This is my greatest joy,
When I have many to kill:
When I start to dance with my scythe...
— Rozmowa mistrza Polikarpa ze śmiercią
| Crossbow infantry: Vital statistics | |
|---|---|
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Unit type |
Medium missile infantry |
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Built/trained At |
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Damage and weapon type |
Strong; quarrel |
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Armour |
Light |
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Production cost |
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Range |
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Unit move & creation speed |
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Hit Points |
Medium |
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Technological Requirements/Upgrades |
Upgrade of Composite Archers |
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Available To |
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Possibly the best heavy archer unit in the game, the Lithuanian Crossbowman combines the toughness of Heavy Archers with the reach and stopping power of a crossbow. Yet, make no mistake — like the three other units that form the Polish unique unit line, Lithuanian Crossbowmen may be as fast and quick as any normal unit of their class, but they take a longer time to recruit and press into service (albeit not as long as the two Slavic axe units do), and are not as accurate as they should be. Nevertheless, the extra reach of their weapons and their improved speed (compared to their predecessors, the Composite Bowmen) mean that these units are sufficiently strong enough to provide counter-archer support if so needed. Still, given that Poland suffers from long training time, you might be better off saving your timber and wealth and choose to recruit Arquebusiers and Skirmisher Levy instead once they become available.
Following the Crusades in the Middle East and Spain, Catholic states around the Baltic also took up arms under the pretext of fighting for the Faith against the pagans living around the Baltic coastal regions of northeastern Europe, slaughtering many and bullying the survivors into conversion. Even so, this did not guarantee safety for the survivors from the Danes or the (mostly German) Teutonic Order, and so Lithuania entered a personal union with Poland in 1385 through marriage of the then Grand Duke, Jagliello, to Jadwiga, heiress of the Polish crown. This did more than just bring both nations together, but also allowed Poland to diversify her military with the light infantry and light cavalry tactics of the Lithuanians, while allowing the Lithuanians in turn access to the more modern heavy unit tactics which dominated mediaeval warfare throughout Europe, protecting them from the Teutonic Knights in the Mediaeval era and from the Russians of Moscow in the early modern era.
Unit summary[]
- Best heavy archer in the game, but suffers from a training time penalty.
- Although Lithuanian Crossbowmen are very powerful, the faster-training Arquebusiers and Skirmisher Levy might prove to be more viable as light missile units.