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 train Crossbowmen and Pikemen very quickly (6.75 seconds) in the Commerce Age, due to the "TEAM Archaic Soldier Training" and "Liberation March" cards, and can train instantly if the cards are also used with the Standing Army improvement.
The Portuguese can train Crossbowmen and Pikemen more quickly (5.4 seconds) in the Commerce Age, due to the Ordenança technology from the Church, sent by the "Treaty of Tordesillas" card, and the "Fencing School" card.
Before the Definitive Edition, the Portuguese have Besteiros, which upgrades their Crossbowmen to Veteran (if not already) and gives them +30% hit points and damage, and renames them to Besteiro.
Choosing The Papal Guard to advance into the Industrial Age allows the Guard Crossbowmen upgrade for free (Royal Guard upgrade cost -60% resources for the Portuguese) and Crossbowmen to be upgraded to Imperial. However, the Swedes are the only civilization with access to Crossbowman who cannot upgrade them beyond Veteran, even with The Papal Guard.
The Germans can turn all Crossbowmen into Landwehrs through the "Scharnhorst Reform" Home City Card, which also grants them a Guard and Imperial upgrade.
The Order Besteiro (Besteiro before the Definitive Edition, Ordinance Besteiro before update 15.30007) is a counterpart of the Crossbowman, which starts with +10% hit points and damage.
The Ethiopians can ship 10 Order Besteiros with Portuguese Crusaders, which also allows them to be trained at War Camps. These Order Besteiros do not receive the starting +10% hit points and damage bonus, unlike their regular counterparts.
Delivers 10 State Militia and 5 Militiamen; Caravels, Galleons/Fluyts, Frigates, and Ironclads get +10% ranged attack damage per garrisoned State Militia and/or Militiaman (up to +60%); fully replaces Crossbowmen/Longbowmen, Pikemen, and Halberdiers with State Militia at Barracks, Forts, and on the map; grants Veteran State Militia; enables Guard State Militia
Unit all melee attack damage +15%; Rajput hand attack damage +20% instead, +1 Hindu Villager
TEAM Shivaji's Tactics
Unit hit points and damage +5%
Foreign Trading Companies
Adds 0.75 to export trickle rate; banner army export cost -15%; Indian unit cost +2.5% (Hindu Villager, Fishing Boat, and Sacred Cow cost +5% instead), +1 Hindu Villager
Daimyo and Shogun Tokugawa speed +5%, Line of Sight +10, training and research work rate +15%; land military train time -20%, artillery and banner army train time -10% instead
Enables Caravels to train Crossbowmen, Ordinance Riflemen (if available), Pikemen, and Halberdiers; Monitors and Ironclads to train Musketeers, Cassadores, and Grenadiers (if available); Frigates to train all Barracks units; Battleships to train all Barracks units and Grenadiers; Caravels, Frigates, Monitors, Ironclads, and Battleships now tagged as recruiting ships
Guard and Imperial upgrades are available to the French, Germans and Spanish through The Papal Guard, while the Portuguese can now upgrade Crossbowmen into Royal Guard and Imperial through the same politician.
With update 13.27885, the Portuguese no longer need The Papal Guard to upgrade Crossbowmen into Royal Guard and Imperial.
With update 13.58326, Crossbowmen have a ×2.5 ranged multiplier against light cavalry and ranged shock infantry, ×0.6 vs. cavalry and ×0.5 vs. shock infantry.
With update 14.43676, Crossbowmen have a ×0.6 ranged multiplier against shock infantry. Ordinance Besteiro and Arbalester upgrades received new models.
Originally, Arbalester costs 1,000 wood, 1,000 coin, researches in 30 seconds, and upgrades Crossbowmen to Arbalesters, which are Guard Crossbowmen with +10% hit points and damage. With update 14.43676, Ordinance Besteiro and Arbalester cost 750 wood, 750 coin, Arbalester researches in 20 seconds, and upgrades Crossbowmen to Arbalesters, which are Guard Crossbowmen with +5% hit points and damage.
With update 15.30007, Ordinance Besteiro and Imperial Ordinance Besteiros are renamed to Order Besteiros and Imperial Order Besteiros, respectively, and the Order Besteiros upgrade received a new model.
Trivia[]
The Crossbowman has three visual upgrades in total in the files, although the Discovery Age model is unused. This is because the game at one point was going to allow combat in the first Age, like in other Age of Empires games.
These Discovery Age model textures were updated for the Definitive Edition and now are used by the unupgraded Crossbowman (and consequently, the previous unupgraded Crossbowman textures were updated and now used by the Veteran Crossbowman, and the previous Veteran Crossbowman textures were updated and now used by the Guard Crossbowman).
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[]
In-game Crossbowman
In-game Veteran Crossbowman
The Crossbowman's history portrait
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
In-game Consulate Ordinance Besteiro in the Definitive Edition before update 14.43676
Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Veteran Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Guard Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
Imperial Crossbowman in the Definitive Edition
In-game (Imperial) Ordinance Besteiro Crossbowman in update 14.43676
In-game (Imperial) Arbalester since update 14.43676
In-game (Imperial) Order Besteiro Crossbowman since update 15.30007