A few simple ideas

[TL]

That's basicely what bugs me the most. As it is the game is currenlty a hit-or-miss frenzy......battles revolve mostly around luck (excluding obvious tactical strategies, like attacking a melee only unit with ranged ones).

To a certain extent, yes, battles tend to ebb back and forth as one side or the other achieves lucky rolls. It's rare for a lucky/unlucky streak to run long enough to truly determine the outcome of the whole battle, though.

Moreover, realize that your proposal of increasing hit rates for high-level units in no way reduces the role of luck in the game; it would increase the average damage of high-level units (making them more powerful outright), but it would not decrease the rate of abnormal roles in any way. It just changes what would be "abnormal": if a 5-strike unit attacks a unit in village (60% defense) and only hits once that's somewhat unlucky as it should have expected to get two hits in on average. But if a 5-strike unit with a +20% accuracy bonus attacks a unit in a village and gets two hits, it's no less unlucky than before because now it should have expected three hits.

[TrashMan]

Most matches between two units are hit-or-miss frenzies, but realize that a whole battle (on a map that's not ridiculous like Isar's) constitutes so many units and so many dice being thrown that the impact of luck is generally pretty even.

In player vs. player battles, yes... When playing campaign against AI? Not so much. You got those loyal units (or units with really good traits) that have been with you for a time and you just don't want to lose. Loosing cannon fodder units that are just distraction/smoke screen? No problem. Loosing my faithful elven hero - not acceptable.

Luck always will be a factor in practicely any game, but the trick is to minimize luck as a factor.
Different games do it in different way...attack/defense stats, variable damage (in a range, so some minimum damage is assured), a lot of HP for units combined with somewhat reduced damage and other. I just hope the developers will find some smart way or dealing with that - not that the game is bad as it is, quite the contrary, it's one of the best games I've seen...but it can be better, no?

Moreover, realize that your proposal of increasing hit rates for high-level units in no way reduces the role of luck in the game; it would increase the average damage of high-level units (making them more powerful outright), but it would not decrease the rate of abnormal roles in any way. It just changes what would be "abnormal": if a 5-strike unit attacks a unit in village (60% defense) and only hits once that's somewhat unlucky as it should have expected to get two hits in on average. But if a 5-strike unit with a +20% accuracy bonus attacks a unit in a village and gets two hits, it's no less unlucky than before because now it should have expected three hits.

That proposal was something different and unrelated to the power of lvl 3 units. And of course, you can't increase the CtH of higher lvl units without doing some other form of balancing (like reducing damage).
Sorry for the confusion - I sometimes spit out unrelated ideas....my mind drifts

[irrevenant]

Yeah, I guess I could have made it branch from a swordsman..but from which unit it branches or if it's a stand-alone unit - that's up to the campaign, so it's no bigge.

Don't get me wrong - you could certainly have a dismounted branch of the Paladin. You should just also have a branch that's strictly superior to avoid RIPLIB issues.

[TrashMan]

I know... the standard "paladin" in my head is not mounted..so adding it to the paladin progression was almost a reflex...lol!

I switched it to the swordsman/royal guard for now, till I make a new unit.

[Qes]

Just a casual warning from a casual observer about the horizon of this thread. I see storm clouds.

Specifically the kind of storm clouds that produce thunder that sounds like:

Skill vs. Luck and its use in Wesnoth.

I'm just saying that if there are hatches, that perhaps they should be battened down. Because no one wants to ride that storm again.
-Qes