First Post: Introduction and Request For Help Getting Up To Speed

[MaxWilson]

Partly, it's about scale. Arrows scatter, even if your precision is pretty good, and so 80 barbarians would have taken more damage than 20 barbarians did. (As an experiment, try adding various amounts of Barbarians, or Longbowmen, to your battle replays w/ Shift+'U'.) Still, it's not surprising that melee troops did more damage.

On the other hand, melee troops take fatigue from encumbrance, as well as HP damage from enemy melee units. As fatigue goes up, effective attack and defense skill go down and you also become more vulnerable to missile fire. Sometimes PD + archers can be much stronger than just PD by itself.

-Max