Again, you say that there is a need for the calvary charge. Why couldn't they just fly over the front lines to the archers? They don't HAVE to smash through the front lines.

And We got Silt Strides, which I could see being used like elephants in RL, but I'm not going to make that assumption.

Not that there is a need, but people were saying that the Dunmer wouldn't use horses because they have other things that can do what horses can do. I am simply making the point that that is not the case.

Silt striders to be honest don't strike me as the combat type. I'd probably have infantry around their fragile legs and maybe put mages ontop of them or something like that.

Okay, time for a hypothetical lore story.

"A Dres noble discovers that not only is his estate excellent for the raising of horses, but native grasses enable steeds of phenomenal stamina and speed to be bred easily. Using these horses in cavalry units could revolutionize warfare and agriculture to boot, sending the Dunmer to continental hegemony.

What happens?

Nothing.

The Dunmer don't give a [censored]. They are the most conservative mortals on Nirn. There is no tradition and customs regarding horses. There is folklore that they are inferior animals and nobles consider them spiritually unclean. It doesn't matter if they COULD be bred and used successfully, because they WON'T be."

People as a society don't work like a really big think-tank. They don't act according to the logical pursuit of efficiency and mutual advantage. They just do, and horses aren't part of what the dunmer do. It doesn't matter if they could take up the reins and put the Rohirrim to shame in five years, because they won't.

Source?

No source, I made it up to make a point. So read it that way.

I was speaking about this:

The Dunmer don't give a [censored]. They are the most conservative mortals on Nirn. There is no tradition and customs regarding horses. There is folklore that they are inferior animals and nobles consider them spiritually unclean. It doesn't matter if they COULD be bred and used successfully, because they WON'T be."

People as a society don't work like a really big think-tank. They don't act according to the logical pursuit of efficiency and mutual advantage. They just do, and horses aren't part of what the dunmer do. It doesn't matter if they could take up the reins and put the Rohirrim to shame in five years, because they won't.

Nitpicking it is, but Cyrodiil is not a jungle any more. Sadly. :shakehead:



Galopping is a way to move your feet/legs, and there are many four-legged creatures that can do this. Dogs gallop, if I'm not mistaken.


Allright, I guess. Just remember that an argument isn't always won by getting the last word.


What I meant was that, if archers fire their weapons at the right time, there will hardly be any cavalry left. Rain of arrows are devastating in this aspect, and you don't even have to aim (well, you need to hold your bow up, of course :dance:). I would say it would be even easier to hit cavalry than to hit flying such, since you can mark the reach of the (cross-)bows with arrows, but when fireing at things in the air, you have to measure with your eyes, which = harder to make use of arrow rains.

Anyway, yes, they would probably be more succesful as flanking units. Unless you crashed them straight into the army, like cannon balls of sorts. Kamikaze-bugs would be interesting tactic.
Not that I think any self-respecting general would make use of such things, unless there was a way to control them from a distance.



Well, the point I wanted to make is that we haven't seen all of Morrowinds fauna. I would not think it impossible that they might have a such a creature anywhere. They don't even have to be fast (well, at least not extremly fast), just big. The Elephant Cockroaches of Morrowind-style. Sure, it's not lore-based, but it's very feasible, at least to me..

On a side note though: Heavy cavalry isn't really that agile, because, well, it's heavy. With lighter cavalry.. Well, those were never good for anything anyway

I don't think they rode dogs :shrug:



Good luck trying to sell that one. I've been trying for years.



The thing with cavalry however is that they can use terrain to cover themselves. Also once the cavalry smash into the line they can continue to fight. You can't smash your wasp into the enemy the same way.



Yea true. I just like the thought of Dres having horses from the Dashaan plains because of the Real Barenziah and Cheydinhal. :shrug: Dres are pretty shallow lore wise compared to the other four houses. I took a little bit of libertry in that sense. Just how I believe they have the strongest navy in Morrowind because of the many Khajiit slaves. They'd have to have some sort of navy!



True enough but they're still better then battle guars!

Light cavalry was good for attacking lighter faster troops, scouting or if you put a nice javalin or a bow on the person riding it, well you get the idea.

The point still stands that it could be any four legged animal, not specifically a dog.

Most of us but it

And flying things can use height and maneuvarbility to cover themselves.

But from what we DO know is that Dres is the most traditionalist house in Morrowind, and will be unlikely to take an advancement coming from a Nord Invasion for the otherside of the country. But this is one of those beliefs that you should keep to yourself. We all have them, and this one is yours.


