crossbow vs bow

[Summer]

Han can recruit both bowmen and crossbowmen for the same cost and duration.

Which ones are better? Why do they have both? Which should I generally recruit?

[Seleucids]

2 minutes ago, Summer said:

Which ones are better?

Crossbowmen have less range but more damage per second on average. However, they shoot once every 3 seconds, which is slow - good for stationary battles, bad for emergency situations that require agility.

Archers have longer range and faster firing rate, so you can use them as mobile snipers. However, they do less damage per shot than crossbow.  

5 minutes ago, Summer said:

Which should I generally recruit?

Ideally you want a mix of both, alongside some melee. This will prepare you for any situation. 

 

5 minutes ago, Summer said:

Why do they have both?

In order to satisfy both balance requirements and historical accuracy. This civ needed skirmishers or slingers in order to be on par with the other civs, however, the Han didn't use slings nor javs. The solution is to add a crossbow unit that has very similar stats to a slinger.