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How to Best Use Cavalry

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What's the best way to use cavalry?

Mine seems to end up dying very quickly through attrition and doesn't seem to be very decisive in battle (at least not for the cost).

I've tried creating seperate cavalry armies and moving them with infantry/artillery armies. No noticable result.

I've basically stopped building cavalry and haven't really missed them.

I'm playing Spain in the GC, by the way.
 
I have units that are all cavalry units.

When I DOW, I send my elite cavalry ahead and clear most of my ennemy's armies, then I follow with my infantry/artillery units to lay sieges.

the good thing about cavalry is that they move really really fast and you can attack several ennemy armies before they even have time to streenghten their positions.
 
Cavalry have high shock value so they do ALOT of damage in the shock phase. Cavalry also increace pursuit losses. Cavlary makes most difference when you reach the 2-1 ratio. So having cavalry AT ALL against a pure infantry and artillery army gives you a bonus on your diceroll (look at the numbers with + something or - somthing in the combat window) Add to that that cavalry has the increased shock value. Cavalry on its own can only win a battle by wiping out an opponent and often can if the battle is 1:1. Ideally you want a good component of cavalry in your army from 40% in eastern armies to 15%-20% in western armies. Due to cost. Cavalry loses its advantage over infantry in shock as the game procedes, so towards the end cavalry is less important but gives the diceroll bonus none the less and is still worth it. Poland should run at 45% cav, 45% inf, 10% art for her armies. They have the cheapest cavalry in the game compared to infantry (start costs 10 for inf and 12 for cav).
 
How useful cavalry is can also be dependent on the terrain. For me, as Turkey, I don't bother deploying infantry in a Persian war as they seem useless in the Mountains. Also, I like to send a well mixed Infantry-Cavalry-Artillery force ahead so they can destroy enemy armies while smaller forces of Infantry-Artillery behind can take care of the garrisons. I always like to keep infantry with my cavalry as they seem to take the brunt of any attrition (Also, Inf costs only 2d for Turkey)
 
There's also a question of cost: Spanish cavalry is very expensive compared to, say, Turkish or Polish cavalry.
In addition to what's already been said, I'd like to point out that in EU cavalry can be used in all of its historical ways:
- To add shock and pursuit strength to a mixed army, as has been stated in other posts.
- to harass the enemy: 1k cavalry units sent into a province with a large enemy army can keep it tied up there. If that province has a low maintenance level and winter is coming, the resulting attrition to the enemy force can greatly exceed your cost in cavalry losses.
- to raid the enemy provinces. A small cavalry-only force of 3000 to 10,000 can move from province to province much faster than any force with infantry or guns. Keep them in each province just long enough for the flames to start up in the city icon, then move on. You can pillage a swath clear through a half-dozen provinces, removing any income from them for the rest of the year. This can hugely cripple his war effort if you hit the most lucrative National Provinces in his homeland. It also seems to make the AI more susceptable to peace negotiations. I've managed to get a peace out of this tactic several times in different games, when the AI had refused me before the 'cavalry raid'.
 
And in the beginning of the game, when firearms are not so common yet, cavalry is a horrible weapon.

I have about 45000 cavalry as Russia (with a good shock leader). Result: i don't defeat enemy armies, in about 90% of cases i annihilate them :) All get killed, no-one survives, and my cavalry just dances on their graves. Useful, especially if you annihilate enemies 20k army :)
 
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