Many thanks Master Vonsch for your kind remarks. I played another short campaign, with the Scipii, and ran into Egyptian chariots. I mopped them up without any trouble. I think the Trier case in my earlier game with the Julii was a combination of factors - four Britannic family members with their heavy chariot bodyguard contingents, and the enclosing environment of a city. In any case, auto-resolve was a loser even in easy/easy. When I directed the armies myself, I got'em. The Scipii in my latest finished game proved to be a cash poor challenge again, like the Julii. I started doing better in the cash department once I got a good war going against the Egyptians, and the Senate ordered me against the Macedonians in Corinth. I started a short game using Carthage and have been fighting almost all of the battles myself. I even used one of the cheats to give the Carthaginians a hefty cash reserve, just to see if I could do it. I don't like doing cheats, though, so I won't do that again. It makes me feel like I'm not mastering the game. The problem with Carthage in the short game is that you must eliminate the Scipii, and the problem with that is that (though the Scipii are gone now) I'm facing the Brutii, Julii and the Senate as permanent adversaries. The Senate's military stack can go higher than 20 units, which makes their army rather formidible. Sea mastery is key, and I built up a huge navy right away and cleared the sea lanes of rebels, Scipii and Julii. The Julii couldn't threaten Sardinia after I did that. I may start over at medium/medium AKA normal/normal, without the cheat this time, and direct the campaign differently. Bandits get no quarter from me. I fight all those battles myself and wipe them out to a man. I did a bribe once just to try that feature and bought myself a good frontier post that I supplemented with light cavalry.
Thank God for hoplites and Balearic slingers. When in a pinch, they sure help out. more later . . .