How to use a Charger?

[Michael]

Tai Feng, give me some days to get to a playable level, and I ll show you. They nerfed this (my) playstyle so really really hard because I was too fearsome for those little whiners! Using horse and lance those lamers had to poll me to finally win a round. =)
I will always play the knights class, simply because I love horses.
Dont expect me to be on top of the scoreboard, that wont be possible, but I still can make a difference/ help my team win against all odds.


For now, try this: Guard your archers, and let them guard you. They can take down unarmored horses, and you can protect them from enemy infantry.

Also, get as much riding as possible, its the same as for footmen. A black plate guy with 0 athletics is really slow, with my first generation I had 11 athletics and still could catch most archers (on foot, wasnt a horseman that time.)

15 strength is the max you should go. If you dont want to use heaviest armor anyway, be fine with 12 strength.

Next, its all about awareness. Use the light lance! 1h/2h swinging wannabe-horsemen you can easily kill from distance, even unexperienced lancers you can outmaneuver and stab their horse in the side/ its back. Ah, and of course run away from good lancers / all horse archers in direction to your infantry. Probably they dont have the balls to follow you, and if they do, your infantry will most likely kill them.



A few days, then I am back in the game.

[Tai Feng]

Well, problem is I'm infantry with Riding skill, my stats are not optimized for pure cavalry. It could be a bit different if I was pure cavalry, theoretically speaking, I dunno. I'll wait till you level then.

[Michael]

Well, pure cavalry doesnt make sense, because most crpg maps are anti-cav maps. So the build I m working on is/ will be a lancer/ pikeman|long voulge|etc hybrid.

I am working on two other builds, too, have some real stuff to do, you know and so, so please be patienced. I will never ever retire again so I want to make sure its a good build when its finished. Probably it will be 7 ath, 7 riding, 7 weapon master (all wpf in polearms), 5 power strike, 5 iron flesh. 


Also, what people fail to understand is that the heavy plated charger is no wonderweapon for a one man show. Its a support weapon. Like in WW2, the heaviest tank could be easily "killed" by some smart footmen. It was only a menace with support from its own smart footmen, then it could make the difference.

Elephant was really really fun. Both as a defense and a offense weapon. Now its only a defense weapon, and horrible hard to use due to the friendly bump. But well, with lance and horse and the same shitty playstyle as always I think I can still get some crybabies to whine about overpowered plated horses lol. =)

Shitty playstyle, thats the key. Help teammates to get the upper hand over the enemies, collect some easy kills on your way, win, thats the same Dima and all other top battle players do. Combat skill helps, and never hurts, but 90 % of all kills of the best battle players are "easy" kills. Like in Mossad. Its not about fighting (skills), actually there is no fighting at all, the goal is to kill before the enemy realizes that you are there. 

[Wookimonsta]

well, if we are going to use the total war series as a reference here, I want 18x Greek Phalanx. I can beat anyone with 18 Greek Phalanx

[Tai Feng]

Hm, watched Ironlake today and with his 1H sword charger worked for him, although he said he never used Courser so a bit difficult to compare.
I should probably try with some 1H weapon, but not sure how it's going to work out since I've no 1H proficiency.

[Michael]

I dont think wpf has that big influence on horsebacks performance. With 1 wpf in polearms it was (almost) the same as its now with over 100 (all with light lance tested). 

And I know 1h/2h works for some on horseback against infantry. Some are quite effective with bump-slash-combo. For me, as I said, there is nothing easier than stab/thrust to archers head, usually a 1 hit kill and not that hard to do. The light lances speed is quite okay, so its possible to kill 2 or 3 in a row. (when they have their "tunnel vision"). Also, I have a strong dislike for shields, so 1h doesnt make sense for me. But thats only personal choice.
Only real problem with 1h on horseback is that you cant defend yourself against enemy lancers. But you could carry a lance as well, thx to the 4 slots.

