Just picking off a bunch of these long bows is insane cuz you finding access to those again is going to be so hard.

Now Cataphracts are usually absolute bullies, but Barded armor is quite a potent move for HRE knights.

With the Hippodrome build, the Triumph ability makes Byzantine horsemen stronger. Even if HRE goes Meinwerk, in a straight-up fight, the Byzantine horsemen will win when Triumph is active. HRE should not take a fight once Triumph is activated.

It depends on if HRE has the relics because if HRE has, say, four of the five relics and they move into Imperial, I'm feeling pretty good with HRE even against Byzantines.

I think the biggest problem for HRE, especially on a map like this, which can easily drag into Imperial, is there is nothing beyond Imperial Age for HRE. You don't really have a very special late game army. In contrast, the Byzantines do have that.