Haagrim - your account needs to have the Fallen_ tag to be activate on our forums
Much better damage for practically no skill investement? Xbow is the way to go 
Individually yes, but tactically xbows are much worse in large numbers.
Xbows need cover and if there are too many of them then they have to share cover decreasing their effectiveness. The more xbows you have, the less effective they therefore become.
Archers meanwhile become more effective as a group due to the increased volume of fire they can lay down and the fact that they can skirmish virtually anywhere with no need to get in each others way.
Finally an Arbalest has as much damage at level 20 as it has at level 35, whereas bows continue to gain damage everytime you level up. Of course in cRPG this means people can easily hybrid which keeps the crossbow balanced vs the archer as the archer gains more damage at high levels. But on Strat where a crossbowman's hybridisation is ignored, the high level archer is definitely the better option of the 2.
Poll