sorry I phrased it badly, offcource your interpretation is correct, I meant to say that the post was not directed "against" you but instead the belief that pahlava is more challenging than ...
and I never said they are easy just not amungst the most challenging factions like Saka, Hai and Pontos more at the level of "barbarians" etc.

with most factions the most problems are in early game, "even" with pahlava, true but you have the great advantage oer saka and sauros that you can actually attack worthwhile cities right away and feast of the weak eastern outposts of the AS and farm thier relief forces for stars and chevrons^^
bactria is not yet a threat and neither sakans nor sauros are likly to attack you before you can field Cataphrakts.
as bactria there is , as you already mentioned, always the the threat of getting whiped out by the Saka Rauka or a overfortunate AS "policeforce" until you manage to build up a good economy.

I never personally played the Sabeans but from what I've seen in the campaign although they have room to expand and time to establish themselves, you can't really field as powerfull troops as other factions, especially those around you :(
when under AI control they often manage to stockpile vast quanties of cash but even thier Elite Fullstacks á la AS or ptolemies don't mean ANY threat to a player who tries to conquer Arabia.
most AI fullstacks are either extremely annoying or a real threat to your empire,
sabean are not even a nuisance, maybe they are one when playing as Swboz but Importing (syrian/persian/mounted)Archers there is not really more costy than dugunthiz ;)