Best non-siege land unit in the game?

By that I mean units that give you the most advantages for the amount that they cost.

I'd argue that the Archer line units are the best non-siege land units in the game and it is not even close.

The Archer line is available to nearly every civ and they cost 25w and 45g each, which isn't very expensive and their upgrades are all dirt cheap (only 125 Food, 75 Gold to Crossbow and 350 Food, 300 Gold to Arbalest, Thumb Ring costs no gold, Chemistry 300F and 200g and Ballistics also costs only 300 w and 175g).

The blacksmith & university upgrades are needed for other things as well (castles, Ballistic for Siege, etc.).

Not to mention that they have the massive advantage of range, so they don't need to run into the enemy line and die, they just stand in the back and kill stuff without ever being touched, making them much more gold effective than Paladins or Champions.

Also there are only 3 good counters to Arbalests: Siege, Paladins and Skirmishers, all of which are easily countered by trash units, which allows you to keep the gold for more Arbalests or siege.

Cavalry Archers are strong too, but they are not worth it for most civs due to all the additional upgrades that they need to be effective.

Some of the unique units are also very good, but they get points taken off due to only being available to 1 civ, generally having more expensive uprgades and only being created on castles.