Anyone else find that Khmer completely outclasses Persians on Black Forest?

War Elephants are stronger, but they require almost double the Food of a Battle Elephant to make, and they're only out of Castles. But the worst part is that Khmer Scorpions shred War Elephants, and Khmer have Siege Engineers while Persians don't. Makes the civ matchup more lopsided than one would think. I recently versed a Persian while playing as Khmer and there was nothing he could do.