Crossbowmen are ranged infantry units that use crossbows in battle. They are counter infantry units that are useful for attacking heavy infantry such as Musketeers, but are easily defeated by melee cavalry and artillery. They are similar in many ways to Skirmishers. Although the Crossbowmen might be out-ranged by their Skirmisher counterparts, they are cheaper and are trainable earlier in the game. The exceptions to this rule reside in the Dutch who can train Skirmishers in the Commerce Age and the French through the use of the "TEAM Early Skirmishers" Home City Card which allows them and their allies to train Skirmishers in the Commerce Age.
Spanish players have the option of being able to almost instantly train (2.7 seconds) Crossbowmen and Pikemen in the Commerce Age, due to the "TEAM Archaic Soldier Training" and "Fencing School" cards, and can train instantly if the cards are also used with the Standing Army improvement.
Upgrade Crossbowmen to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Guard Crossbowmen and The Papal Guard
Imperial Ordinance Besteiros
Upgrade Ordinance Besteiros to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Ordinance Besteiro and The Papal Guard
Imperial Arbalesters
Upgrade Arbalesters to Imperial (+50% hit points and attack); requires Arbalesters
Civilization differences[]
(Definitive Edition) Choosing The Papal Guard to advance into the Industrial Age automatically upgrades Crossbowman to Guard (Royal Guard for the Portuguese) and allows them to be upgraded to Imperial.
Before the Definitive Edition, the Portuguese have Besteiros, which upgrades their Crossbowmen to Veteran (if not already) and gives them +30% hit points and attack, and renames them to Besteiro.
However, the Swedes are the only civilization with access to Crossbowman who cannot upgrade them beyond Veteran, even with The Papal Guard.
Indians and Japanese can get Crossbowmen by allying with the Portuguese, which provides Portuguese Expeditionary Company and Portuguese Expeditionary Force that includes 7 and 10 Crossbowmen (named Ordinance Besteiro) respectively. These Crossbowmen start with +10% hit points and attack than their regular counterpart, and are automatically upgraded in each Age starting from the Fortress Age (see here for the exact values).
The Ethiopians can ship 10 Crossbowmen (named Ordinance Besteiro) with Portuguese Crusaders, which also allows them to be trained at War Camps for 40 food and 40 coin. These Crossbowmen are automatically upgraded in each Age starting from the Fortress Age like their Consulate version.
Guard and Imperial upgrades are available to the French, Germans and Spanish through the Papal Guard. Portuguese can now upgrade Royal Besteiros to Imperial.
With update 14825, the Swedes can train Crossbowmen, but cannot upgrade them to Guard and Imperial.
Trivia[]
Portuguese Royal Guard/Consulate Crossbowmen are named after the Ordenanças.
Before the Definitive Edition, they are simply named "Besteiro", which means "crossbowman" in Portuguese.
The Dutch originally had access to training the Crossbowman, and there are unused voice files for Dutch Crossbowmen in the game files and in the Scenario Editor.
In the Definitive Edition, the Swedish Crossbowman uses the Swedish dialogue originally spoken by the Fusilier, while the Fusilier is a French mercenary unit and uses the French Grenadier's dialogue files.
History[]
“
Handheld crossbows began to appear in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Crossbowmen were attractive to military leaders because they took much less time to train than archers using bows. Firearms eclipsed Crossbows by the end of the sixteenth century.
Europeans, chiefly the Spanish, included crossbows amongst the muskets and cannon they brought to the New World. Cortes arrived with more than two dozen crossbows and less than ten muskets. Columbus' crew had crossbows when they landed in the West Indies. When the original stockpile of munitions ran out it was difficult or impossible to make or trade for more. Explorers had to be very careful with their limited supply.
”
Gallery[]
An in-game Crossbowman
An in-game Veteran Crossbowman
The Crossbowman's history portrait
The in-game stats of a Crossbowman
The in-game stats of a fully upgraded Veteran Crossbowman
An in-game Consulate Besteiro
Crossbowman detailed model for cutscenes
Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Veteran Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Guard Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Imperial Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
An in-game Consulate Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition