Quote Originally Posted by athanaric View Post
Um, no. There are significant differences in range, attack, ammo, and protection. Even knife lethality (Balearics 0.11 > Gauls/Dacians 0.1 > all others 0.04) The Gallic dudes are very efficient, though - their mediocre range notwithstanding.
If you want to truly devastate the enemy, you can hire some Balearic slingers. They have slightly better range and the highest attack of all slingers, as well as the best melee weapon (AP!). Only their protection (1/9/1) and ammo (20) are inferior to those of the Iaosatae (who have 35 pebbles, which is the biggest amount of ammo for any slinger unit).
What about Rhodian slingers? They are pretty good, specially when heading east to fight armoured infantry/cavalry, and have some armour against missile attacks. The only problem is that they can only be recruited in Rhodes.