Agreed on both.
Just starting to get a hang of the game I feel like. Been pairing up way too little I think, it seems to help a lot against stronger opponents. I find the difference in strenght between various units sort of odd though. Frederick is a beast who deals 20+ dmg all the time, while many other units do like 10 max. Carrying the weaker units and trying to level them up is the main factor of difficulty early on to me.
Just opened up the DLC area, going to do the free mission..
I think Fred is the traditional high-powered early-game unit to use as a last resort rather than a key unit.
I think I've only had to use him once out of desperation.