Quote Originally Posted by adonys
If all of the above are true, wouldn't it be much more indicated to use this last term (and the one before it) for the slower killing speed mod than to use any kind of modification to units' HP, AF, damage which seems to trigger an unpredictable chain of subtle propagated effects?
It would certainly be a good avenue to explore, although it will also have its side-effects. For example, it will raise the value of precursor attacks relative to a period of hand-to-hand melee, as they are fairly strong one-volley missile attacks before combat starts, and it may weaken phalanxes more than other units as they rely on killing soldiers in front in order to prevent them getting through the spears and breaking up the formation. It will also increase the relative value of charges, which are represented as a temporary boost to combat stats, and so it may be necessary to bring charge bonusses down somewhat. Changing the combat rate in this way will also have some visual impact in making the battles look considerably less dynamic and impressive (as soldiers would be playing their attack anims less frequently).

As you can see, the system is quite subtle and many-sided. I think whichever way you go you will need to rebalance a few of the other factors to fit, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Nobody has said that everything else about the game *has* to stay the same when you make a kill-rate mod; the advice I would give is to experiment, then test it until you're sure it's still fun to play and hasn't introduced any game-killers. That's part of the joy of making games...