Gallic Archers

Summary
Archers are an advanced type of missile infantry available to the Gallic faction group, combining a very long missile range and 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
While the Gauls are on various occasions described as using javelineers, slingers and sometimes archers, they were not noted for being particularly proficient in ranged combat. Their strength was stated to be in their infantry, and some Gallic tribes were known for also having a strong cavalry arm, with the exact battle strategies and troop deployments varying from tribe to tribe. Probably, the developers gave them strong missile troops to create an in-game niche for them and help compensate for their limited access to heavy infantry such as hoplites in the mid-game.

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 slingers, javelineers, or 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.

Gallic Archers are arguably the best missile unit in the game, with the longest range of any unit, even outranging Etruscan and Cretan archers. They are the main strength of the Gallic faction, especially in the early-mid game when heavy infantry and heavy cavalry are severely lacking for the Gallic factions. Archers do, however, absolutely need to be kept safe from melee attacks, as they are utterly incapable of melee combat.