Skatan
Regular
Well I would imagine that they are using the exact same simulator as you are. Therefore it is a level playing in that respect as they would be losing their best units first too. Then again it actually gives the advantage to the player if they fight the battles themselves. Basically players lose out if they are lazy and simulate, but gain something if they put in the effort and fight the fight themselves. Let's be honest here most battles against 20 looters takes about 1 min plus load times, so to not fight them is pure laziness upon the player. Therefore they lose any sympathy from me.
I wouldn't say "laziness" of the player is as much in question here as the "tedium" of fighting numerous, hundreds even, of these pointless battles just to level up your lowest rank units before an actual battle that matters. It was fun in the first playthrough, but the umpteenth? Not so much.
It's a core basic of the game same as in the old M&B, I accept that of course, but that doesn't mean I enjoy it. The game is great _despite_ this part, not because of it. A functional autocalc that was balanced and fair would remove a lot of the tedium on your second, third and onwards playthroughs. Am I lazy then? Perhaps, but I prefer to call it impatient. I just wanna move on faster to the things that matter since I already know the outcome.