Wth...?
Anyway, Xbows have only one good thing: hit and run. That said, all their other stats suck - they lose to Muskets in combat, whle also get owned by Cavalry. They cost a high ammount of VS for their low HP/Dmg, and can't even siege a buidling down.
But, while being able to perform a decent hit and run, it is also doomed with a medium range and low speed. That means they can get overwhelmed by fast infantry units rather quickly. So... they lose to pretty much 95% of all other LI*, lose to fast melee infantry and lose to ranged Heavy Infantry. The only few units they perform good against are...
1- Strelets, which although have anti heavy infantry multipliers have a very low damage and have a lower range than Xbows.
2- Macehualtins, basically because those guys suck. Well, vs most things, but they are the crossbow I've ever wanted when facing Heavy Infnatry.
I doubt Xbows can help you in a rush... the only good way to get them is through the 8 Xbow shipment (which, in VS, is great). As Spain, Rodeleros seem to work much better against most units, perform better than Xbows vs most Heavy Infantry (probably even Musketeers). As an attack force, they suck - low HP, low siege and needs some micro. You'd be doing much better with Musketeers - higher HP, higher siege and are quite good on melee, so you don't need to care about being overwhelmed by Pikes or other crap melee units.Musket > Xbow. The only reason you've seem a German performing a Xbow rush is because, for a few reasons, they can't perform a Musket rush.
ESO - Walker
>> Napoleonic Era --> Visit their Homepage!
"Holy *****" > Thunder (Ensemble Studios)
Retired from AoE3. But I do play AoK HD in Steam now and then.