Quote Originally Posted by Triaxx View Post
It's a matter of riding into range, shooting and then riding out. Parthians were masters of it. Plus when light cavalry attacks, they ride in, attack with sabers, and then ride away.

Heavy Cavalry is Knights in armor style of smash into the enemy, then beat your way out so you can have another go at them. On it's basic level, 3.5 favors the Heavy Cavalry method.

Honestly, on its basic level, 3.5 favors melee combat over missile combat. How often does a Deepwoods Sniper really get to use their huge range limits to full advantage?

Keeping that in mind, Ride-by Attack is more useful to a Heavy Cav as it allows them to do a melee attack and then get out of the way. A Light Cav, in theory, would be way out of melee range when doing their attack.

Heavy Cav would not just be the classic idea of knights in full plate armor. They would also apply to the mounted Normans and French, who weren't much better armored than the "light cav" Turks they fought in the First Crusade. Turkish cavalry wouldn't get into melee combat until the enemy was already routed. Their general tactic was to shoot at the enemy lines with their horsebows. Meanwhile, the Normans and French were charging through the enemy lines with their cavalry.

Maybe Ride-by Attack is a must for both paths...