The (Heavy) Horse Archers being devastating in gameplay. For the time period, these units were devastating, capable of swooping in, spraying the enemy with arrows, and then beating a quick retreat before the enemy could marshal its forces. Hell, even today that'd be a viable strategy against anything less than a fleet of attack helicopters.
Why do many of the civilizations have inaccurate architecture styles? The Persians are depicted building ziggurats, the Sumerians and Assyrians look Egyptian instead of Mesopotamian, while the Carthaginians and Macedonians look Roman. Granted, the real life reason is that it's a very old game (was released in 1997) so the developers had to reuse assets. However, what's the in-universe justification for inaccurate buildings?
