Is it me, or does Weapon Arsenal for cargo really suck

[Ryika]

I suppose I overlooked another aspect: game balance.

If you beef up Weapon Arsenal by adding more soldiers or combat rovers or additional experience perks, what affect does it have on the computer A.I. on higher difficulty levels? If Brasilia began with a small army, and he landed near a neighbor whose main strength was thoughts of peace and love, would the computer calculate an easy conquest and declare an early war, eliminating a faction almost right from the start

In Civ 5 we had Shaka constantly killing off all of his AI-neighbors in the medieval ages without any problems, I don't think "AI-Balance" is really an issue. Main focus should be on the players - giving him as many "valid" options as possible and making sure there aren't any overpowered ones.
I'd even go further and say stuff like Brasilia insta-killing a neighbor every now and then would make the game more interesting.

 

[Gamewizard]

I would rather have a second explorer than the soldier. I usually start with the free worker and my first build is the second explorer anyways. Some starts the worker at turn 1 would be more useful, some starts the extra explorer at turn 1 would be better.

 

[Gort]

I would rather have a second explorer than the soldier. I usually start with the free worker and my first build is the second explorer anyways. Some starts the worker at turn 1 would be more useful, some starts the extra explorer at turn 1 would be better.

I'm exactly the same way. Start with a worker, build a second explorer.

A second soldier doesn't really give you any additional capabilities over just one in the early game.