Sorry for the rant, but many commentators say that Byzantines get cheaper trash, when they actually get cheaper counter units. A camel is not a trash unit because it costs gold. This is because they are a defensive civ. Light cavalry are trash units but are full price for Byzantines. LC are not actually counter units because they do not have an attack bonus v anything save monks, which we don't see much of. Though they are good for taking down siege and skirms, I usually see them used in a more offensive role than as a defensive counter, i e raiding TCs in imperial age. My point: Although some trash units are also counter units, Trash is not the same thing as counter units. Sorry, but I'm a bit of a stickler for vocabulary.