Spanish without cavalry?

[Nuctemeronn]

So, the Conquistador unit is going to replace the Cavalry for Spanish, without saltpeter as resource. A 5.3.3 unit. IMO this put spanish offensive force in a bit on disadvantage against riflemen (defense 6). And you must wait 'til Tanks to get the next offensive unit in the line. From a 5 attack unit to a 16 one.
Is strange, 'cause Spanish use a LOT of cavalry (NOT conquistadores) in the Latin American Independence War (1810 - 1866). They are their main force (with cannons, frigates, musketmen and bayonet soldiers) against the emancipation forces who finally defeat them on their stronger cities (Lima, Buenos Aires), with LOTS of Cavalry too.
So i think conquistador must replace something between Knights and Cavalry (dragoon? crusader?). Hope PTW come with some new regular units.

Cya.

[Miznia]

What if the Conquistador replaced the Explorer? That could be pretty sweet! (For the Spanish, I mean.)

[aebrahim]

What if the Conquistador replaced the Explorer? That could be pretty sweet! (For the Spanish, I mean.)

No kidding ... huh?

[Random Passerby]

I had a post speculating on this a few days back... Jeff Morris said something about removing gunpowder prerequisite and fiddling with the tech tree, which is very vague and not particularly helpful. I basically see three possibilities:

1. The conquistador comes at a different tech than cavalry entirely, such as Astronomy or Navigation. If true, this would mean the Conquistador would be easily the most powerful unit of its time (I think it's easier to reach Navigation quickly than it is Military Tradition), plus more useful techs along the way than the Military Tradition route, but would hurt Spain later.

2. The conquistador is a weaker cavalry unit that comes at Military Tradition but doesn't need saltpeter. In other words, Spain gets shafted with perhaps the crappiest UU in the game, making the Man-O-War look good in comparison.

3. The conquistador is identical to cavalry but does not need saltpeter, and all cavalry and cavalry-based units have been weakened for balance purposes. Conquistadors would be mediocre but would still ocassionally prove useful.

[moomin]

4. Spain gets to upgrade to real cav when they obtain saltpeter, or build that from scratch if they have it already.

[civman2000]

5. It replaces both knights and cavalry, comes with chivalry and requires horses and iron.

[dunk]

6. It only requires a new resource, doggies.

[Darkworld Ark]

7. It eats children, therefore stagnating the population of a enemy civ.

[Cyclotron]

8. It requires only one resource, gold, and your enemy must have it rather than you.