Heaven’s Reference Pages

Improved Bowman
Age: Bronze
Prerequisites: Build Town Center, build Barracks, build Archery Range, research Improved Bowman.
Upgrade Cost: - - -
Research Cost: 140 food, 80 wood
Cost: 40 food, 20 gold
Hit Points: 40
Attack: 4
Armor: - - -
Piercing Armor: - - -
Range: 6
Speed: Medium
Upgrade of: - - -
Special: - - -
Description:
The Improved Bowman is not an upgrade of the Bowman. It is a separate unit with more hit points, attack strength, and range than the Bowman. The Improved Bowman can be upgraded to the Composite Bowman.
Comments
Archers fire arrows at enemy villagers, military units, boats, and buildings within their range. The Improved Bowman is normally not a mainstream bronze age unit. They are mostly known for just being "an upgrade in the way of getting the composite bowman". The reason that I think no one really uses them is because they are slow, have poor range and no bonuses from any civ. These guys should be built by a few archery ranges, while waiting for the composite bow upgrade to finish in a different range. They have very few purposes, except taking out Tool Age units (except slingers). They have a range of 6.
Cherub Sting and Angel Washizu
History
The simple bow was improved by using better materials and by better training. Employing better wood or strips of laminated wood increased the tensile strength of the bow, increasing power and thus range. Arrows were improved also by such changes as metal arrowheads. In modern times, hundreds of bronze arrowheads were recovered from an archaeological excavation of the battlefield at Thermopylae. On this site a Spartan force under Leonidas had perished under a hail of Persian arrows after delaying the huge Persian army for many days.
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