Early game is more important than mid-late game, because if you suck in early game you suck the whole game. In early game -1 Hit Point = -12% Hit Point. -5 Weight = -17% Weight. 5 additional dodge is more valuable than this slight difference. Also Hit Points is universal parameter, Weight is specific. For example, you don't need weight capacity for unarmored units.
Harmonius, we clearly play in a very different way. My units do not spend 'the early game' at level one. As a matter of fact, when I train an unit, I already have in mind where it's going to get its first few levels from. But even at level one, I would not expose it to a situation where whose 3 hps will mean the difference between life and death. I play without restoring, and as a consequence, I seldom have close fights, except when I am attacked.
The 3/4 hps difference is something I don't ever think about. The 5 weight difference is something over which I agonized for 15 minutes in my next to last playthrought. Not whether I should take it, but which armor pieces I should make upgradable, in preparation for my Ducal Guard getting chain mail at some far point in the future. And it was all for naught, because the upgrade mechanism is borked.
You cannot balance the game just for yourself. For example, by your reasoning, taking acrobat (+1 dodge per level) for a trained unit is sheer idiocy. Well, I take it very often. The balance, as it is right now, takes both early and late game into account. Speaking for myself, I usually stack all three dodging traits, or none. They work together nicely. One is most valuable at the start, one is average, and one shines late game.
By the way, you rely on raw numbers a bit too much. Raw numbers can influence only superficial people, and for most for those, raw emotions work much better.
