Talk:Arbalester/@comment-108.170.147.95-20151206090456/@comment-72.130.209.167-20170318065111

I don't disagree necessarilly, but I'd add a few things to your argument. 1.) The real power of arbs is not in stand ground, but in focus firing, moving, focus firing. You can destroy hordes of Palidins this way, because the Palidins have to keep readjusting their positioning instead of just attacking. That's part of it anyways. 2.) Population space becomes a serious issue in Imperial. Some newer players think they can just rebuild their army. What they don't realize is that a lot of this game is decided on 1 or 2 major battles and choosing when that battle takes place (when you have the power spike) is how you win, because even having a light military advantage can snowball a game. Not only do you get a lot of units alive at the end of the battle, but you can punish their eco with it. Being limited by the population cap is part of the reason why arbs aren't used more often. Eventually they'll get left behind in overall power. They're still very useful, don't get me wrong, just not as one massive army. They're cheap to tech into and get an early powerspike for one thing. Also, Hand Canoneers get bonus damage to infantry and have a few other quirks that make them a lot better in certain situations.