I'd say give it a shot. They're not the same Egypt as in vanilla. ;) No super archers, no magic chariots of Invincibility +5

There are two eleuthoroi towns under Ptolemaic protection: Kyrene, and the settlement in Karia. That's why I wound up at war with Karthadastim and Pontos. You automagically declare war on anybody who attacks those settlements.

In anything west of the Nile settlements, you can recuirt the Libyan Spearmen and Liby-Phoenician Heavy Infantry. (You get heavy inf. of your own, but I like to add some local flavour to my armies, if it's available.) The Liby-Phoeni Hvy. Inf. aren't actually all that bad; a Ptolemaic type 4 guv't gives 'em +1 exp, combined with a blacksmith, and you have yourself a decent elite phalanx unit. My experience (Medium difficulty on battles) is they can stand up to the Elite African Pikemen fair enough. You don't wanna beat those guys toe-to-toe, anyway, just pin 'n' flank.

Is it just me, or are the Karthadistim's general's bodyguards absolute monsters?