I've always thought of the Macedonians as being simmilar to the Selucids in that they have a somewhat tenous grip on their early game territories and little breathing space against many enemies. But in the late game their armies are so powerful nothing should pose any problem.
With temples of Ares and Artemis the Macedonians can raise a very lethal, well-rounded force. The ability to score units of shock cavalry in one turn is beyond fantastic (Madedonian cavalry) especially when they can be built with three bronze Chevrons.
You have the ability to create a very wealthy empire very quickly, though, and defend it well. I find holding militia hoplites and levy pikes in cities and keeping one or two 'light lancer hordes' (7-12 units) on the feild to hunt down rebels and fragmented or running enemies chips away at any invasion nicely.
Ares trained, artemis retrained archers should give you amazing killing power if defending stone walled settlements. At the start of the game you have the technological potential to create archers with 13 attack, basic archers. Also being able to hire cretans and give them gold weapon upgrades in the early game delivers another very potent force into your hands.
Just remember the juciest targets are the only ones worth expanding towards (Athens, Sparta, Crete, Rhodes, Italy, Hallicarnasuss, etc) so be ready to fight to expand.
[This message has been edited by dad_savage (edited 02-08-2005 @ 05:07 AM).]