I am not trying to figure out how I can use my SF units effectively though. I am trying to figure out what their abilities are which seem to be rather impossible to figure out. And who knows what will happen when you mix two different SFs.
My point is that if you want to find out their ability you first need to keep them alive a reasonable period of time, and that means having tactics which make them effective. Also keep an eye on movement rate, casualties taken per turn of combat, recovery rate, performance in sieges, and anything else you can measure. You'll eventually start to notice that your SF troops seem better at something.
For example the Negev Rangers never seem to be troubled as much as infantry by road conditions when moving and their base move seems a little faster as well. I'm not sure what the Toxophilites can do as I've not really studied them in isolation, but when I mixed some Krimml Elite (or whatever they're called) melee SF in with a company of equal parts Rangers and Toxophilites I found that the hits delivered by ranged fire almost doubled. I'd really love to explore that combo further to see if it was a fluke occurrence but with Krimml going to Caligus it's not going to happen anytime soon.
