10 heavy cavalry vs some troops & mages

Ezco · #1 February 27th, 2007, 03:58 PM

"self censored"

Evilhomer · #2 February 27th, 2007, 04:08 PM

probably 2 or so in center told to hold attack closest (hoping that these will get the attention of the "some troop", 4 to each side told to hold attack archers (have had better luck taking out commanders/mages with this one).

edit: all 3 groups would be somewhere in the front section

Taqwus · #3 February 27th, 2007, 04:16 PM

You use a scout to attack and retreat the expensive heavy cavalry, because it's not exactly a brilliant move to waste ten expensive heavy cavalry unsupported at mages with troops -- given that they may smack into orb lightning, astral fires, magma eruption, nether darts, F9W9 lava warriors, et al. If they're a mix of summon-spammers and attackers, you could lose 'em all for no gain.

Evilhomer · #4 February 27th, 2007, 04:24 PM

I agree with you Taqwus, still it was not what the poster asked about...

Ezco · #5 February 27th, 2007, 04:39 PM

Yes little better. But still not good I think. I have rarely seen attacks from both flanks at the same time succeed. And remember in my tactic those decoys at center have a chance to get through if opponent has deployed all his troops to sides. Has happened. And if someone still deploys his mages in front of or in archer squads I suggest you stop it. Good for their health. I don't know what to say to those opinions about small heavy cavalry squads not being good against mages. Only that in my opinion they are almost THE best strategy against someone who likes to use mages with some troops. If you use those decoys effectively you can almost always draw their fire so those other heavy cavalry troops get close. But if you want to start that discussion please make another thread and know I won't be part of it.

Nick_K · #6 February 27th, 2007, 04:49 PM

In my experience attack rear targets the rearmost unit of regular troops. I have not seen it attack lone mages, although I haven't tried it with such small numbers. Small units can potentially rout very quickly indeed, even with heavy cavalry's good morale. I've recently seen an AI unit of two elite knights (of the chalice IIRC) break without even suffering a casualty. I'd recommend keeping them together in one group. Set as far to the front as possible. Might try to attack rearmost but they'd probably attack the troops - I'd hope they'd break the enemy troops and then run down the mages.
When you say you 'have no idea' what you'll be facing.... unless you're attacking indeps it seems unwise to enter battle with such a small force. An enemy army could easily massively outnumber yours. Against a large force you'll never close with the mages.

Evilhomer · #7 February 27th, 2007, 04:56 PM

I still belive "attack archers" will have a better chance at getting the job done than "attack rear"

Teraswaerto · #8 February 27th, 2007, 05:06 PM

Heavy cavalry does not have good morale.

I find the question rather pointless. When would you have no idea what troops or mages there would be in this situation?

Depending on the positioning of the troops it will likely be impossible to get the cavalry to attack the mages instead of the troops. The whole idea of deploying an army of 10 cavalry is bad, though if the question is supposed to be some kind of bizarre test, then whatever...

Thanks for recognizing my signature's brilliance though.

KissBlade · #9 February 27th, 2007, 05:13 PM

I'd use one decoy in center and the other 9 on the extreme off hand side. Both positioned towards the very front of the battlefield. Script everything to attack archers or attack rearmost, whichever you prefer. I can tell you this though, the mage AI is thankfully /not/ retarded. Despite decoys, they WILL target the biggest clump of troops if they're scripted with AoE spells more often than not. There are no "quick and easy" tricks to target mages. This is a good thing. If, such tasks were so easy, this game would be horrendous.

SlipperyJim · #10 February 27th, 2007, 05:16 PM

Yeah, I think Teraswaerto's first suggestion is probably the best idea. Put all 10 horsies in one group, off to the side, with orders to Attack Rear.

That said, I'll join the growing consensus that this is a bad situation and probably a waste of valuable units. You'd have much better odds of success with more cavalry, or perhaps a screen of infantry in the middle to act as a meat shield.