Frankly, the rewards are the least of the combat's problems. There are plenty of other issues:
- no in-game explanation how troops are ordered duting combat. You have to either figure it out on your own, or read about it on a forum somewhere
- no way to see the battlefield and enemy formation before starting combat, so pretty much everyone does the same: start combat with 1 Sword Dancer/Axe Barbarian, see battlefield and enemy formation, retreat, then try again with a proper army
- the difficulty of provinces increases with each scouted province while our army gets fewer and slower upgrades
- the unit upgrades. Oh, boy. Let's look at the human units:
Chapter I: Axe Barbarian and Crossbowman
Chapter II: Cerberus and Axe Barbarian II
Chapter III: Paladin and Crossbowman II
Chapter IV: Priest and Cerberus II
So far so good. But this is where the problems begin:
Chapter V: Paladin II and Priest II
Chapter VI: Axe Barbarian III (i.e Storm Barbarian) and Paladin III (i.e. Blessed Paladin)
Chapter VII: Priest III
Chapter VIII: Crossbowman III (i.e. Master Crossbowman) and Cerberus III (i.e. Sinister Cerberus)
Notice how long it takes to get the second upgrade for Crossbowmen? As enemy strength increases their usefulness decreases rapidly. By the time you get Priest II at the latest they are useless 99% of the time. I'm currently using Priest II in place of archers, because:
- they are not classified as a ranged unit and so many units with bonuses against Light Ranged units get no bonuses against Priests
- they can hit any unit on the battlefield. That annoying Cannoneer on the other side of the map? No problem.
- their attack bonus against Heavy Melee is much better than that of Crossbowmen and they also have a defense bonus against Light Ranged units, unlike Crossbowmen
- Priests have a very useful debuff while Crossbowmen have nothing
- Priest III is unlocked long before Master Crossbowmen, so I can't think of a single good reason why would want to use Crossbowmen - especially since their stats are rather disappointing. See
this post, but remember that the Mastrer Crossbowman from the picture has bonuses from Ancient Wonders, such as Needs of Tempest (so their stats are even lower than what is seen there)
Cerberus II, despite low damage and low HP, remains seomewhat useful due to high bonuses against Light Archers and good bonuses against Heavy archers. Plus they are fast and can reach enemy units quickly (and can also make a slow unit, such as Treants, just go back and forth while Priests annihilate them from a safe distance).
As for elven units, the situation is similar:
Chapter I: Sword Dancer and Elven Archer
Chapter II: Sword Dancer II and Treant
Chapter III: Archer II and Golem
Chapter IV: Treant II and Sorceress
Chapter V: Golem II and Sorceress II
Chapter VI: Sword Dancer III (i.e. Sword Acrobat) and Golem III (i.e. Granite Golem)
Chapter VII: Sorceress III
Chapter VIII: Archer III and Treant III
Again Archers rapidly become useless, this time thanks to Golem II (and later Granite Golem). Treants remain useful in Crystal Provinces, and occasinally in other provinces, depending on enemy units present. No stats ahve been provided for them, so no idea how useful Treant III will be, but I can't imagine that Archer III will be of any use this late in the game.
The Archer and Crossbowman upgrades should have come MUCH earlier, and the Cerberus and Treant upgrades should have been in the Fairy Chapter at the latest. Chapter VIII is just too late, even if the player has the Needles of Tempest AW (and many won't have it).