I hope not, because I did too.
I think the island you are on, and the players you share it with, should dictate which units you can skip and which you need.
If you are on a very competitive island, or you are worried about being farmed by more powerful players, then hoplites might be needed as defence against horsemen. They are useful all-round troops with their good attack vs swordsmen too, the only real drawbacks to them are the resource cost and slow speed.
By the same token, if you totally dominate your island it might be possible to build swords for farming and go straight for horsemen, ignoring all other troop types on the way.
