nevertheless, I hate cataphracts when the AI controls them. I was playing a custom battle against a parthian army, and a) the cataphracts kept charging into my deepened royal phalanx, and getting killed (though they did take out quite a few of my men) and b) a flank attack into the the cataphracts by companion cavalry is all it takes to crush them. Yuks. In a human opponent's hands, I have no doubt the cataphracts will be more potent.