My suggestion here is that the armor roll should be at least triple that of the damage roll tot totally block, otherwise, 1 damage is dealt per hit.
That's not a complete solution since you also complain about slightly lower tech weapons only doing 1-2 damage per hit.
The problem with Elemental is the following: each tech is a real leap in power with respect to the previous one, even though you can research them right after the other. You can go from padded armor to heavy plates in no time, same with the weapons. So the system should NOT be based on obsolescence, like it is right now. It should be based on opening options.
Right now, this doesn't work. Why? Because armor values are still relatively far away (well, nothing can be done without changing the defense vs attack calculation system, because the increments in armor are as small as they can be with 5 armor parts per technology). And because weapons have the same issue: early weapons are too weak (the spear is alright... but the axe, mace, shortsword and broadsword are utterly useless. Especially the broadsword, which has NO value whatsoever compared to its tech-level rival, the battleaxe. Yeah, you can put a shield, but why would you want to sacrifice 8 attack for 3 defense, at a greater overall cost ? There is no reasonable situation in which dealing ~6-7 more damage per hit is better than soaking 2 more.)
And I mean, seriously, that trog scimitar: 28 attack +2 combat speed ? Compared to its same-tech rival with only 18 attack ?
Balance is better than before, but it's still completely inconsistent with the mechanics of the game. With the current tech research system, maces should NEVER be obsolete, and Lordhammers/Great scimitars should be rare weapons for advanced units.
I personally modded the whole thing to reduce late-game weapons and increase early/mid game weapons.
is overpowered compared to weapons tech (save the need to pierce enemy armor).
Trog Scimitars, Lordhammers and Battlehammers, Claymores, Battleaxe work here. The issue is, they make lower armor obsolete (another bad thing: lower armor doesn't offer protection against slightly higher-tech-level 2-handed weapons because the numbers jump so high, so quickly), so the game is really only about the "best 2-handed weapons vs. best armor". 1-handed weapons are bad, atrocious even. Sure, you can put a shield, but it's nowhere near worth it.
That's the biggest problem in Elemental's balance: it has a technology system that allows you to research late-game techs in the early game, but is not balanced with that in mind because the weapons and armors jump from the 10s (spear, mace, leather) to the 40-50s (Great Scimitar).
The best regular armor in the game is 26+shield (32). That's still a bit high, but okay. It should be made more expensive though (cost scaling is bad...).
The best regular weapon in the game has 50 attack. It should have at MOST 40. And more regular weapons such as the broadsword should be around 17-18, at least. And great axe at 23 is too good.