@Das- my thoughts exactly
@Emu- not a high opinion of myself; just stateing fact; the "Franks" turned into "France", and now speak "French" which, from what has been written, andits pronounciation, is no different from our real life french- because french is a latin based language, the NES based French must, in turn be based on a Latinate language- the only nation to speak such a a language is Ravenna, but Pannonia, and now Lombardia may be doing so as well.
otherwise my inference of Portugese fear of Ravenna is just story telling for the most part.
@Toteone- too late for that this turn, we'll see how things turn out in the update, and we can make a descision from there. from what i know, it may not actually be needed.
as for UU- wouldnt be effective; they are infantrymen, and while it saysin thier description that they are somwhat specialized to fight steppe peoples, I figured that it woudl just be better to buy a bunch of cavalry, and send a cav/archer combo to go sink thier teeth into cimmerian hide, rather then sending a bunch of infantry, who woudl take massive casulties, and weaken overall forces set for defence fo the great wall.
steppe peoples are a tricky bunch to beat (but certinally not impossible) but to do it effectivlly, IMO at least, ti requires being able to know where your forces will suit you best, and to not to commit troops to a battle you know they will suffer heavy casulties in (but, on the otherhand, not beign afraid to commit your troops to a well drilled offensive- nothing is worse then a "skirmishing war" like what happend in the far east in stNNES 3-IIRC the number correctlly)