The Janissary is an amazing unit!
I linked an image of the Handcannon and Elite Janissary stats below. When you factor in attack speed, the handcannon has 16.5 damage per second verses the Janissary at 11.5 damage per second. Keep in mind the Handcannon cost 120 gold and 120 food whereas the Janissary cost 60 food and 100 gold. So it’s 67% the price (50% gold cost which is what matters late game) with 70% the base damage. Giving it better bang for it’s buck as far as DPS. On the other hand, Handcannon has greater range and health. Blah blah blah. None of this matters with the 20 bonus damage the Janissary gets against cavalry. Giving it 24.5 (48% better than the Handcannon) damage per second against cavalry. It’s one of the few units in the game with a ranged anti cavalry attack. Also, you get it in Castle Age. Not even the civ that invented gunpowder can say that.
Elite Janissary on left and Handcannon on right. Disregard the effect of blacksmith upgrades as I got these units using the new “one of us” cheat code.