlies.

Basicly, there are two options:
1) Your team is defending. In that case: stay behind the main body of friendly footmen and to the sides of the footmen, protect the somewhat isolated archers on the flanks, the rear of the main footmen mob and if you have ranged dominance also the area between the two armies (like illustrated by Kophka's picture i just quoted)

2) Your team is attacking: Urge your team to take down enemy cavalry first. If some charge is starting, quickly flank left or right and try to get behind the enemy forces, cutting off a retreat and forcing them to face two opposite directions. Stay alive! Your function is to harrass, not to kill. Just your presence behind the main enemy force can give your team the advantage.