Quote Originally Posted by Puzz3D
The matchlock was invented around 1450 which is when MTW ends. While more primitive guns would be available in late era, the problem is they are less effective than the arbalest or even the crossbow. Therefore, it's difficult to incorporate guns in MTW in a way that makes them useful. Some advantages are that guns do impart a large, short term, morale penalty each time the target unit suffers at least one casualty, and they could carry more ammo. However, if shooting time is extended too much, fatigue will make them useless. This can happen with crossbows as well which is why we went to 12 second reload. In SW, guns have enough ammo to shoot for 7 minutes.
That makes sense. I suppose Arquebuses could be justified by increasing the build requirements and extending the game until 1500.