Yesterday I spectated one of the 2v2s played between Kellan&TheCode vs Viper&TaToH. The game watched by me was a Japanese&Britons war. My main focus was watching True vs TaToH, both Japanese. True took a good advantage early by killing 2 of his enemy, which allowed him to get more map control. It looked he would have a better position for at least the first minutes, especially because he is one of the most experienced DM players. Well, TaToH made an usual choice, the Spanish player made Heavy Cavalry Archers instead of Arbalests. What seemed weird turned out to be very effective, as the overall stats for HCA are better than Arbalests, except for range. TaToH got better fights than Kellan and stopped the push from the American. The HCAs were also more effective fighting Onagers and Elite Longbowmen, as Viper and TheCode joined the battle at some point(50% more pierce armour and almost 100% more HP does a huge difference against 12 range units).
Full upgraded HCAs take cost-effective fights against full upgraded Arbalests in WK, and even better trade in terms of gold. Another important advantage is the "cost" of population, as you start with enough resources to get popped in DM. Even though I'm a terrible noob in DM, I believe I'm right to think you should only choose to go Arbalests over HCA if your civ lacks Thumb Ring or if you are Britons(the range is great especially to snipe Siege). I'm looking forward if the standard play for some civs will be changed as The Legacy Cup 2 starts.
Full upgraded HCAs take cost-effective fights against full upgraded Arbalests in WK, and even better trade in terms of gold. Another important advantage is the "cost" of population, as you start with enough resources to get popped in DM. Even though I'm a terrible noob in DM, I believe I'm right to think you should only choose to go Arbalests over HCA if your civ lacks Thumb Ring or if you are Britons(the range is great especially to snipe Siege). I'm looking forward if the standard play for some civs will be changed as The Legacy Cup 2 starts.