Eastern Provinces of Rome

[Methodios]

Well, I've encountered a problem concerning recruiting troops in the Eastern provinces of my Empire (Mesopotamia, Assyria, Armenia, Osroene). The problem is, they are NOT good enough - these Ghassanids infantry, Azad spearmen, some shield-and-spear-bearing guys (I don't remember their Farsi name). Heavy cavalry is good, but with a cavalry only you cannot win a battle. The Sassanides are gone, but the Khidarites with theis Xionite spearmen beat the hell out of my troops easily, especially in auto-battles. Their armies are numerous, their generals aggressive and skilled, and as for my Romans, their only reliable troops stay in Ctesiphon and cannot control Mesopotamia, Armenia and Assyria at the same time. Thus I have to keep dozens of light infantry stacks in the region and bribe Khidarites armies massively - and this makes me really upset.
I think therefore, "the natural border" for the Romans is the Euphrates. The further to the East you go, the less good troops you have. Ctesiphon is worth your efforts, but not other provinces of the area.

How do you guys manage to keep peace and democr... pardon, the Roman law in Iraq and Western Iran?

[First Citizen Gallienus]

Isn't there actually a legion overthere that's recruitable? At least one city overthere is able to field comitatenses or higher grade troops. Could've sworn Julianus mentioned that in the recruitment list.

[Methodios]

Isn't there actually a legion overthere that's recruitable?

Yes, it is:

as for my Romans, their only reliable troops stay in Ctesiphon and cannot control Mesopotamia, Armenia and Assyria at the same time.

AI uses to attack different cities in Mesopotamia, Assyria and Armenia simultaneously, e.g. Susa, Bezabde and Vaspurakan and usually has multiple stacks to invade this region. Attacks follow one another every turn.