Best defense against cavalry?

[Carolus Rex]

A propos the discussion in another thread, see

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=101847

, what would you suggest as a proper defense against cavalry?

Will riflemen be enough (vet or non-vet; depending on terrain type etc)?

Carolus

[Six Thousand Year Old Man]

Unless you have walls (and if you're playing against other people, they may sabotage them anyway), I think you're best off building Cannons or Cavalry as offensive defenders.

I find Riflemen iffy as defenders against Cavalry. Vet rifles on good terrain excepted, of course.

[DaveV]

Carolus - fortified riflemen against similarly experienced cavalry can be expected to lose on open ground (6:8), win on forest, river, or swamp (9:8), and win big on better defensive terrain (12:8 on hills, 18:8 on mountains, etc.). So put those engineers to work...

[La Fayette]

Consequence (of the figures given by Dave):
Build Alpine instead (well worth 10 more shields)

[Sparrowhawk]

Or switch to a new alliance and perhaps you won't have to defend (unless against your former allies )

[rah]

yes, always a good idea.

Best to use chokepoints outside of your cities on good terrain, combined with mobile response units.

[ramses II.]

Spies - for bribing and sabotaging purposes.

[duke o' york]

I agree with STYOM - kill them before they can even get close to posing a threat to your units or cities. Take the fight to their cavalry with your own and rout them!
It's always fun to put expendable units in the front line and save your decent troops to hit them on the counter once they've wiped out the cannon fodder but don't have enough moves to get to you.

[Carolus Rex]

Originally posted by DaveV
Carolus - fortified riflemen against similarly experienced cavalry can be expected to lose on open ground (6:8), win on forest, river, or swamp (9:8), and win big on better defensive terrain (12:8 on hills, 18:8 on mountains, etc.). So put those engineers to work...

I guess all that global warming we've had isn't all bad then...

Carolus