Actually you are mistaken conscripts have very good vet bonuses and used to become very good if they picked up weapons.
Neither of which help if you have to replace them. And holding out hoping for an enemy to drop a weapon for your unit to be halfway alright isn't good.
Cons design is still clung to them being cheap and effective in numbers but their pricing doesn't reflect that. The sidegrades would work if cons were cheap. You would pay less initially, make use of the map control and then when you have the resources upgrade for access to cheap improvements. That's the idea looking at their design
Instead we have "pay as Much as the rest for less, then pay more!"
They need to decide what they want from cons. Are they bodies for the front and nothing more? It supposed to scale, only die? Then price then as such. Make them replaceable.
Are they supposed to mobile utility and nothing more? Then make that affordable and bolster the utility they bring
Are they supposed to outlast everything? If so they need some intrinsic ability to resist enemy weapon upgrades that isn't vet.
There are many directions to go but they need to bloody decide what that direction is