At first I didn't want to start using mods and keep adding new ones, but I've since changed my mind.
I strongly suggest using this mod by keehuuu :
You have a 50 man party, with 30 elite cataphracts and 20 recruits. You decide to fight some looters and now 5 cataphracts are dead. Yeah... this mod will help you with that.
www.nexusmods.com
I also suggest to edit the config file to set the multiplier to 0.7 or 0.8
Thanks to this mod, I do still loose units but kind of only recruits, not high tier units anymore.
It kind of makes sense to loose T1 troops against T1 troops (like looters) eventhough you'd think it makes no sense to loose any units in 100 vs 15 battles lol but still it's a very good mod.