Favorite phalanx-based faction?

[Ludens]

If I recall correctly, Makedonia needs to leave Rome alive so they can get March of Time?

If they want to get the reformed Pezhetairoi, yes. But Macedon's unit roster is excellent even without those.

Just as the Aetolian and Achaean Leagues were when Romans arrived at Greece after the Second Punic War. Still retaining their fighting spirit, unlike the somewhat spoiled Makedonians and thrice more decadent Greeks, who all but abandoned their citizen militias in favour of mercenaries, the Qarthadastim way - which leads to a predictable ending of a loss. Even Hannibal knew this, which is why he chose to rely on regional indigenous recruits, mainly the Iberians, not independent mercenaries.

That's a somewhat simplistic view, although it was shared by many classical writers. Several Greek city states (including Athens and Corinth) still relied partly on citizen militias: they were defeated all the same. The most reliable infantry formations in Carthaginian armies, including those of Hannibal, where the Libyan mercenaries. I am also unsure why Hannibal's Iberians do not qualify as mercenaries. They certainly had no more reason to fight for Carthage than did the Libyans.