Cannoniphants!

Seriously though...I would say that when they work, musketters/arq's are coolest. when they stand around like idiots while a mass of ravening Muslims with sharp things is charging them, they look rather stupid.

Private: "Sir! A massive horde of evil infidels is charging us!"
Captain: "Hold on private, Mr. Jennings is slightly out of place. JENNINGS! GET IN LINE!"
Jennings: *is stabbed in the eye*
Captain: "All right everybody, theres one guy up here with a sword, ditch your guns you just spent a half hour preparing and go into mellee with the rest of the evil Muslims who are a hundred yards away."