If we're talking about avoiding extremes, increasing the range of accurate shots to 6 cells for crossbowmen while keeping everything else the same would be quite enough. And if we go even further, we could add a silencing effect for archers, as suggested here.

Increasing the range would actually be an extreme measure; crossbowmen would simply become a fly swatter for creatures of the highest tiers, as they would now completely negate armor at a distance of 7 cells (1 cell for the creature itself + 6). And in general, the ability itself is very unbalanced; -50% armor is still manageable, but 100% is too much. And if we add a silencing effect to them, they will turn into a copy of battle mages; not only will they silence the damage from piercing shots, but they will also silence magic oO.

What's wrong with the first option? In my opinion, it also provides good ranged damage, and the penalty is removed for shooting at close range, making it very painful (which is also a kind of advantage) + the defensive ability, retaliatory shot, or maneuvering.