Why Romans are so good in the game....

They are 3 powerful factions allied to each other, which does a lot more for commerce than actual fighting. Even playing as Julii I never had money problems playing a Roman faction. Of course your home provinces will never be threatened, so you can support your army unimpeded.

Their starting provinces are not poor.

Roman troop's defense is way too high early in the game.

Their stamina allows them to kill effectively for the entire time of a short RTW battle (yes they should slow the game down, its like MTW on meth).

Carthage is too passive. Suggest changing the des.strat file to a more aggressive AI (dunno what it is now but sailor/napoleon would be nice I think). Their troops suck compared to Romans other than elephants, so they should get better generals.

Macedonians and Greeks attack each other instead of forming a united front against the Brutii.

right.....