Quote Originally Posted by QuintusSertorius View Post
You should be using cheap units (and no cavalry) for garrisons, and keeping your active army stacks to a minimum. Look out for cost-ineffective elite units (especially elite cavalry or elephants) that can be disbanded right away, along with navies if you aren't actually going to land troops anywhere in the immediate future.
Actually, I would never disband any elephants - sure they were expensive and contributed to my lack of treasury, but they also kept me going as they won me countless victories as Epeiros and made my exhausted and decimated army still a force to be reckoned with (eliminating Makedon and the KH within 5 years of game time). Ships, sure - there's no need to keep them around. But elite units (as well as cavalry) are worth so much more than levies and if you use them well they win you wars, not just battles.