Cavalry Units

Cavalry are military units that fight or at least travel mounted, and use one or more horses and saddles.

They are generally much more effective at attacking than defending, especially on plains. Because cavalry have terrible defense attributes, especially against defensive units, they have limited opportunities for effective deployment. Maintaining large cavalry armies is something of a gamble, as using them can be devastatingly effective--or just devastating. Cavalry should never be deployed in defense except in the most dire circumstances. It is, however, always valuable to have a strong army that can move quickly. To maintain this benefit, keep cavalry in a separate army lead by a mounted commander.

Cavalry are particularly handy for defending allied cities against sieges, because the use of Sally Forth is actually an operation that the game treats as an attack for the purposes of battle resolution. An ally calling for help can get help from his cavalry-prepared friends in a relatively short time, which will then batter siege camps with very favorable results.

The playable cavalry units are: