Starting armies and buildings

[Olimpian]

I am curious how the EB team decided what units factions start out with.How much is it based on historical sources and how much is just guess work(something like estimating what man-power a nation could have called upon in those days and probably keeping into consideration some gameplay balance,I presume)?

EDIT:forgot to say,same for buildings...

[Foot]

For nearly all factions there are certainly no records for a nations standing army in the spring of 272. We can make reasonable guesses based on what we do know of their military and what had happened in the recent past.

Foot

[MarcusAureliusAntoninus]

Starting situations are mostly based on history but gameplay reasons often come into effect too. You could argue that a city like Athenai should have every single building in the game from the start and all factions should start with the highest level of MICs in their homelands, but for balance and gameplay they do not.