Etruscan Archers

Summary
Archers are an advanced type of missile infantry available to the Etruscan faction group, combining a long missile range with a very high damage output.

"Archers are light ranged infantry that have greater range than javelineers, do more damage than slingers, but have very limited melee skills. Archers were relatively rare in combat as the bow was still consider to be primarily for hunting."

- In-game Description

History
Few details of Etruscan warfare are known, with most of our knowledge coming from inferences based on circumstantial archaeological evidence, such as surviving pieces of weapons and armour or depictions of soldiers in murals or sculptures found in Etruscan tombs. There are notable depictions of archers in surviving pieces of Etruscan art, suggesting that the Etruscans made greater use of these troops than other peoples in the area, but no exact details are known.

Ancient authors frequently describe slingers as being able to outrange archers, at least in European warfare where the stronger composite bow was uncommon. In-game, though, slingers are outranged by archers, likely because archers were designed as a more advanced elite missile unit with better stats as a reward for the extra investment required to unlock them, whereas slingers are a basic missile fodder unit.

Tactics
Archers are a very strong missile brigade and offer significantly better missile support than axemen or, for that matter, any other non-archer unit in the game. Their only downside is their somewhat higher amount of recruits required per unit and that they require cities to have grown to the point where they can construct the necessary target range upgrade, meaning they are not available in the earliest stages of the game when lightly armoured units vulnerable to missile fire are the most abundant.

Etruscan Archers are nonetheless a very powerful missile unit that can turn the tide of battle in any stage of the game, if kept safe from melee attacks. Only Gallic Archers are more powerful missile units, having an even larger range.