Quote Originally Posted by Watchman View Post
Phalanxes get crazy terrain penalties in forests. They rival heavy cav there, actually. *shrug* Best that can be done under the engine, especially considering that realistically that should only apply to the pikes rather than the much more manageable swords and other sidearms...
Yep. I think the problem you're having, belliger, is that even taking into account the hefty penalties that phalangites (and cavalry, and various other footsloggers, too) take when fighting in woods, they're still extremely powerful fighters, and the difficulties of maneouvre-ing and maintaining a phalanx formation in woods that would be clearly observed in reality, just can't be represented any other way in the Rome engine.
You're going to have to use combined arms and superior manoeuvrability to trump the Hellenes with Roma. Or just use the phalanx-breaker exploit...