Should the AP on crossbows be increased to 8; might help them keep up with the other archer variants and account for their low range vis a vis other indirect fire ranged units.

Just want to say my thoughts about what i want to see in mod about gunpowder weapons. I like balance based on reality. And in reality bow achieved a far higher rate of shot than the matchlock arquebus or crossbow. An arquebus could throw a bullet much farther than any archers could shoot. The arquebusier also had the added advantage of frightening enemies (and horses) with the noise. An arquebus also has superior penetrating power to a bow.
Considering all of the above, i think guns must be powerful, with high range (handgun comparable to elven bow maybe?) and high penetration, but slooow reload. And i see crossbow equal to handgun, but without armorpiercing in exchage to ability shoot over heads.
And how about bring back ability "Fire by Rank" from Shogun 2?

A number of concessions and abstractions have to be made here both to consider the balance vis a vis other factions and to account for the basic themes of the Warhammer world. Making muskets outrange elven bows out of the box would make it very difficult for the elven factions (especially the WE) to stand up to units like handgunners. Furthermore, one also has to account for the effects of technology and the need to keep a weapons like crossbows viable in the face of these changes, not to mention keep them relevant in light of their contemporaries such as elven archers.

However, a more powerful interpretation has been provided in the True Gunpowder mod, which also accounts for the Empire's acquisiton of Rifles later into the game.

The actual rate of fire of muskets in the game is in fact quite similar to that IRL (4 shots a minute, which is the upper rate of fire of a smoothbore musket). As for firepower, you'll find that the amount of damage put out by these units is quite impressive after the changes. One must also account for the fact that while smoothbores often needed to be fired at much closer range to preserve their lethality and account for their inaccuracy.

Lastly, Fire by Rank would be somewhat redundant since the entire unit fires all at once and not just the first line.