How much waiting around is the turk doing to allow the byz player to build 2 castles, tech elite cata, and logistica…? That’s one of the biggest issues with cata… Not only is your production bottle necked by castles. Your tech is bottle necking as well. And that in turn is bottle necking your trebs.
As opposed to the turk who isn’t teching paladin for one. Doesn’t have to build 2 castles. And can pop BBC the moment they reach imperial age. So theoretically could have a horde of stables with massed cavaliers long before the byz has a decent number of FU catas, unless the turk is sleeping?
Byz will likely beat turks but not because of catas…
Similar thing with aztecs. They should be rofl stomping byz long before their “weak arbs” are an issue… Remember catas are weaker than other heavy cav vs archers, not only due to armour but also dps.