regarding archery... ofc, immortals deal with 75% of the upcoming barbarian stuff pretty good, still they're not so good as a defense even vs. axes - you have to attack in order to receive the +100% bonus, or am i wrong here (immortals can fortify after all...)? so if you attack an axe and have somewhat crappy odds and get out of the fight with ~30% HP or, even worse, you have to attack in in on a hill/forrest tile (you've plenty of them around your cap..), you're screwed, because you leave the city undefended OR lose the 100% bonus. multiple immortals would solve, but as far as i can see you only have one immortal here. anyway, i might be wrong here because i'm not too sure about how immortals "work" regarding defense.

beside that, yes, archery is a dead-end and yes, borderpops are always freakin' important, but i've found archery to be the "without it you'll be DEAD and the game will END" rather than the "dead-end" in emperor+ and especially marathon if i lack metals in a favourable position.

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