 

[FICO]

OT:Using medieval 1 and 2 to form theories? If you use those games as a basis, you would think the optimum medieval army was...

i presumed that majority of people here are no history phd or history students. that's the reason why i used game as example

[OrientalHero]

You keep saying you have no wpf in 1H.

What does that mean? Are you saying you have no speed with the 1H weapon and they will out-swing you and hit you first?

But you are the one with a faster mount. You decide the clash point and can time it with your slow low wpf swing. The damage is still controlled by power strike. You can also bump and slash.

Pre-patch, I got equal number of kills to my bow (with wpf about 125)  with only 50 1H (I'm a horse archer) as well as lance (only 1 wpf) because I decided the engagement.

Admittedly I haven't been able to afford a Charger/plated elephant yet and only wearing light leather, I'd be a elevated arrow magnet before I could close to use said light lance and 1H (Liuyedao).
Are you saying that post patch the charger speed is nerfed to the amount where you can't control the distance to get them to miss but you to hit, or that even after a bump, your 1H weapon speed due to wpf 1 is too slow to get a hit?

[Tai Feng]

I've been testing a bit with 1H and it's working a bit better. So in some cases I guess charger might be ok.

[Malevolent_Warlord]

Are u using polearms or swords?

Swords are faster and better vs infantry, but u suck vs other cav with swords so u should just avoid them.
Lances and spears work vs both, but slow speed and cumbersome weapon can hamper u in close situations.

If u can't achieve good K/D with a charger ur tactics are not very good.

Many suck at being cavalry because they are:
- Impetient and get killed
- Think too highly of themselves and get killed
- Do not pay attention and get killed
- Lack situational awareness and get killed
- Take stupid risks and get killed
- Attacks people who are aware of them and get killed
- Charge mindlessly into a crowd, get stopped and killed
- Simply get killed by every stupid mistake possible

Those rules apply to most players mounted or not. Going hotheaded into combat is pretty much the surest way to die and lose. If u keep urself alive and fight battles u can win while tuning ur skills and tactics u can achieve good results.

I remember when I started playing last summer there were few guys at the top of the score list almost always. They weren't there because they carried a huge weapon and spammed everybody. They were there because they were the last ones alive and were highly skilled fighters who were patient and kept themselves alive.

Kids these days after the mod has become very popular are just a bunch of mindless spammers who chase kills and do not pay any attention in defending themselves. Best players have "very high defence skills".

So when u are using ur tank, use it wisely and patiently. First try to survive to the end of the round (while fighting of course) and start tuning ur fighting skills, tactics and awareness. Kills will come to those who can use their weapons. Dead people can't swing.

[tony]

Using a charger makes you a high priority target and you should change your playstyle accordingly.

[FICO]

Dead people can't swing.

it sounds like movie title.

[Tai Feng]

If u can't achieve good K/D with a charger ur tactics are not very good.

The problem is that I achieve much higher KD ratio with Courser or Sarranid horse than Charger. But I'll leave it at that.. someone else might make better work of a charger.

[Malevolent_Warlord]

The problem is that I achieve much higher KD ratio with Courser or Sarranid horse than Charger. But I'll leave it at that.. someone else might make better work of a charger.

It's really up to you.
Protection vs speed and manueverability.

[Michael]

If u can't achieve good K/D with a charger ur tactics are not very good.

Did you play with it after the last Ninja cav nerf?

I did.

Almost 5.000 gold repair cost, but I wanted to try my heavy plated charger, and what happened? Some admin tried to kick and ban me because he was thinking I was trying to delay the round.
Indeed, I was riding at full maximum speed..................

Best players have "very high defence skills".

Ah no, not true. Bjord and Phyrex are full offense players. Rush in, kill as many as possible, simple strategy.


On horses, its true, its easiest (only) way to back-stab, and for that, a fast horse (courser) or a horse with good maneuver (sarranid) is best.

Charger, especially the plated one, are outdated.