range a bit weak?

I know you've done balancing of your own and i commend you on this map. It's balanced expertly among the races. I thought i should bring up the fact however that ranged units do piercing damage which does reduced damage to medium armor, heroes, and structures, while melee units have normal damage which does extra damage to medium armor and normal damage to structures and heroes.

granted their range is supposed to offset this and it probably does, but then the range units also have less life than melee units, causing them to do die even quicker. and since the life upgrades are based on percent, the ranged units benefit less from it than the melee. I think that if the ranged units life was raised to that of the melee units the piercing damage type would be enough to offset the range.

try it out and see how it works, as atm it seems that melee units just tear through range.

You made very accurate observations about the map. I apologize for not seeing the thread earlier. I appreciate the sheer detail of your post. I can, however, answer quickly.

It is intended that footmen should eat through archers without being hurt nearly as badly as they're hurting. A player who chooses only footmen will defeat an equally skilled player who chooses archers. However, if the archers are appropriately shielded, either by an ally's melee or the actions of a hero, they will wreak pinpoint devestation on melee forces.