Genoese Crossbowman

"Italian unique unit. Anti cavalry archery unit."

- Age of Empires II description

The Genoese Crossbowman is the unique unit of the Italians in Age of Empires II HD: The Forgotten. It is a foot archer with an attack bonus against cavalry.

Genoese Crossbowmen can be upgraded to Elite Genoese Crossbowmen in the Imperial Age.

Tactics
The Genoese Crossbowman is a crossbow-wielding unit that has an attack bonus against cavalry and as such can prove to be a great defense against enemy Knights. Even mighty Elephant units (such as War Elephants and Battle Elephants) can be slaughtered very easily when faced with large mobs of Genoese Crossbowmen, though the Italian unique unit suffers from reduced effectiveness when battling Cataphracts as those have a high amount of bonus defense.

The Genoese Crossbowman is a well-rounded unit as it lacks and even counters the main weakness of most archers, which is cavalry. In masses, they are good against cavalry and infantry alike and can also defeat some weak archers when massed. Despite the attack bonus, cavalry units can still defeat them on one to one combat. They are still vulnerable to siege weapons (especially Mangonels) and other anti-archer units such as Skirmishers and Genitours. Huskarls, which have good pierce armor and an attack bonus against them, are especially effective. The speed and armor of faster infantry such as the Eagle Warrior 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.

As opposed to most units, Genoese Crossbowmen gain a much faster attack when upgraded. The Rate of Fire decreases from 3.05 down to 2.03, essentially making the Elite Genoese Crossbowman fire 50% faster. So when using them, getting the Elite upgrade as soon as possible should be a high priority as it greatly increases their damage output.

Further Statistics
As Genoese Crossbowmen are unique to the Italians, only technologies that are available to them are shown in the following table:

Team Bonuses

 * A team containing Berbers: With Kasbah researched, Genoese Crossbowmen are created and upgraded 25% faster, and Conscription and Pavise are researched 25% faster.
 * A team containing Magyars: Genoese Crossbowmen have +2 Line of Sight.
 * A team containing Malians: Researching Chemistry and Ballistics is 80% faster.
 * A team containing Saracens: Genoese Crossbowmen have +1 attack against buildings.
 * A team containing Teutons: Genoese Crossbowmen are more resistant to conversion.

The Forgotten

 * Genoese Crossbowmen cost 50W/50G.

Rise of the Rajas

 * Genoese Crossbowmen now cost 45W/45G.

Trivia

 * In the mod version of The Forgotten Empires, the Genoese Crossbowmen use a modified Hand Cannoneer unit model and texture. In the retail version however, they receive a new texture as a crossbowman carrying a shield.
 * The Genoese Crossbowman is one of the few archers that have an attack bonus against cavalry archers. The others are the Elite Skirmisher, Imperial Skirmisher, Elite Genitour, and the Camel Archer.
 * Genoese Crossbowman's bonus damage against cavalry probably refers to the weapon's ban by the Pope in 1096. The ban was applied because a mounted knight who spent years in military training can be killed easily by a peasant who used crossbow with little training. As a result, the crossbow was considered as a threat against ruling elites and they lobbied Roman Catholic Church to ban the weapon.