Thanks a lot for the help! I usually build up to Communal Farming for roman, greek, carthiginian and egyptian factions while I build Crop Rotation or Latifunda for barbarian settlements to get a population boost. For temples, I usually build the ones with experience and weapon bonuses in my frontline cities and cities which are frequently attacked (The Egyptians only attack Thaspus and Sparta, and ignore the other cities. I don’t know why they do this, but I don’t complain as this usually gives me time to get reinforcements). The temples with economic bonuses I build in my more peaceful cities. I think the special units temples can train like the Arcani, Decere or Corvus Quinquiremes are kind of useless. Same for the gladiators.
As for the chariots, I went to custom battles and fought against all types of chariots for all factions with spearmen from all factions. It went really well! I think Macedon’s Royal and Phalanx Pikemen and Seleucid Pikemen were the best against the chariots. The only thing is that the Romans can’t train spearmen until later in the game. So, I either have to capture a fully developed city (like Carthage, because I see that when I’m ready to invade the Carthaginians, they usually develop Carthage to its full extent, with Army Barracks), or I have to wait for the Marius Reforms for Auxillia troops, which take FOREVER. For the Julii, in the beginning I really depend on the Triarii and Archer units that I start out with.
Another thing in battles is that when I have special units (chariots or elephants) in my army, I can’t control the whole army, i.e., my army tends to break up and have mini-battles all over the entire battlefield, since I’m paying attention to my chariots and elephants. In this way, my infantry and archers take many losses. If I turn to pay attention to my infantry and missiles, the enemy DESTROY my elephants and chariots. It really gets annoying. I never got the hang of flank attacks using cavalry, so I sometimes lose battles which I could easily win with a heroic victory with a single flank attack by my available cavalry.