Dealing with the Saka as AS

[Tudhaliya]

Here's what I did. First I trained up a WHOLE bunch of Shivatir-i Pahlavanig (Parthian HA's) and Daha Baexdhazhette (or however you spell em). Then train up some Arachosian and Daha skirmisher cavalry for their javelins. Now grab about 4-5 heavier cavalry, and split the whole deal in to two stacks. These men will be your border guards for the rest of your campaign once you defeat the Sakae and Baktrians. So get these guys some experience, find a good commander and then scout out all of the Saka cities. Most of the towns are both wall-less and underdefended because theyre so deep in the steppes. If you take them, there's no way to hold them, because they'll just rebel. So here's the plan: split your forces in to appropriately-sized chunks and take each city in the same turn, thus destroying the faction. It will take a while to set up, but a lot of the time there are trees to hide in near the cities while you wait for all of your forces to get into position. THen strike, enslave, burninate the everything in the city. Leave, and let them all rebel, and wash your hands of the Saka forever.

[A Very Super Market]

I've been playing as Baktria for a while, and it seems that foot archers have better range (Persian ones) than their mounted ones, or at least match them. But I don't really know anything about the Saka reforms, so don't rely on just archers for too long. As far as I have gone, the Saka haven't got much armour, and there are always more foot archers than mounted ones.

[Cambyses]

Other option is to just not expand until you have the region you are already in firmly under control.