I'm not trying to complicate things Preston.
I'm just stating my opinion that Spartans are not number one in my books.
Take it as you will. It's hard to say that sacred is better without giving some evidence.....
And I know its not their phalanx that gives spartans their power.
Its also their morale, hitpoints and their stats.
And I know Nilhilist was just stating that Carthage has good infantry.

I was just stating that if you compare Spartans to Sacred by equal cost (which is the only FAIR way to do it) that spartans lose.
FYI - The combinations are not endless with regards to cost and upgrades etc. You just make both units equal - keeping the more expensive one at its basic cost - so it has no upgrades. Then the cheaper unit gets whatever upgrades it can afford to get to the price of the more expensive unit.
There will only be so many things you can try (which I have) and the result is that Sacred Band wins out.