Cavalry not Hobilars, Ideas for improving horses in Oblivion Options

[Furius Rumpus]

In Morrowind we had levitate spells, a transport network and various teleports to get around. In heartland Cyrodiil, as the empire collapses, these secrets are lost and horses make a serious re-appearance. Great ! The only problem is that they die in fights and don't carry anything other than people. So along cone those two fine mods which offer us barding and saddlebags. Wonderful. Top of my wish list however is for Oblivion to allow us to actually ride into battle without dismounting. This is why I called this post Cavalry not Hobilars. To explain to those who don't know, a Hobilar rides to battle then dismounts to fight, like highly mobile infantry; i.e. Oblivion at the moment.
So here are some suggestions for how to arrange the issue of becoming cavalry.
Riding into battle presents some problems, but in summary there are a few things that need to be coded for specifically.

1/ If you ride a horse at someone, you have a lot of mass coming at them as well as a lot of velocity. The horse can simply knock people over and trample them, but more importantly, if a mounted weapon connects with someone it does so with more force than a simple hand blow.

2/ People who ride badly tend to fall off. Horses refuse obstacles and throw you. You get hit by branches or the horse gets startled. Or you get hit hard by an enemy and fall off. Falling off hurts too.

3/ Horse users favour longer weapons for increased reach. Missile weapons are also great from horseback if you have the skill. As for spells ? Probably much the same I guess.

Okay so those are the problems in brief. How to solve this.

I propose the need for a new skill, Riding.
You gain experience in riding by staying on the horse. A level per 20 minutes on the road or 10 minutes off road, 5 minutes in combat (just a suggestion).

Novice= Can't fight from horseback. Fatigued by riding. Horse will throw you rather than take damage. A hit doing damage equal to your current riding skill will knock you off the horse. In short, be prepared for a bruised rump.

Apprentice= Half fatigue from riding. Horse has a 50% chance of taking damage rather than throwing you on bad terrain. You can make the horse jump. You can fight in a 90 degree forward facing arc on horseback. Weapon skill is limited to your riding skill.

Journeyman= No fatigue from riding. Horse has a 75% chance of taking damage rather than throwing you. You can fight in a 180 degree arc. Can ride the horse at people with a 25% chance of knocking them over (halve this for large critters like minotaurs and daedra though).

Expert= fight in a 270 degree arc. 50% knockdown. Horse never refuse to take damage. Damage must equal your riding skill + your agility to knock you off.

Master= 360 degree fighting arc (but not 360 degree swivelling hips). 75% knockdown enemies. Horse will kick enemies without interfering with your fighting. It takes 150% of your riding skill and agility in damage to unhorse you.

With barding and saddlebags included, horse will be more fun. There should however also be ongoing stabling expenses...

I hope this is well recieved.

[Foster]

Just a thought, but horse users don't always favour longer weapons - just take a look at the sabre. Generally cavalry used shorter weapons, as they were better able to control them whilst riding a horse.