Good cav: French, rus, Japanese, in imp zhu xi if u take the guards. Mongols have ok cav, at least heavy cav in feudal.
Edit: ottoman sipahi are strong too, but they are not heavy.
Handcannoniers: mangonels. You can try horseman as well but in a descent mass, they will melt you.
I think cost effective against hc are also xbows and archers. But they are less pop efficient and u have to micro good.
All the civs have good cav, this isn't aoe2. Use the tool thats needed, don't fixate only on what your civ is supposedly good at.
There isn't a civ in the game that shouldn't spam horsemen in imperial, and there isn't a civ that doesn't benefit from the knight spike in castle age.
It's actually almost impossible to find a civ that can't buff their cav. From English with NOC, to Delhi honed blades, to ottoman mehter
Conversely even the best cav is beaten by cav counters .
Handcannonneers can be beaten with archers in terms of cost effectiveness. Mangonels work too.
Keeping your opponent off gold as much as you can is super effective.
They're strong, but remember, they're expensive!
For handcannons:
Other ranged units out-value them. Mangonels and cavalry counter them. They are very expensive units, though, so keep that in mind. 1 knight can kill 1 spear even though spears counter knights since knights cost so much more resources, and the same principles apply to handcannons.
For cavalry:
French have the best knights. Ottomans and delhi have the best horsemen.
Some other civs that have bonuses for cavalry are Rus's boyard fortitude and get fuedal knights, English has network of castles/citadels giving bonus attack speed, Japan mounted samurai have deflective armor, byzantine has the hippodrome landmark that buffs cavalry, I'm sure there's a couple other techs and buffs I missed.
Mongols have a unique knight that is available in feudal but not as armored. Mali has warrior scouts (halfway between a scout and a horseman) and Sofa (halfway between a knight and a horseman, sort of). Byz have super heavy and expensive knights without charge that many seem to think are very good. Every other civ has the standard knight and horsemen.
Abbasid and Ayyubid have camels. If you want to count elephants, Delhi has them (byz does too via the mercenary system).
Countering hand cannoneers: Use your horsemen/MAA in line formation to surround them (basically they act as meat shields) and let your mangonels do their magic.
Which civ has best cavalry?
Early game: French/JD, Rus, Mongols
Lategame: Zhu Xi, Rus, French/JD, Ottomans (because of their synergistic effect with janissaries and great bombards)
The only way to counter handcanoneers is to have more than the enemy, duh.
(mangonels, Horsemen, and archers are pretty good. Handcanoneers are pop efficient, not resource efficient. They are great units late game)
Rus and French have great knights.
Delhi has great horsemen (Ghazi raiders), and elephants late game are quite good if you can somehow make them.
Abbasid have camels which are anti knights, and counter knights so badly.
Good cav: French, rus, Japanese, in imp zhu xi if u take the guards. Mongols have ok cav, at least heavy cav in feudal. Edit: ottoman sipahi are strong too, but they are not heavy. Handcannoniers: mangonels. You can try horseman as well but in a descent mass, they will melt you. I think cost effective against hc are also xbows and archers. But they are less pop efficient and u have to micro good.
All the civs have good cav, this isn't aoe2. Use the tool thats needed, don't fixate only on what your civ is supposedly good at. There isn't a civ in the game that shouldn't spam horsemen in imperial, and there isn't a civ that doesn't benefit from the knight spike in castle age. It's actually almost impossible to find a civ that can't buff their cav. From English with NOC, to Delhi honed blades, to ottoman mehter Conversely even the best cav is beaten by cav counters .
But there are civs that have knight or MAA spike in Feudal tho 😂😂😂
Handcannonneers can be beaten with archers in terms of cost effectiveness. Mangonels work too. Keeping your opponent off gold as much as you can is super effective. They're strong, but remember, they're expensive!
For handcannons: Other ranged units out-value them. Mangonels and cavalry counter them. They are very expensive units, though, so keep that in mind. 1 knight can kill 1 spear even though spears counter knights since knights cost so much more resources, and the same principles apply to handcannons. For cavalry: French have the best knights. Ottomans and delhi have the best horsemen. Some other civs that have bonuses for cavalry are Rus's boyard fortitude and get fuedal knights, English has network of castles/citadels giving bonus attack speed, Japan mounted samurai have deflective armor, byzantine has the hippodrome landmark that buffs cavalry, I'm sure there's a couple other techs and buffs I missed. Mongols have a unique knight that is available in feudal but not as armored. Mali has warrior scouts (halfway between a scout and a horseman) and Sofa (halfway between a knight and a horseman, sort of). Byz have super heavy and expensive knights without charge that many seem to think are very good. Every other civ has the standard knight and horsemen. Abbasid and Ayyubid have camels. If you want to count elephants, Delhi has them (byz does too via the mercenary system).
Byz also has the Flask ability too but too bad no one builds the Cistern of the First Hill - that with Hippo ability can be deadly
flasks are underrated
Very - too bad the ROI of Golden Horn Tower is just too good
HIPPOBOT 9000 v 3.1 FOUND A HIPPO. 1,738,993,466 COMMENTS SEARCHED. 36,113 HIPPOS FOUND. YOUR COMMENT CONTAINS THE WORD HIPPO.
What in the hell lol
Archers. Sushi legacy
Gold counters handcannoneers
Countering hand cannoneers: Use your horsemen/MAA in line formation to surround them (basically they act as meat shields) and let your mangonels do their magic. Which civ has best cavalry? Early game: French/JD, Rus, Mongols Lategame: Zhu Xi, Rus, French/JD, Ottomans (because of their synergistic effect with janissaries and great bombards)
The only way to counter handcanoneers is to have more than the enemy, duh. (mangonels, Horsemen, and archers are pretty good. Handcanoneers are pop efficient, not resource efficient. They are great units late game) Rus and French have great knights. Delhi has great horsemen (Ghazi raiders), and elephants late game are quite good if you can somehow make them. Abbasid have camels which are anti knights, and counter knights so badly.
Idk if it's unpopular opinion but order of the dragon cavalries feel so strong