This is core of the problem:
The warfare of this period was essentially a big game of "rock, paper, scissors." Infantry, when correctly massed, ripped apart cavalry. Cavalry destroyed artillery. And artillery destroyed infantry.
(In reality, it was a little more complicated because massed infantry killed cavalry while cavalry killed dispersed infantry. Artillery killed massed infantry and did less well against dispersed infantry. So the infantry had a choice of either repelling cavalry charges and allowing artillery to quickly kill everyone, or spreading out to avoid artillery fire and allowing a cavalry charge to kill everyone. But the "rock paper scissors" idea is close enough).
What this means is the cavalry needs a bonus to killing artillery if it can break through to the second rank. A hole in the line should allow cavalry to effectively run up the back rank destroying all the artillery. It probably also needs to give a combat bonus to adjacent infantry the way artillery gives a bonus to infantry in front of it. This would make cavalry very useful for exploiting certain situations. Then you'd want more of it.
But if you did this you would also want cavalry to be spread throughout the line. I hate how the current system always fills in the entire line. There ought to be holes that develop that cavalry can then exploit.
But short of something like this -- things cav is good at that isn't just flanking on the edge of the line-- no one is going to build more than enough to stick on the flank. The game has limited its use to the 4 or 6 flanks spots. So that's all anyone is going to build.
The warfare of this period was essentially a big game of "rock, paper, scissors." Infantry, when correctly massed, ripped apart cavalry. Cavalry destroyed artillery. And artillery destroyed infantry.
(In reality, it was a little more complicated because massed infantry killed cavalry while cavalry killed dispersed infantry. Artillery killed massed infantry and did less well against dispersed infantry. So the infantry had a choice of either repelling cavalry charges and allowing artillery to quickly kill everyone, or spreading out to avoid artillery fire and allowing a cavalry charge to kill everyone. But the "rock paper scissors" idea is close enough).
What this means is the cavalry needs a bonus to killing artillery if it can break through to the second rank. A hole in the line should allow cavalry to effectively run up the back rank destroying all the artillery. It probably also needs to give a combat bonus to adjacent infantry the way artillery gives a bonus to infantry in front of it. This would make cavalry very useful for exploiting certain situations. Then you'd want more of it.
But if you did this you would also want cavalry to be spread throughout the line. I hate how the current system always fills in the entire line. There ought to be holes that develop that cavalry can then exploit.
But short of something like this -- things cav is good at that isn't just flanking on the edge of the line-- no one is going to build more than enough to stick on the flank. The game has limited its use to the 4 or 6 flanks spots. So that's all anyone is going to build.
