I finally modded my game so I could play Scythians. I'm not sure why I picked them, I mean, they can't be that much different from Parthians, right? A Horse Archer is a Horse Archer is a Horse Archer.

*WRONG*! The difference is like night and day. The Scythian starting position is so much nicer - not just in its easy and quick access to some nice cities (total domination of the Black Sea trade is easily within grasp, and then on to Greece), but also surrounded by factions that know nothing of Horse Archers.

The difference between Parthia having to fight Armenia and Egypt compared to Scythia having to fight Thrace and Dacia for short campaign victory is unbelievable. Plus, and this is probably luck, I'm not seeing nearly as much rebel activity in my Scythian campaign as I did as Parthia. I have found the game literally unplayable due to rebel activity in Parthia, to the extent that I was unable to get any trade at all because all of my roads and ports were blockaded and my armies were unable to divert from rebel squashing to do anything else at all - that's not fun, it's asinine.