only 8 playable factions at launch? Seems a bit weedy, also 3 of them are minor 'barbarian' kingdoms... you would think the greeks, seleucids or ptolemids would take priority. Perhaps CA is on another eurocentric bent after shogun 2? What interests me is the non-playable factions... will the player be able to unlock them by messing around with text files, or will be they locked down with protection?