I can't remember where I saw the post that said the Eastern Empire Clibenari slices through things so well, there's no point to building cataphracts. The thread also asked why anyone should make scholate palatine.

The cataphract has a poor melee attack of 4 using the spear, once the charge is over. However, pressing alt+attack gives it a sword. Now it has a melee attack of 7.

The clibenari has a melee attack of 5 with an anti-armor bonus. Since using "tank" cavalry to kill unarmored opponents is like using an axe to kill kittens, the clibenari is still the better bet. It will be fighting the toughest armored opponents most of the time. If it gets into a melee fight with unarmored opponents, clibenari will kill them more slowly than sword-swinging cataphracts, but that doesn't matter when you have all the time in the world to kill them. Few unarmored units can do serious melee damage to a clibenari, so the clibenari can afford to kill at a leisurely pace.

If you are fighting clibenari, however, the best tactic might be to run some very cheap cannon fodder into them while another unit hurls javelins at it.

Attack + Charge bonus is 12 for the cataphract and 10 for the clibenari, but the clibenari's anti-armor bonus still makes it the heavy cavalry of choice.

So, the clibenari is the better unit, but the difference is not that great if you are willing to remember alt+attack when cataphracts are committed to melee. There is a slight difference in price, and a bigger difference (which I'll look up when I get home) in maintenance costs.

Now, as for the "also ran" scholate palatinae. It has a higher melee than either of the other units and a slightly higher charge, but it's defense is much weaker. They die quickly compared to the "tanks." This cancels out the SP's excellent morale advantage. They die bravely.

However, what SP don't do is tire as quickly. If you're one of those Eastern Empire players who really likes to do an end run and then flank, the SP might be for you. This begs the question, however, of why you'd prefer to do that than use the "tanks" to crush your enemies. The result is the same.

The SP's advantages as a hardy unit that doesn't tire easily makes it look like a good choice for desert operations, sweeping across North Africa and Middle East. Predictably, the "tanks" suffer badly in the heat. However, there's an option for desert climates — the camel. The dromedarii has a mediocre melee attack of 6, but the +2 advantage against horses and the added morale penalty of frighting horses makes it strong choice against cavlary.

Dromedarii morale is a mediocre 6, compared to the SP's outstanding 10.

If you use cavalry to fight cavalry, Dromedarii is the weapon of choice in the desert. If you use cavalry to flank attack infrantry in the desert, however, then SP could be the better choice. Dromedarii fight horses, and other camels. SP fight just about anything.

Finally, the SP is an outstanding — but very expensive — chaser of routers. It's fast, it's hardly, and it tolerates heat fairly well. No unit that's fleeing will survive long if caught by SP.