Talk:Japanese (Age of Empires II)/@comment-210.48.147.149-20150824012139/@comment-26842175-20150824161753

They deal more damage. Note that nearly all units(only a few unique units excluded) have more or equal pierce armor than melee armor(a FU(fully upgraded) champion does 14 damage vs. FU arbalest while an FU arbalest only deals 5 damage to a FU champion). Ranged units work best when all units are close and can attack with many units vs. a smaller group. Since ranged units have the habit of being close toghether, they are a more easy target for scorpions and mangonels.

Another big disadvantage is that two types of trash units can be used effectively vs. archers(both hussar and skirmisher).

Even more: some units have especially high pierce armor and can withstand a lot of pierce damage.