Yes, i was talking not only about myself, but the entire kingdom faction.
I don't know any other reason why kingdom always lose to empire other than that empire sion is overpowered.
I rarely play empire though, last time i played empire was at v1.07.
But i'm 100% sure now that empire sion is too overpowered because of their savage strike ignore armor, this is too ridiculous.
You're right that archer is the best solution, but that makes archer is the only way to play kingdom making knight (melee unit) is useless while empire can play both knight (melee unit) and archer. I think this is not the balance we all hoped for.
This is maybe out of topic, but i think the units from last tier of diplomacy also need to be improved. Dragons and demons are too weak now, yet they cost 1000 gold, what a joke.