The Archery Range is an essential building if the player has an archer-based civilization or if the player needs to have decent counter the enemy archers as the Skirmisher is trained there. If a player is intending to perform a turtling strategy that requires the use of ranged units they should build several Archery Ranges within fortifications, as they can produce the required basic types of archers, also considering that archers garrisoned in towers and Castles allow them to fire more arrows.
Like the Barracks, placing the Archery Ranges near to an enemy settlement helps to cut off walking distances for the troops as they can be created near the opponent allowing them to attack more effectively, also considering that foot archers have slow movement speed.
The following table shows the availability of the units and technologies for every civilization. Unique units and units that are available to all civilizations are not shown in the table. An 'X' in the last column indicates that all units and technologies are available.
Missile weapons like the bow carried over the Middle Ages from ancient times in most areas of the world. Northern Europe was an exception for many centuries because the dense forests of the region nullified the range advantage of bows. Throwing weapons like axes, javelins, and knives were more popular there. As the forests were cleared, use of the bow spread. Training with missile weapons took place at the archery range. The training of bowmen was especially favored in England, where every town had an archery range and competitions were held each week to encourage practice. From its large pool of archers, England could easily recruit several thousand expert longbowmen for armies going to France. As crossbows and early firearms came into use, men were trained to operate these weapons at a modified archery range.