another thing crossed my mind...well actually 2 heheh

1-AS has a lot of small (3-4 units max) battles at the beggining , the largest army at the start has 4 units afaik and the economy isn't as great either

2- I have a heavily moddified EB ehehe so I might not be able to play cause I don't want to risk my 215bc camapaign , cause I have already killed a 240bc camapaign by messing with the files midgame