[curtadams]

Light/medium cavalry *with lances* does indeed have its uses, at least in SP. Hold and attack works well if you micromanage them so that they charge into the enemy rather than the other way around. You can do this against the computer but not reliably against another player. The souped-up Barbarian Kings medium and heavy cavalry (they have very high stats for their price) can compose a pretty nice army. However, the bows are almost irrelevant. Basically they just let you nick the opposing army a bit while you wait for the infantry to separate from the archers so you can charge them affordably. I've never tried the chariot archers but I assume they'd be similar. Without lances, though, cavalry archers are useless. You pay twice the price for a unit that's easier to hit with arrows.