Cavalry feedback

[ferragus]

Just a quick opinion feedback regarding the adition of cavalry units in the game.

I belive you are using an incorrect principle.

You are only adding a quick movement melee unit that can also fight unmounted long range combat. 

Cavalry never developed melee fights the way you are portraying, where the balance of the fight depends on the amount of kills each side makes during a  long melee.

Cavalry is a shock force, not a melee one. Let me see if I can explain:

When cavalry charges home to a unprepared infantry unit, the result should be already determined, the action should be really quick as the infantry will immediately brake and flee with very few cavalry casualties. Most infantry casualties happen with the soldiers trying o escape.

If Infantry manages to keep formation (particularly if it manages to form square or occupy defensive terrain) then cavalry will mostly be incapable of causing many casualties and will retire.

Cav vs Cav is more or less the same thing, no melee where troopers brake formation and fight individual fights exist. Instead one of the sides is invariably caught of guard or out manouvered  and decides to flee/retreat in an organized manner. If not, then one of the sides brake formation and that´s where the fights happen and the kill ratio grows.

 Any way, its always a result of the shock effect, actions never should take too long in an attrition fight like in long range inf vs inf combat. 

Same principle should apply to Infantry melee, but I guess you already know that but choose to keep it for the holliwoodesque effect of the melee fight.

This is a problem that afects all the total war games also (particularly the gunpowder war versions), but its something that the old Talonsoft napoleonic games (Waterloo Napoleon´s last battle, and Austerlitz Napoleon´s gratest visctory) actualy got right. I recomend that you have a look at it and you may get some good ideas on how to improve your games if you search historical accuracy. 

 

I belive that if you manage to develop this realities into the game engine, will will have a much deeper tactical game and a much more realistic exciting and original one as well! 

[JaM]

Dragoons, which were actually implemented are not really heavy cavalry in that time period.. British Dragoons during American war for Independence were Light Dragoons, light cavalry force not very effective in charges, and mostly used as mobile skirmishers.. But they should be quite effective at mopping up routing enemy due to their speed, and relative ease of sabering down retreating men..

 

Overall, i think what is currently missing in Land Combat is overall army morale.. game depends way too much on actual kill ratios instead of morale..It needs to be possible to break enemy fighting spirit so it will rout and wont continue fighting. Large majority of AWI engagements were quite small skirmishes with not that high casualty rates..

 

My suggestion would be - make morale recovery slower, increase morale drop from musket fire, and artillery fire, especially for flank attacks. At the same time, there needs to be a global morale check, so if majority of army is routed, battle should be lost for player or AI. And of course, Artillery casualty rate needs to drop significantly.. right now, they wipe out entire units in few barrages.. 

[sterner]

We will consider your feedback.

[JaM]

Right now, Dragoons seems to be quite weak in melee and charge. While they are not really a shock cavalry, they still should be semi-dangerous to skirmishers.. In my recent battle (Savanah), my 75 dragoons were routed when they charged 35 skirmishers...  in melee they took 2-3 losses per single killed enemy up to the point they routed and ran away.. so i would say best thing about them is that player dont have ability to recruit them, as they would be quite a waste of money..

[doublebuck]

I'll just say, I forgot what battle I was in when this happened, but the enemy had a Dragoon unit, and so did I. The enemy Dragoon unit attacked and charged one of my infantry units of 150, and I used two other units of 150 each. to join the melee and also with one volley from my Artillery unit as it tried to retreat, helped to kill that Dragoon, but my main infantry unit that took the brunt of that attack had severe casualties.

The Dragoon unit I was given in this battle was for me, the first time trying it out. My infantry unit would shoot one volley at a skirmisher unit then I used the Dragoon to chase that unit and my Dragoon killed that unit, so I repeated that tactic on two other units and it worked. I even wiped out two enemy artillery units with that Dragoon by attacking them from behind. I was able to keep that Dragoon alive throughout that entire battle I mean he lost more than half of what he was but he survived. My thought is, the infantry units in UGCW sometimes is faster than the Cav units but in UAAOS, I seem to like the way the Dragoon is in this game better than what they were in UGCW. I know until the game is finalized all things are subject to change.