Dismounted Combat?

[Kaen]

This may be silly and probably should go somewhere in RP discussion, though it may not since it's dedicated for finding RP partners. So I'll post this here.

Mounted units. They are fast, imposing, convenient. Redhead knight rushes off with his Lady in his grasp, from a pursuing army onwards towards safety. A pegasus knight boldly flies off towards a long-distance caster to prevent him from limiting her allies positioning. A group of wyvern riders make a surprise attack on land units over a mountain, ensuring heavy casualties to the lighter units on the flank.

I love mounted units, though in RP I always wondered if any rider could fight as well mounted as he could on foot. I am not talking about reclassing or anything. Just plain dismounted combat for normally mounted units. Some are easy to extrapolate, mage on foot promotes to a mage knight, getting a fast steed for extra mobility. Since he's normally a land unit, you can easily assume he fights unhindered without his mount, of course he does not get the speed provided by the mount.

But what about units that are ALWAYS mounted? They are soldiers, all right. They can handle a spear, or a sword, sometimes an axe. But in the games you never find them without their mounts unless they reclass.

So, my Wyvern rider has little to no experience in combat. He's small, lightly armored. You can easily rely on a horse's gallop or a Wyvern's swoop for speed and damage. That would obviously mean my little wyvern rider would obviously be at his best soaring above and hitting with flight momentum.

Defense is affected too, I believe. Armored horses give you a nice advantage to avoid getting hurt. You are no teeny tiny target, but by no means easier to hit aloft an armored horse which puts you right at the exact height to swing your arm and cut into a guy's neck.

TLDR: Should mounted units incur a penalty to combat if they lack their mount? Besides the obvious lack of mobility, of course. What do you guys think?

PS: Go ahead and shove this in the appropriate forum if it does not belong here.

[Richter Abend]

It's generally up to the RPer. If you are RPing a character that has very little experience fighting off of a mount, then yes, their battle capabilities will be hampered when fighting off of the mount. If you're RPing a character, a well-trained knight for example, they would most likely be well-trained fighting off their mount as well as on. Not to say they're equally effective, but that they're no slouch off the mount.

Likewise, a non-mounted unit can hop on a horse and swing a sword, but they definitely won't have any advanced riding techniques.

[Kaen]

Hum, that's a very, very simple answer. Though yeah, you're right. Cavaliers, Pegasi Knights and Wyvern Riders come from many walks of life. It'd be a tad silly to just assume they'd all be impaired in combat if they are on foot. Though I didn't think of it the other way around. Random Myrmidon hops on a horse and rides away. Since Sacaens are naturally good with horses, they could generally know at least how to ride, though mounted combat is more advanced than that. A low level myrmidon might have a better chance with a horse than say...a Pirate. xD

Going on with my previous example, my squire would barely be able to pierce light armor without a wyvern's momentum, and his attack would be clumsy and slow. He's a trainee unit, after all. I do not even assume he is good at flying the wyvern. Mostly relying on the beast's instinct rather than formal training. This will all slowly change as RP training goes on and on.