Quote Originally Posted by Tristuskhan View Post

Believe me that's very, very painful. Scordici heavy inf. with one gold chevron, put on "hold" position, take an average 40% losses to a single Cataphract unit's initial charge. I have to rely on mercenary medium phalanx to hold them, but they die faster than I can hire them.
You have to counter-charge the charging cavalry if you want to avoid taking losses from just the charge. Pike phalanxes suck against heavy cavalry anyway. They are great as meatshield for those arrows, as phalanxes are virtually impervious with their 5 shield, but otherwise, I have found out that their greatest weakness is heavy cavalry. Cavalry is really the only unit in EB that can get through those pikes. What you need to hire are some Greek phalanxes. The Getai have an elite phalanx unit, and also you can hire Hoplitai (Greek Classical Phalanx). Then once the Pahlava cavalry is engaged, you can charge them in the back with your own heavy mounties.