Quote Originally Posted by Thaatu
Were slingers actually used as units, or were they just individual skirmishers? I've always thought that slingers were harassers in the battlefield, not part of a strict unit like archers.

The thing with sling bullets vs. arrows is that even a glancing hit from an arrow most likely puts a man down, because it causes blood loss. Of course a lead bullet to the temple could kill you, but wouldn't an arrow do the same with more certainty? What I'd suggest is at least reduce the amount of bullets most slingers have. 40 bullets compared to 15 arrows, what most archers got, is a little too wide of a gap.
Arrows are far easier to protect yourself against with armor. Well, as long as we aren't talking longbows anyway. Arrows don't damage with their impact but with penetration; lead bullets just inflict blunt force trauma, and that is far harder to protect yourself against. And honestly, you can carry a lot more bullets than arrows, and sometimes even pick up stones on the battlefield when those are depleted. The ammo difference seems very reasonable to me.