Light cavalry was also good for flanking and hit and run attacks. In fact, they were used more heavily than heavy cavalry.

Do we have any sources that suggest Nords bringing horses to Morrowind for the first time?

You know that wasn't the point :meh:


Well there's always the one where you bide your time and plan a horrible, macchivellian revenge. But I wouldn't recommend it though, because those macchiavelli guys always gets beat up in the end for some reason.


Most likely, archers knowing they are about to get mowed down by heavy knights would "cover" themselves too. And if you're charging right at something, how do you propose you cover yourself?
Anyway, any general would make sure to put his archers in an as advantageous position as possible. It it is possible for the cavaraly to cover behind the landscape, which implies somekind of hills, then I'd bet you'd find the archer on one of those hills, were their reach would be increased. If the cavarally "hid" behind forests, I'd would have placed my archers inside those woods.
I guess we could discuss this all day, but it's getting rather out of topic.


Hehe... They probably would. They have the biggest seaside-area, don't they? Allthough, it does point away from the rest of the continent.


Do not underestimate the power of the battle guars! A thousand panicking hulk-lizards can do great harm, to any enemy! (Or ally...)

Aside from having archers riding the insects, they can drop http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flechette. They're very effective against groups of people and can be drop from high up in the air.

Hitting something that moves so fast also isn't that easy and considering crossbows aren't all that fast, flying insects could close the distance before a second volley.



Fragile? Those legs are supporting their whole weight, they're anything but fragile. Those things wouldn't stay alive long enough to breed if their legs were that weak.

Rather like RL war elephants. Great so long as they're charging in the right direction.

I quite like the idea of silt-striders with howdahs on top and Dunmer archers shooting out of them. If the designers didn't think of it they should've.

I could see where Immortal is coming from about the legs. A few ropes strung up in the right place could bring one of those bad boys to the ground along with its riders, putting them at the mercy of the attacking force.

Unfortunately snow-speeders haven't yet been invented.

I can image they can bring one down if it was all alone, but that is never going to be the case.

Indeed just look at the AT-ATs are they alone? Nope they're often comes in flocks. And with the lesser AT-STs with them.

You get my point?

Just by the way, Immortal Blood, you soon realise you have to join them rather than beat them.

Debate as much as you can, becuase people are alwasy going to want you to bow to their better knowledge, and if it's not that then it's opinion. Eitehr way, it's not thicker skin you need, but pointier weapons, give as good as you get.


I want to draw some War Striders, as I have just dubbed them.

By the way, on a gaint wasp, how much would crossbow bolts, be blown off course? Surely they could use crossbows, and take into account the distortion the path of the bolt would no doubt have becuase of the wind. In the same way modern day snipers don't have perfect shots, they aim against the wind, and have to take into account heat, and bullet arc. You can always make up for it if you're trained to do so.

Aye, Cyrodiil will always be a jungle to me, no matter what the game Oblivion says, but thats another thing all together. Its not really a matter of having them be able to cross jungle terrain, but about them actually living and flourishing in an eviorment that holds no real place for them at all. I agree with you completely, Camels do fit the desert profile well, but not quite for mounts. Its been a great debate with you, really, thanks

Well, it's certainly inspired me in terms of learning lore again. I coudls ee how muhc I slipped up there, and I've forgotten a lot, not that I ever KNEW a lot.

But thanks, and I hope to show my face a bit more around here, I forgot how great it was.

So you have been here before? Nice.

I was also here a long time ago, much more then I'm now, but then I forgot the password and then I'm here again with a new account.

Well by the looks of it I joined back in november of ye olde '04.

Anyway, I think I joined to create a thread for tasty recipes of Morrowind ingredients.

My favourite was Hackle-Lo Daedra Heart where the heart is basically tandooried with Hackle-Lo wrapped around it to give it a bit of a druggin effect, with a side dish of green rice, which is Emerald dust fried with Sujamma and Salt Rice.

Yah, I might even create a thread discussing food cultures of Tamriel.... Who cares about theology when you have food...

Real life nords.. my people.. we had horses plenty of them, but not for combat, today the scandinavian native horse only excists on iceland.. it was brough over there and introduced by the norwegians who settled there, today allas all are gone in the rest.. quite sad actually.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gotland_Pony.
But yeah, apart from those two, I don't think there's another scandinavia native horse breed that isn't extinct.
And ponies don't count anyway.