Musketeers Vs. Portugese Arquebusiers

[Quixote07]

Which unit do you find more effective in a pike and shot army?

I'm thinking about doing a 6 Pike, 8 Missile, 4 Cavalry, 6 Cannon (or 4 Cannon 2 elite heavy inf) stack. I certainly love the increased range from the musketeers, but I'm unsure about the effective difference in punch, or possibly RoF between the two, and the Portugese Arquebusier's effectiveness in melee.

Anyone out there have any thoughts about the relative merits of the two? I'm primarily fighting other European powers at this point.

[Carpathian Wolf]

Drop some cannons and add peasants in or something to screen yourself off from the longer range musketeers. Then you can use your superior damage port argquebuisiers and maul the rest.

[Quixote07]

So the extra two points of damage on the Arquebusiers makes enough of a difference? I was wondering about that versus the extra volley you'd get from more range.

Is it unwieldy to use the shorter range Arqubusiers to support the pike line?

[robbo]

I'd suggest creating a custom battle against an army your likely to face. Try it once with musketeers and again with arquebusiers. Try and keep as many things the same in both battles to make the test fair.