[CUnknown]

Just to be contrary to majority opinion, I might as well throw out my 2 cents. You probably don't want to listen to me, because everyone else disagrees.

I -love- Arbelests!!!

I normally use about a 1:1 ratio of arbelests to infantry, because I do like meat shields for them. Although as people have pointed out, the arbelests don't do that bad in melee.

I think Arbelests are hands-down the best missile weapon in the game, at least against high-value targets. So Tuidjy doesn't burst a vein, I will add that this opinion has already been disproven by him. Heh.

I just remember the time when I killed an enemy SC god with nothing but 100 arbelests. This god had a high protection, luck, and an air shield active. This is the way the combat went:

Turn 1-5. Arbelests fire from long-range, doing slight damage. SC god buffs out.

Turn 6. SC god flies into the mix of my arbelests, killing a couple of them.

Turn 7. Arbelests fire at point-blank range, all hitting and killing the god, lol!!!

That combat made me forever a complete devotee of arbelests. They have my vote from now until the end of time as "best missile unit ever."

I don't think that 100 crossbowmen would have been up for the task, since the high protection value of that god would have mostly negated the damage dealt by them. Arbelests do -much- more damage per hit than x-bows, especially against high-value (high-protection) targets, i.e. the ones you -care- about. X-bows can kill 12 protection infantry better than arbelests, but who cares??