Matrix Games Forums

I trying to make sense of how cavalry works doing the cavalry tutorial where you're ordered to take the artillery battery and then hold the position. A few things are confusing me:

1. If I line up a cavalry regiment ready to charge the battery they appear hell bent on dismounting and attacking the battery with rifle fire - not the most sensible thing to do in the face of cannon discharging canister shot! I try to give them a charge order so that they go in and hack the gun crews to pieces but they seem reluctant to do this. Why?

2. When I did finally get them to charge at the guns on horseback (after many frustrated clicks, probably just jammed it somehow), they appeared to do the job. The guns appeared no longer manned and certainly no longer shooting. However as soon as I started reorganizing the regiment to take defensive positions against the counter attacks, the battery seemed to come to life again as though nothing had happened. WTF? How can a battery survive a full on cavalry charge like that, or to put it another way, how do you order your cavalry to put them to the sword and how do you know for sure when they have been put to the sword?

3. On a more general not, this tutorial is mostly cav on cav and I seem to observe that a mounted cavalry unit will overrun a dismounted one every time, always seems to win (surprise surprise). So why, when I line up my cavalry for a charge against to enemy unit and then give a charge order, do they almost always want to dismount when they get to the line position, even if the enemy cavalry is mounted?

This is all probably because I don't fully understand the required command sequences yet, so please be gentle with me

Answer found in game manual:

“Take Charge” of cavalry units to charge and capture enemy batteries;
otherwise, they will stop and trade fire, and will be quickly routed. Use rested
cavalry, and order them to “Double Quick” at the enemy guns. As they reach
each gun, select “Charge,” and your cavalry will capture the gun. Repeat the
routine until the entire battery is captured.

I imagine this level of microing might be tricky in the heat of a big battle.

I imagine this level of microing might be tricky in the heat of a big battle.

Maybe done on purpose to discourage cavalry charges against active artillery batteries.

Charging an artillery battery against its front in the Civil War was not generally considered conducive to living a long and happy life.

I was hoping you'd get some replies about these concerns, maybe try the SOW forum if you desire some discussion.

All I have to say about this is cavalry control can be stubborn, and experience, morale and especially fatigue will influence cavalry behavior.

My 2 cents: Cavalry is the most frustrating unit in the game. Try Brandy Station full scenario some time. To RebBugler's point, I learned the most critical factor was having your leaders up close and personal, moving between units to critical points in the line frequently. Second was fatigue.

I tried this tutorial again and this time it worked pretty well - pretty much as the paragraph I quoted stated it would.