what are you talking about? all of my axemen (or, more commonly, swordsmen) are always highly promoted, except when they're first built. I just send them in to take out barb cities and if they survive they're really strong, whereas my archers rarely do anything but sit in the city, so all they would get is the 20% strike and any normal bonuses, plus if they have any defensive bonuses.
A reply to my post about early game city attacks, in which a highly promoted axeman was given as being a break even example.
You too think that haveing a highly promted city attacker is typical, it may be typical for you, but not for the ai. These city attacking units you refer to, gaining promotions, and becoming highly promoted, just what do you think happens to those archers who defeat those you sent out and lost?, unlike your none upgraded ones with a mere city bonus, terrian bonus,25% fortified bounus and defensive strike and first strike, they are now as promoted as your city attackers. Thats what im posting about, if defensive and first strike inflict a suffiecent losses in hps, which looks likly in early game city attacks, and only gets better as tyhe game goes on, your going to see very few surviving city attackers as defensive fire and first strike bring the attckers to jump points in hps much quicker than before, meaning the law of diminishing returns applys and more attackers are defeated quicker for less loss to the defender.
Any close combat odds, ie attack and defense are equal, where one side has lost hps prior to the combat and has a 80 to 99 of its hps, and the other full hps, means the less hit pointed unit will not win 50% of the time befcause of jump points, in which 1 less damage is inflicted, but instead, 25-38% of the time will it win because of this. Defensive fire and first strike combined will make this occur more often, ie hp reduced attackers going on to defeat beacuse of the double wammy to there hit points, which was why i posted that if the combat was recomputed and seen to be a defeat after defensive fire, it woulod work better than if it did not.