Hehe, you’re right; the unit is very broken.
Is it better if the stats of the militia-line are used as a base?
I agree to some extent, however, I took the idea to be a “defensive civilization”, the only existing defensive civilization in AoE 2 (official) is the Byzantines, which is a versatile civilization that stands out in the imperial age when it is able to train cataphract with logistics (which is a very strong investment so it has a discount bonus on trash units to compensate).
I also imagined the psychological effect that a rival player would have against the Chimú: you have to defeat him before your rival reaches the imperial age and manages to create entire legions of golden Maceman. This would force the opponent to take the offensive. (also historically consistent with Chimú military tactics of considering quality over quantity and wars of attrition).
As an additional idea, the Chimú maceman would have a bar (just like the Coustillier) that would serve to know the time needed to transform silver into gold (the bar would fill slowly as in the case of monks).
As I said, these are my personal ideas. I accept all kinds of constructive criticism 