Are the Byzantines still weak?

With the update, I wanted to give the Byzantines another try, but they still seem really "weak" at my level (P1 S12, but I'm stuck at Gold 2—I just can't get anywhere with them.)

I feel like they’re still a bit of a forgotten civilization; it’s very hard to build a viable economy because you get rushed quickly, and once you get the castle (often with a lot of trouble), the cataphracts aren’t that strong, and the units are pretty weak.

Any advice?