The one big thing I don't get is how you are "losing" to skirmishers. I've never gotten routed by skirmishers in EB. I did in Vanilla RTW because their stats were bugged. Cavalry can rout skirmishers. It takes longer the earlier in the battle you do it when their morale isn't shaken and they aren't winded. But it's still possible.

Also, are your comments related to how effective units are in multiplayer? Everyone here is talking about singleplayer. That's what's confusing people.