Favourite class

[Jaden]

vanilla warrior so you can loot

I agree, vanilla warrior are better than cavalier 
Cavaliers are like sequels to awesome games with a lot of features cut out and nothing much added  :P

[Tiridia]

Cavalier is more like a roleplay feature anyway. I too like the classic chevalier approach, but always with some twist or an achilles' heel of some kind. Though the best class to play by far is the priest, especially if you have rather sporadic access and limited time to the game. You need not bother with all the orders and everyday errands and can focus on rp alone.

[Sarwell]

I think infiltrator is, by far, the most *fun* class, but it's the Dwarf Fortress type of !!FUN!! with all the risks involved.
Vanilla warrior is nice, but it just sort of looks bad, like you couldn't choose something else.
Cavalier removes some abilities and does need some sort of specialty of its own to really be totally balanced, but it looks good for RP and is the only subclass that lets you both command the same (a larger, in fact) number of troops and stay alive (unlike hero)!.

[Geronus]

I agree, vanilla warrior are better than cavalier 
Cavaliers are like sequels to awesome games with a lot of features cut out and nothing much added  :P

Clearly you've never played one that had the gold to take advantage of the increased troop limits. It's pretty fun running around with 100+ heavy cavalry and single-handedly wiping entire units off the battlefield every round. Plus they get that increased honor gain that lets them take advantage of this even better. Sure you lose some flexibility, but you also gain the ability to sway the outcome of entire battles virtually on your own given enough gold and decent recruitment centers.

[Eduardo Almighty]

I used to have a Cavalier for a long time... being Judge, he needed the honor/prestige bonus to recover after confiscate so much gold. Now, even with less hours because of old age, he can lead an enormous CS.

[Kai]

Clearly you've never played one that had the gold to take advantage of the increased troop limits. It's pretty fun running around with 100+ heavy cavalry and single-handedly wiping entire units off the battlefield every round. Plus they get that increased honor gain that lets them take advantage of this even better. Sure you lose some flexibility, but you also gain the ability to sway the outcome of entire battles virtually on your own given enough gold and decent recruitment centers.

Big cav units don't spread damage very efficiently. It might be nice to see 3k hits for ego but that unit would have retreated from half that damage.

[Sarwell]

Big cav units don't spread damage very efficiently. It might be nice to see 3k hits for ego but that unit would have retreated from half that damage.

The description on the wiki (which may or may not be up to date) says that the recruitment-cap bonus also applies to special forces, though.

And it is true that a cavalier's cavalry unit can be really huge.

[Geronus]

Big cav units don't spread damage very efficiently. It might be nice to see 3k hits for ego but that unit would have retreated from half that damage.

...And that's a bad thing? I mean, hypothetically speaking it's better to overkill something than underkill it, yes? And also, making some unit retreat at 1500 hits is a materially worse result than wiping it out to the last man at 3000 hits. Sure, sometimes you get unlucky and charge a unit of 20 dudes resulting in massive overkill, but outside of sieges I would take a large cavalry unit over any other kind. I've seen them make the difference in far too many battles to dismiss them out of hand the way you are.

[Kwanstein]

Cavalry is good, maybe even the best (tough choice, it and ranged special forces), but only if the people using it know what they are doing. All of the generals I remember serving under treated cavalry as infantry; disposable mooks, to be thrown around haphazardly. They neglect to keep their cavalry behind their infantry for more than a single combat round, or to give their cavalry low retreat settings. The result is that they take DAMAGE. DAMAGE, on cavalry, I cannot believe it.

Cavalry do tons of upfront damage, on their first combat round, when their enemies are held in position so that they get their charge off guarenteed. Allowing cavalry to charge ahead can jeopardize that charge. It also allows them to sustain damage that could otherwise be avoided. Cavalry should not do that. What it should do is deal their charge damage, sustain minimal damage in return, retreat, and then do it all over again the next day. A simple concept that many people get wrong.

Geronus, you are in Astrum (judging by your emblem). Astrum has a general that knows how to use cavalry, so lucky you! That is one thing about Astrum that really impressed me. Prior to engaging you guys, I always figured you were some sleepy realm of AFKs. Maybe you are. But one thing is for sure, you have, at least, some people who are not only active but strategically competent as well. Bravo. Bravo.

My thoughts on cavalier is that it's great. The best class, really. As someone mentioned, there's tons of gold nowadays, and the honour + increased cavalry limit lets you put more of a dent in your stockpile. The lack of looting is no big deal. Only a dozen or so nobles are able to loot before the peasants rise up anyway, so chances are your own contribution would be unnecessary (unless you're running around lone wolf -- a good tactic but not always possible). Because of this I consider cavalier a superior class to warrior, with two exceptions.

Bureaucrat is a good class in peace time. It slowly gains you honour (which is important in peace-locked realms) and allows regions to sustain high-maximum tax rates, depending on your skill. Though, in order to achieve that second boon you either need a region yourself, or you need a lord who's willing to co-operate with you. Oddly, the former is easier to achieve than the latter. I've been given a dozen regions, but no lord seems to care when I offer to double his tax rate. Meh, in that case you can still gain honour, so might as well survey the administration in some region with perfect stats for eternity.

[Eduardo Almighty]

Erik used to be a Cavalier and even now being a normal warrior, he's among the few people able to lead 70 Special Forces (infantry) with more than 1.5K CS.

[Indirik]

They neglect to keep their cavalry behind their infantry for more than a single combat round, or to give their cavalry low retreat settings. The result is that they take DAMAGE. DAMAGE, on cavalry, I cannot believe it.

Any unit that deals damage in melee combat will also receive damage in melee combat. This is an immutable fact under the current battle system. Perhaps you mean that they stick around to get bogged down in melee, rather than retreating after minimal damage?

Also, it is quite possible that a cavalry unit can hit and destroy multiple units in a single charge. A 100-man cavalry unit will *not* wast all of their hits on a single 20-man unit. It's essentially impossible, unless that's the only enemy unit involved in combat on that particular line. (Or perhaps some other, rare quirk of the setup for that particular round.)