The fact that many organized regiments utilize skirmishers in competitive play to great success kinda stands in direct opposition to the idea that skirmishing is somehow discouraged by the devs. The -3 risk you take dying in skirmishing formation is 100% balanced in my opinion because the rewards of skirmishing correctly cannot be quantified directly to tickets. Furthermore, if you're skirmishing correctly you really shouldn't even encounter the skirmishing formation modifier anyways.