Rhodian slingers vs. Cretan archers vs. psiloi

[lllib]

So both Rhodians and Cretans have range 10. However while Cretan have higher damage, Rhodians have actually lower damage than psiloi.
So best seem to be Cretans, and then it's debatable whether range or damege, right? Or is there some damage type difference?
While at it, it seems that only way to get those ranged units as regulars is to start with "New Home" scenario, right? Or is there some chance in sandbox or new home that someone else will invade and convert a few cities?

So looking at the rosters, best seems to be Macedon is best (Epirus has bit advantage in food consumption, but Macedons can stand 1.5 damage whereas Epeiros only 1.15, and Macedons also do 1.2 damage which probably trumps the Epeiros advantage in food consumption (theoretically more units, supply limits wise, but it doesn't produce more recruits (whereas Macedons should need fewer).
Cretans have the best archers, but Epirus and Macedon have elephants, Thessalian Cavalry, Macedonian Phalanx and Rhodian Slingers.

[lllib]

Hm, my expectation was that it's possible to make the starting units assigned to home city. Turns out this is not the case (not for Thessalian cavalry/Rhodians, maybe possibly it may be the case for Cretans but not sure).
So all things considered, they are just a bit flavor Greek factions, but they don't seem to be giving access to additional units that would last.

[lllib]

OK, and even native units that eventually become recruitable(Macedonian Phalanx), cannot have home city assignment changed, unless the city is able to recruit them normally. So all that experience is wasted, because unless you can afford to keep those units for very long time (unlikely) you won't be able to retrain them. Not sure I like this.