Archers vs. Slingers
Ancient sources tell us, that archers (with shortbows) and slingers are roughly equal in terms of combat effectivness.
Arrows do more damager
per shot, especially against troops with light armor and without shields. Slingers are actually better against troops
with shields than archers, as they still cause full shock damage even if the projectile is caught with the shield, because of it's greater mass. Furthermore the volume of fire from slingers is considerably higher due to the easier availability of ammo ... .
The problems with slingers in Dom2 is actually their abysmal accuracy (-3 IIRC), which is IMHO not supported by ancient sources.
Longbowmen are an entirely different matter. In Dom, either their damage is too low or they should have "armor piercing" qualities.
Crossbow should have even more damage, much lesser range but even higher accuracy. Problem maybe: They start to run towards the enemy to get him in range and may end up in front of your inf. no big prob, though, they meet the slingers there
