I LOVE the Scipii faction, I must admit it :P

[IliaDN]

With regards to the question about elephant mercs: not possible in cherry vanilla, I think... a lot of the cases where people thought they'd found mercs from armies they'd destroyed were cases where the mercenary was already available there anyway, before the army was destroyed. Dunno though, maybe BI'll have it. But I'm not sitting around to find out...

Maybe it is my mistake, but IMO elephants mercs. can be hired in certain areas, in later game.

[King Henry V]

I'm not so keen on the Scipii for several reasons:
1. Growth for their two mains cities is quite often retarded because they sit right beneath a volcano.
2. These two cities are split by the sea, making assembling an army harder.
3. To take Sicily you have to declare war on two countries.
4. Carthage is not the richest faction in the game. Greece is much better.
5. If you don't speed your conquest of Carhtage up quickly, they'll bring in the elephants which are a real pain.

[Celt Centurion]

A funny thing happened after taking out Carthage.

A month or so ago, I was playing as the Scipii, and had been very aggressive. I eliminated Carthage from the game because as somebody said, "if you don't do it fast, they get to be a real pain." So, I made fast work of them. What was funny is that a few turns later, the message came up about Carthage coming up with "clear glass."

I just chuckled, and thought, they weren't around to invent it "this time. Ha Ha!"

I went on to spread West on across Africa, and the Egyptians attacked me from the East. Once they get desert axemen and foundries, THEY can be a real pain too.

When I played as the Egyptians, I prefered "Pharaoh's Guards." They do have their use, but I have since learned that when I play as the Egyptians again, I will keep in mind just how tough the axemen are.

I like playing as the Scipii, but as one of you mentioned, you MUST have a strong Navy, which I often neglect, usually only getting a ship or two to shuttle units around with. Problem is, they seem to get attacked more often when transporting something or somebody much more often than when they are traveling empty. As Scipii, I find myself forced to make a strong navy.

Preference wise, I go for the Julii. As I press North and Westward, there is always great potential to improve the towns as I take them over. The barbarians cannot seem to build or even upgrade stone walls, sewers, baths, academies, and so forth. This gives the Julii has the honor of bringing up the standard of living as they move up, while the barbarians tend to bring down the standard of living as they move down.

I like Red too! Bright Crimson Red! A real "in your face color."

Strength and Honor

Celt Centurion

[g3n]

There is Cataphract mercenaries in the Mundus Magnus mod, which is what I was referring to. They are called Nomadic Cataphracts and are from Parthia, I love to keep these guys around against annoying egyptian spearmen, and since the Cataphract is pretty much 100% armored, it's absolutely lovely .

[AntiochusIII]

The axemen recieved a super typo, by the way. These bare-chested men have an armour rating of 11!

Bloody strong. They can stop cataphract charges with relative ease, and cut through Seleucid phalanxes like peasants.

OM(F)G I hate the Egyptians in vanilla...

[pezhetairoi]

Maybe it is my mistake, but IMO elephants mercs. can be hired in certain areas, in later game.

No, you're right, elephant mercs CAN be hired in certain areas, but my point was that you don't have to have destroyed a unit of elephants in that area before you can recruit a unit of them...

[Bonusmalus]

I am a big fan of scipii too!!
They get to destroy those carthaginian elephant raiders. You dont need to fight against some stinking gauls.
You can upgrade your capital with a governors palace on the first few turns. Brutii and julii will have to wait much longer.