Slitherine

I'm a newish player still at this point (100 hours of AI campaigns, mainly sandbox and without most of the expansions) and of all the unit types I've tried in that time, no unit seems to pull through for me in quite the same way. Their utility is nuts, capable of dealing devastating damage to spears at close range, enough casualties to disrupt lights, punch through the armor of knights, can utilize more terrain than a lot of other unit types, and even come with Protected status and 50% swords, all for a very reasonable price.

Am I overvaluing them? I think Dismounted Knights & Sergeants are the only other unit type I seem to consistently get great value out of. Knights can be really unreliable, especially when they chase things. I'd love to know some thoughts on unit types in the game from more experienced players, though.

They're very useful in most circumstances. Only time you might not want them is facing a horde of lightly protected medium foot (Baltic Tribes or the early medieval Irish lists) in which case bows tend to be better bang for your buck. Still a great, versatile unit.

Point-for-point I tend to rate them above longbowmen too (Welsh are 2 points cheaper but can't fight melee, regular longbowmen 13 points more expensive, worse armour and only slightly superior in shooting and staked longbowmen 22 points more expensive with a defence that a smart foe will just go around).

I tend to agree. Crossbowmen represent good value for money. They do as much damage as Longbowmen in reality and they are 50% swordsmen.

I did some videos of my top ten units in various periods that you may want to check out. I also did a video comparing Crossbowmen to Longbowmen.