Talk:Cataphract (Age of Empires II)/@comment-65.28.183.104-20190629202317

Ways to counter the Cataphract:

1:  Heavy Cavalry/Archer combo:  Just what it sounds like, having knight line units and or camels holding the Cataphracts at bay while archers shoot them to pieces. Ideally foot archers due to their accuracy, but hand cannoneers suffice as well. Genoese Crossbowmen also work as their base damage is the same as a FU Arbalest, even though their bonus is eaten up by the resistance of the Cataphract.

2:  Cavalry Archers:  Only if one has access to the Thumb Ring and Husbandry. Easy for the Mongols and to a lesser extent the Berbers, Magyars and Turks, shoot them with massed Cavalry Archers/Camel Archers with hit and run focused fire. Also works for the Huns given their cheaper Cavalry Archers.

3:  Battle Elephants:  These guys win one on one in any circumstances. Even Malay Elephants with their pitiful armor and lack of health from Bloodlines win. They are faster than War Elephants and do trample damage in addition to having high health and attack.

4:  Halberdier Swarm:  What it sounds like--pump out Halberdiers and stab them to death. Especially useful for the Japanese due to their fast attack speed, the Burmese due to the additional 3 points of damage and the Goths due to their cheapness and quick creation speed.

5:  Conversion:  For civs who lack the Halberdier, have weak Heavy Cav and or have weak archers, the only thing better than killing a Cataphract is adding one to your ranks. Ideal for civs whose monks have Sanctity, Block Printing and Theocracy for maximum durability, range and faith management effectiveness.

6:  Grouped Arambai:  With 19 pierce damage per hit for Elites, 14 after pierce armor is factored in, does anything else need to be said?

7:  Grouped Conquistadors:  With 18 pierce damage per hit for Elites, 13 after pierce armor is factored in, 5 hack armor when FU and a far higher accuracy than Arambai (70% vs 30%), does anything else need to be said?

8:  Boyars. Even a FU non-Elite Boyar can defeat the FU Elite Cataphract. With an attack of 16, 7 Hack Armor, 120 HP and an attack speed of 1.93, a non-Elite Boyar out-classes it's opponent. The Elite Cataphract has an attack of 14, 5 Hack Armor, 150 HP and an attack speed of 1.73. Every strike the non-Elite Boyar makes against the Elite Cataphract deals 11 damage, while every strike the Elite Cataphract makes against the non-Elite Boyar deals 7 damage. With 150 HP, 14 strikes are needed for the non-Elite Boyar to kill the Elite Cataphract. Those 14 strikes take up 27.02 seconds, enough time for the Elite Cataphract to deal 16 strikes. Still the Elite Cataphract's 16 strikes for 7 damage is only 112 damage, 8 less than the non-Elite Boyar, while the Elite Boyar's 14 strikes amount to 154 damage, 4 more than the Elite Cataphract has HP.   An Elite Boyar, well...think of an Elite Teutonic Knight vs an Elite Berserk.

POV:  It probably would have been better if Cataphracts had no resistance, instead having increased attack, hack and pierce armor and increased health, while causing them to take the same damage from anti-cavalry units as Camels to make them easier to counter than the current resistance system. This is given resistance makes Spearmen, Pikemen, Camels and Kamayuks as well as the bonus from Genoese Crossbowmen and Viking units with Chieftains near or completely useless in countering them, while making the Cataphracts themselves lackluster in combat against non-infantry units.