I have come up with a package of changes to Carthage which may have some effect, although I haven't had an opportunity to test them yet, and I'd appreciate anybody's help in doing so. Basically, what I have done so far is:

* Increase starting funds from 7k to 10k
* Moved Admiral Timasion's fleet to northeast Sicily, made him a four-star admiral and given him four biremes
* Made the other Carthaginian admiral a two-star admiral
* Moved the spy on Sicily to near Messana in order to avoid early Carthage-Sicily war
* Taken Carthago Nova from Spain and given it to Carthage, moving the Spanish general and his army to just south of the Pyrenees
* Added Carthaginian army to Carthago Nova - town militia, Iberian Infantry, cavalry and peltasts
* Slightly reinforced faction leader's army on Sicily with one unit of Iberians and one unit of peltasts
* Increased Iberian Infantry defensive skill from 2 to 4

Thanks for letting me know that there's a Carthaginian Scutarii skin already in the game, Woad Warrior. Adding them to the Carthaginian unit roster is a real consideration, although a unit card would have to be created which would somewhat increase the scope of this mod. Still, I'm not averse to doing that.
As regards Dacia, I find that when the Britons are not a factor on the continent in early game, the Germans tend to forestall Dacian expansion. However, that's my impression from only one campaign so I'd like to test some more and if Dacia are still running amok a bit I might well take the Falxmen down a peg or too.