No reforms at all?

[ziegenpeter]

There is a wealth of information regarding the romans and hellenes, but less regarding the more barbaric factions thus it would be improper to inroduce reforms and units based heavily on guess, speculation or imagination.

Thats what I mean. Again, I would rather use the 500 unit slots from the beginning and have other kind of reforms for ALL the faction as to leave it as it is.

Generally it just plain works out better - and with fewer problems - to simply go with the realistic enough assumption that most factions taking over lands outside their "core areas" will just recruit the natives to fight for them according to their "national" local traditions.

Agree, maybe you should get more Elite regionals after a while (meaning the elites are willing to follow you, but in their fashion of fighting), so its less pita to hold these regions.