Quote Originally Posted by greaterkhaan
I find it interesting that people often seem to find that ranged units are unhelpful for offensive battles. I almost always bring some ranged units with me when on the offensive, unless the battlefield is comletely flat and devoid of forests. Many times, I have needed to give the AI some incentive to abandon their cozy little hilltop, hence why I like ranged units. In addition, ranged units can be very useful in drawing those enemy spear and heavy cav units right into a much less favorable position, like a forest, to be butchered by your heavy infantry. This is one of the reasons why I love the Turks and Egyptians. Nizaris for Egypt and a treasure trove of archers for the Turks, with the Turcomen foot soldiers being a personal favorite of mine, due to their amazing dueling abilities. Oh, not to mention Janny infantry later on, which are simply a great unit.
While they obviously have greater utility when defending, I do agree that missile units are still useful on offense as well. My particular schtick is to use HA's or other mounted missile unit to entice defenders away from their entrenched (and often hard to assault) positions.

I dislike using foot missiles when attacking, though, as they tend to outranged by their enemy counterparts, plus they're often too slow to move out of danger when the defender decides to advance on them.