Ballestero Genovés

The Genoese Crossbowman is a crossbow-armed unit that has an attack bonus against and as such can prove to be a great defense against enemy Knights, including the durable Sicilian ones. Even mighty elephant units (such as War Elephants and Battle Elephants) can be slaughtered very easily when faced with large mobs of Genoese Crossbowmen. Even the resistant Bengali Elephant Archers can be defeated by Genoese Crossbowmen cost-effectively. The Genoese Crossbowman is a well-rounded unit as it counters cavalry. While most archer units are able to handle themselves against cavalry, the Genoese Crossbowman is a genuine counter. When massed, they are good against cavalry and infantry alike. Despite their anti-cavalry attack bonus, cavalry units can still defeat them on one to one combat if they are able to get in melee. This especially holds true for the Shrivamsha Rider, as it can outright dodge a Genoese Crossbowman's shots and are very fast, as well for the Savar, who, despite being less durable against bonus damage due to their lower hit points, have extra attack against archers, which makes them more effective than other cavalry facing Genoese Crosbowmen. This especially applies to Tiger Cavalry, thanks to their high attack against archers and the extra durability and attack gained by each killed military unit, which makes them a serious threat if Genoese Crossbowmen aren't massed in high numbers. Despite all its strength, the unit can be considered an Arbalester with -1 range against non-mounted units, though they are not as effective against Spear-line units as the regular Archer line due to a lack of bonus damage. They are still vulnerable to Mangonels, although to a lesser extent than other archers due to having enough hit points to survive a single Mangonel shot, and Scorpions. Other anti-archer units such as Elite Skirmishers and Huskarls, which have good pierce armor and an attack bonus against them, are especially effective, Genitours might lose against them in equal numbers, but remain a very cost-effective answer, as they don't cost gold. The speed and armor of faster infantry such as the Eagle Warriors and Ghulams can pose a problem as well. They can be paired up with the cheap Italian Hand Cannoneers whose attack bonus against infantry can prove very useful against civilizations with archer threatening infantry. Hussars and Bombard Cannons also pair up well for dealing with siege, and the former has a low cost and fast speed while the latter helps against buildings. The Genoese Crossbowman also has an attack bonus against all kinds of ships. In fact, it only takes two Elite Genoese Crossbowmen to take out a fully upgraded Galleon, while it takes about ten Arbalesters for the same. Despite the official description stating that the unit is weak to archers, the only disadvantage it has against foot archers is its 1 less range. To compensate, it has +1 attack in the Castle Age as well as +10 hit points. The description is also wrong considering archers includes mounted archers, against which the unit has a massive attack bonus and no range disadvantage. However, they still will be at a major disadvantage against several other archer unique units, especially against Longbowmen (being massively outranged), Rattan Archers (as they take just 1 damage due to their high pierce armor) and even Composite Bowmen (their moderate pierce armor is ignored by their attacks, while also being cheaper and faster to mass). === Comparison with similar units === { line line Cost Training time 14 seconds 27 seconds Range Armor 1/0 0/0 Line of Sight Range + 4 Range + 2 Hit points Pierce attack Attack bonus +4 vs camels and ships+5 vs cavalry and elephants +3 vs spearman Accuracy 100% 85% Upgrade costand time 60 seconds 50 seconds Hit points Pierce attack Attack bonus +5 vs Ships+6 vs Camels+7 vs Cavalry and Elephants +3 vs Spearman Accuracy 100% 90% }