I'm pretty much a cav one trick and that doesn't really happen to me. The goal isn't to kill them anyways.
Yeah true it doesn't happen loads, I get super triggered when it does though!
To my mind it's about roles in phases, so the polearms would have a role in defending archers up to a certain phase (main melee), then the roles change and the infantry have to press for damage. This would mean the archers become vulnerable but for a reward, potentially then the value of having light cavalry is defending archers in the melee phase while they try and get a flank, very hypothetical. The current meta has about 2 phases, 1: run at them, 2: choppy chop XD
Good points. I think an important point though, skirmish and captain should be balanced identically. Captain has ai and skirmish does not. Ai behavior can be tweaked. This way the gameplay is consistent for the player which is 100% necessary.
I take your point, speeding up archers could damage skirmish so changes focussed on AI make the good sense. I don't envy Taleworlds trying to balance 5 different multiplayer modes in a single game.
The only thing I'd add to your rock paper scissors is Skirmishers. They probably fall somewhere between Inf and Spears as they can be equipped either way, but lighter and faster than inf. So without spears something like:
Dealing = Archers>Inf>Cav (they have shields and should be faster than archers imo, so a hard counter one on one)
Taking = Cav>Inf>Archers