What if it used other geometric shapes, like a triangle e.g.? Or maybe even different shapes for the "attacker" and the "defender"? Like a triangle elephant pushing a rectangular elephant, the later would turn out of the way faster?

The other important thing about another post is getting rid of surplus units. The units could also return to normal civilian status.

You're referring to this post, my good friend.

It was ragadast. @raga    

Regarding "construction of 100-traders long "lines" of caravans", "just looks bad": totally agree, and have proposed solutions a couple of times. Regarding "markets now generate income at a fixed rate": I was thinking about it to emulate "local trade". The "logarithmic" idea is interesting, quite different from what I was in principle thinking for a new system, while I don't agree much with "garrison workers in your markets to leverage full efficiency", it seems a waste of units.