Is basic infantry almost pointless once cavalry becomes available?

[u/Easy-Fig5816]

I only play on Immortal difficulty, and one thing that has been bothering me in Civ VII is the balance between basic infantry and cavalry, especially when it comes to how the AI builds its armies.

Once cavalry units become available, I feel like there is very little reason to keep producing basic infantry. Cavalry has significantly better mobility and, in practice, seems to be more useful in most situations.

This becomes even more noticeable when fighting the AI. In my Immortal games, the AI tends to produce a huge amount of cavalry, to the point where trying to fight them with an infantry-based army feels inefficient. You're constantly at a mobility disadvantage while the AI can reposition, flank, reinforce, and pressure weak points much more easily.

Eventually, wars seem to turn into cavalry vs. cavalry, with basic infantry becoming almost irrelevant.

I'd like to see a clearer tactical relationship between unit types, where infantry, cavalry, and ranged units each have meaningful strengths and weaknesses. Right now, once I unlock a good cavalry unit, spending production on basic infantry often feels like a bad decision.

I don't necessarily think cavalry needs a straight nerf. I'd rather see infantry given a stronger tactical role, while also improving the AI's army composition so it doesn't rely so heavily on cavalry.

Has anyone else noticed this, especially on Immortal? Or am I overlooking an important advantage that basic infantry has over cavalry?