Originally Posted by
Ovidius Empiricus
I disagree partially with xsithspawnx about the foot archers, since those can come in very handy if you're having a rough time with pretty much any Eastern faction. Four of them together can really pack a punch. Turn off fire-at-will, and aim for dense troop formations. Or they can each hit a zone, to spread their attacks over the whole enemy army. Or take out the missiles/skirmishers/HAs who are getting too close and trying to harass your troops.
So leave the archers in, I say. Instead, I would substitute a horse archer for one or more of the xystophoroi, since I really don't see why you'd want 3 of those. I find HAs are very helpful for screening my army and providing a little covering fire (while on the move, no less!) for my other cavalry, missiles, and flanking infantry (like those fanatics who need protection until they're ready to strike). Especially against the other cavalry-focused armies all over the East, some fast HAs can really help to limit their mobility and weaken them before they get to your army. Often, they can get a very sizable number of kills, before you've taken any losses, since it's hard for most other units to catch up with them or threaten them. But even if they're just interfering with the enemy's tactics so your other units can be more effective, they're certainly worth it. Just keep them moving, at a safe distance, and let them pick off some easy targets for you.
Honestly, you could replace all three of the xystophoroi with HAs, because you can get some very, very nice ones as Pontus. Once they're out of ammo, they'll be nearly as good as the xystophoroi in melee. In contrast, any melee-only cavalry won't usually be very useful early in a battle. The infantry you're working with here will need more help than that in a lot of situations.
Also, note that the Pontic xystophoroi are some of the weaker melee cavalry in the whole game. They're super-cheap and probably easy to recruit, but that's about the only positive thing I can say about them. Pontic Hetairoi are your only real heavy cavalry choice, and they are definitely an improvement (without costing much more) if you want to take that route. Also, once you settle into Armenia's lands, which you should do sooner rather than later, Horoli cavalry are some very nice mercs with armor-piercing weapons. Combined with the Hetairoi (and HAs! and chariots!), you'll have an incredible cavalry contingent with just a few units. Put them into a nice balanced army like that, with heavy infantry and missiles and whatnot, and you can easily take over the whole map.
Anyway, I'd say you should aim for at least 1 unit of HAs. Roxolani Lancers are a good improvement over Scythian Medium HAs and are still fairly cheap. Or once you've got lots of money to spend on a HA, Cappadocians are excellent. But even the Scythian Medium HAs are great as you're starting out.