French archers better then English Archers?

[Noble Zweihander]

I was checking the totalwar Honga website ( nice one btw ) to see the stat of some units but I was surprised that there is a difference in stats between the archers of France and England.

I always thought that the English archers where far more superior then the France one's but when I look at the attack stats there is a (small) difference between them.

For example Retinue Longbowmen have 8-2 and 11-2 but the Scots Guard 9-3 and 12-3 ( Dismounted French Archers 8-3 and 11-3 ). Is this correct or are there other in-game stats that make the English archers better?

Also the stats of archers form the eastern based factions like Russia and Turks ( even Sicily with Muslim archers have 9-2 and 11-2 almost the same stats as the Retinue Longbowmen ) are better but I assume this has to be that they were more into archery I think Or I am looking to much to the stats of them

[shikaka]

Scots guard is a chosen band ("guard"), while longbowmen are farmers practicing with longbow.


You should also consider the availability: england has access to several tiers of longbowmen with different replenishment rates, so they can easily field 10-12 longbow units.
For France, Scots guard need need high tier buildings, and they have only Scots guard, no other tiers to back them up in numbers. They can field a longbow army of 10-12 units, but it takes them several turns to do so, while England can do it like instantly.

"Eastern" archers have a bit bigger attack because they are not Armor piercing.

[Aeratus]

In terms of stats alone, Scots guard are better. However, Retinue longbowmen can deploy stakes, while Scots Guard cannot. Another advantage of the retinue longbowmen is that it has a shield, which is better in ranged combat than the equivalent armor value.

England can spam a lot of longbows early on. However, Scots Guard also has a huge advantage in being recruitable from Huge cities without having to build barracks. This makes them one of the most convenient units.

[Highlander of Scotland]

nope the english are better. You can gain them within 20 turns and they are as cheap as peasant archers. ALso they have ap secondary and can lay stakes. Huge cities are less common than a castle or above