Quote Originally Posted by Benandorf
Well, it was, but I believe it was expensive so wasn't used much, and it was much improved between Rome and Medieval times.

But that simply reinforces the point. There wasn't a HUGE difference in technology over the years. A club with very sharp rocks and primitive bows weren't legions behind armor, swords, and slightly less primitive bows.

I'm actually fairly disappointed that disease didn't come into play in the new world once you get a bunch of people over there. Apparently the Black Plauge is okay to put in the game, but Europeans diseases against American immune systems is not?
Well, crossbows were invented by the greeks and Chinese seperately. The Greeks never took too it and it was lost to history to the point that Romans recreated the idea using mini-ballistas. The Chinese on the other hand went nuts with it and eventally created man portable rapid fire versions of the things and in some cases created volley fire racks of crossbows or armed large masses of troops with them as well as developping a huge version that was able to lob projectiles extraordinary distances.

As for the Romans, I don't think they would have liked fighting in the jungle, it didn't quite work for them in Germania or Britannia.

One could argue that the native american advantage modeled in M2 is their knowledge of fighting in their native terrain. The eventuality of being outclassed technologically is a-symmetric warfare even if their weapons were that less effective as you claim. Obsidian Swords hack off limbs, clubs and rocks deliver shock through armour or crush exposed body parts, and darts are quite accurate in the hands of a skilled hunter.