How to use cavalry in Empire: Total War

Cavalry is often the king maker in matches. If you lose your cavalry, you have a smaller chance of victory, as your manoeuvres are limited.

Basic rules:
Don't tire out your cavalry. Don't double click everywhere. Only when you absolutely have to. You want them to trot. Tired cavalry has a very very weak charge, while fresh cavalry has such an incredible charge its not funny.

Don't attack the enemy head on unless they have already discharged their ammunition. Cavalry is a beautiful thing that should not be wasted.

Watch out for traps. If you are playing multiplayer, your opponents, especially the Austrians, will have a seemingly weak flank, but jaegars or other skirmishers are waiting for your cavalry, to shoot them down. One volley from prepared infantry can take out an entire cavalry charge. So proceed with caution!

Not all cavalry is created equally. Lancers are meant for charging but cannot sustain melee long. Heavy cavalry with swords are better in protracted melee, carbiners and light dragoons are meant for skirmishing and flanking, only charging if you really must. Regular dragoons are mostly for flanking and being used as mobile infantry, not cavalry.

Now that we have the basics settled, you should know that cavalry should be supported by infantry. This is not Medieval II Total War, where an entire army of horse units works perfectly. You need a balanced force. Skirmishers work particularly well with cavalry. You can fire upon an enemy, when the enemy shoots back, you can flank and charge.

Charging from the Side or Rear does the most damage. Charging uphill slows down your charge dramatically, to the point where its not really worth it. Charging downhill massively increases the charge bonus and it becomes one of the most incredible things to watch. Your cavalry charging downhill will puncture right through the enemy, Return of the King style.

Cavalry formation. This is something that is still not entirely certain, it's impact on the game. Generally, you want to have at least 2 lines of cavalry, but it depends on your purpose. So if you are doing an attack from the side on line infantry, you want a dense group of cavalry. The deeper the rank of cavalry, the farther the charge goes into the line, and thus the more people it kills, and disrupts while keeping your cavalry relatively unscathed. If you are attacking a thin line of infantry (1-3 ranks) then you want to have 2 ranks deep of cavalry and charge from the rear. This will do maximum amount of damage and tear half their company to pieces. Diamond and wedge formations are good if you are unable to flank the enemy. A wedge or diamond charge is best done into a thin line of troops that has already discharged their weapons. Once the infantry is split up, retreat your cavalry and charge with infantry and take advantage of the gap.

Distractions: Use infantry as bait for your cavalry. My opponent had some redcoats coming towards me, so I positioned my French troops at the bottom of a hill with 2 groups of cavalry hiding in some trees at the top of the hill. The British player thought this was the perfect time to attack my infantry, since he had height advantage. As he marched downhill to attack my men, I produced my 2 cavalry groups and charged from the rear, it completely massacred his men and I must say, was a very satisfying cavalry charge. Here's the replay.

Square Formations: If you see the enemy go into square formation to fend off your cavalry, for goodness sake pull them back immediately. Don't waste your precious horsemen. That goes the same if you see skirmishers with pikes set up. Generally, you don't ever ever want to charge prepared infantry head on. The best times to attack infantry is when they have already exchanged fire with your troops or when they are on the move.

Psychological warfare is also a good one. While you march your troops towards the enemy, move your cavalry around, out of range to flank the enemy, make sure to keep them safe. It will make your enemy's movements restricted and he may get impatient and irrational. This a particularly good tactic to use in 2vs2 games or larger multiplayer games, where you want to support your team-mate to crush an opponent, and want to keep the other one busy and out of the fight.

Artillery hunting. This is a really important use of cavalry, but pretty much every solid player out there and his dog WILL hide troops near the artillery. Does it look like the mortar is alone? It's probably not. He's probably got jaegars or other riflemen guarding it. The only way to be certain is using a squad of skirmishers. Guerillas are probably the best for this task as they are entirely invisible while moving.

Intercepting enemy cavalry. This is a really important use of cavalry. You want to limit the range of motion of your enemy. It's also important however that you don't waste your cavalry. If you have a company of so-so cavalry, please please please do not attack winged hussars, as they will turn your horses into Polish Sausage. Use your cavalry to slow down enemy cavalry. If they are running for your unprotected artillery battery, or your flank, then charge until some infantry can ready themselves, then run off again. Out numbering enemy cavalry is also good. Charging them from the rear, charging at them downhill all give good attack bonuses. You don't have to finish them off, just surround them entirely and they will route easily.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, if you have any suggestions or comments, you can always message me on the Total War Forums.