I love slingers. I usually use Egypt and bronze with chariots and priests. But before I bronze I'll build ten slingers and kill as many villagers as I can. Yeah, it robs 400 food, but it's a quick build in Tool for an early econ rush. I usually play maps with water, so I'm mostly woodcutting and using boats for food. With bowmen I'd be taking away from my wood and boat supply. Plus, slingers are quick to build. You don't have to upgrade to anything. Bowmen are a decent early disruption, but they get clobbered by watch towers.
With slingers you can usually manage to do some damage. They get higher piercing armor which means you can check out towered areas. And if they're towering that means they're gathering lots of stone, and less food. Early damage here could put your enemy down. Bowmen go down easy to slingers. If things go well and they survive, I'll usually research stone mining, and try to use them again in support of my main bronze rush. I also use them as a go to hell plan. If ten or fifteen bowmen show up while I'm trying to fast bronze, I'm dead cuz I don't use tons of early towers. Slingers will slaughter the early bow units.
"You've never hunted...until you've hunted...man." -
Jesse Ventura -
"The Body," "The Mind," US Navy SEAL, Professional Wrestler, Actor, X Minnesota Governor, Philosopher at large.