Game balance is great but look at the facts here. The Romans were a superpower unlike the world had never seen before. They conquered almost all of the known world and dominated it for hundreds of years. They are not overpowered in the real scheme of things, they were in fact that powerful. Nobody could withstand a full scale Roman invasion for very long. They lost battles and legions and left some regions alone for lack of profit, but when they rallied their armies all fell before them. Game balance only goes so far and thats what difficulty levels are for. I still lose a rare battle from being too cocky and trying to prove my might with small forces, so be it. If I want more balance I play another faction who are not as powerful and let the romans do their thing and build into their normal superpower then take em head on. That makes a long campaign with a lot of angry Romans sending wave after wave of troops at me...