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I've always stuck with archers in the past but now I'm playing as Milan I need to learn. How do I deploy them, can they shoot over the heads of infantry on a hill side or do I need to put them on the flanks to give them a clear line of fire to there target?
Crossbowmen on flat ground can fire over other troops if the range is great enough to the target and if the crossbowmen themselves are not too close to the men in their front. The trouble is that if either of these distances closes too much they will begin to fire mortar shots or worse yet, hit friendlies.
Ordinary crossbowmen (without a pavise) are not really much better than peasant archers. Their range is the same, they are very vulnerable and they shoot more slowly, albeit with more power and armor penetration.
The pavise crossbowmen however, like the Milanese, are a different animal altogether. They have long range and good protection, making them ideal for shootouts with archers. (Of course, a cavalry charge is the absolute best way to deal with missile troops on foot should said missile troops be without close support.)
When possible, defend on a slope with the crossbows above the battle line.
On the offensive, advance with the crossbowmen just in front of your melee troops and stop when they are in range. Pound the enemy as long as possible and retreat the crossbows when melee is imminent. Then, move them to the flanks of the fight if that can safely be done, always remaining vigilant for enemy cavalry. Pavise crossbowmen can survive at close quarters longer than most missile troops but they are still too valuable to squander.
A few words about Milan (all of which you may already know for which I apologize now!). You have excellent city militia. Especially after you get them into heavy mail and the crossbowmen into half plate. I used the militia in all situations unreservedly. And the beauty is, up to 6 units of militia are eligible for free maintenance in huge cities. That includes the militia spearmen, crossbowmen and cavalry. The merchant guild can let you create cav early before you have the right barracks building. Merchant cav is light on attack but has good protection. Your castles still have the usual feudal cav and armored spearmen in addition to the incomparable Genoese crossbowmen.
The genoese Xbows are the best in the game. Try to attain them as fast as possible you can annhialate anyone with those bad boys. and also I recommend the same as nelson in keeping any archers/Xbow in front of your army, and 2-3 yards away. As some of the enemy missiles can hit your inf or cav depending on your deployment. And also in loose formation they become very hard to hit while you dont lose any accuracy. a little trick I use with my milan pavise, is make sure you attack the enemy on campain map, the enemy AI will never attack you. so you can pulverize there men without moving a single man. But to kill an entire army while the enemy sits there taking all your missiles. switch to a differnt unit when the previous unit reaches right under 20 men. It tricks the AI they have a chance but if you pulverize 2-3 units to 0 it will make the AI run away. You just killed an entire army just with the pavise. note you can dwindle all of the AI's army to under 20 per unit. completely halving or making it a quarter of what it was. then just rush in and you should only lose 1-10 men of your army. if none at all :) *turn auto mode off and select units one by one*
edit. cav you can dwindle to 4-6 any lower again the whole army will run away.