cav and artillery proposal - addressing 2 issues in one swing

Mahmoud ben-Shareef

hey folks

i was not sure whether i should submit my proposal in the suggestions or balance section. its a feature request in regards to unittype, which is fundamental to balance, so i felt like it shall fit the criteria of a balance thread. now onto the subject:

i would like to discuss with u about the current state of cavalry and artillery. i personally feel like imperial knights, reiksguard and knights of the realm r perfect. however, halberds and armour piercing greatswords for instance can make them struggle in the early game. regarding artillery, i bring max 1 if any. imho, it is barely worth to bring more than 1.
ive talked with pals, watched the forums, youtube reviews, and made the observation that a good amount of players feel like cav and artillery dont do it at the current state.

what if we re-introduce loose formation and loose formation applies a 'negative' (less then default) rating on mass/barcing and take greater damage on charge - posing specific targets for cavalry charges. but first these pre-conditions have to b met:
* unit low on morale (some set amount like, say 10 leadership)
* under artillery fire / under missile fire
if these conditions r met, unit sets into loose formation even without players consent!

this would perfectly represent the difference between disciplined troops and undisciplined hoardes! it would greatly diversify units and even factions for relative little risk on the overall state of the game.
one would have to b more thoughtful about target priorization - on artillery fire control as well as magic casts.
but most importantly, artillery and cavalry would b at better shape not only as units but on a tactical level. artillery in close tandem with cavalry would enable for some brilliant play even due to this synergy. cavalry would finally see different play, even melee cavalry would not b only a fast melee unit on mount. artillery would have great tactical impact the field. leadership/morale/discipline would have an even greater emphasis, not on a bad way. even heroes would have better use since their leadership would become more important. teamgames would go batshiits if concentrated artillery bombardment followed by massed cavalry attacks were a thing!

what would these changes mean for the factions:
generally high leadership armies would show greater effect.
logically vampire counts would b excempt of the changes;
greenskins lower tier, esp. goblins would b devalued for a bit. greenskins have decent anti cav options imo and black orks would fare well with these changes anyway. only slight tweak would b necessary.

if ure interested, share ur opinion. u dont have to like it : }

Mahmoud ben-Shareef

but yea, cav and artillery would see better use