ByzantineCombine that with the trample possibility. Cataphracts can easily trap units. Plus they have the speed of a regular knight. The mounted samurai is still faster.
Against Sengoku, mass spearmen get destroyed by mass cavalry; they don't even need archers to counter them.
The Shinobi is probably the biggest game changer in the game. The damage debuff is 40%. Mounted Samurai do about 30 damage; an additional 40% on that is crazy. The slow means your opponent has a hard time escaping. Imagine you have shield wall on the Limitanei so they're already slow, and you add an additional slow on top. They're not getting away.
The Ashigaru, they're just not strong enough. It feels like they barely even tickle the Cataphracts. They're meant to be like a crossbow replacement, but they're just not trading cost effectively.
You can't just go one-to-one with mounted samurai against Cataphracts.
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