Hondero Élite

The Elite Skirmisher upgrade notably grants +1 attack, +1 anti-archer bonus damage, +2 anti-cavalry archer bonus damage, +1 pierce armor, and +1 range. Given the moderately low price of the upgrade, it is almost always worth obtaining early. Most of the time, Skirmishers are very weak to everything except Archers, Hand Cannoneers, and Pikemen (to a degree). With a weak and slow attack, as well as a minimum range, they deal almost no damage to infantry and cavalry. Nevertheless, their attack bonus against archers and high pierce resilience can make them valuable against any archer-using opponent, especially if the player's civilization bonuses benefit infantry or heavy cavalry. Unless created to retaliate against enemy archers, each unit does poor damage. Elite Skirmishers also have a +4 attack bonus against Pikemen, allowing groups of them to quickly take out approaching Pikemen, but their minimum range still makes them vulnerable. However, they work great as support for cavalry because of this and their cheap cost. While Elite Skirmishers make poor ranged support in small numbers, they are extremely cheap. As they cost no gold, they are considered trash units and can be easily massed in significant numbers enough to kill units with a single volley. The size of the mob of units should also prevent enemy units from coming close enough to all of the units, allowing them to continue to fire. Therefore the Elite Skirmisher becomes especially important in the late game when gold becomes scarce and players have to rely on a wood and food economy. In a trash war, their bonus against the Spearman line also becomes more useful.