I've been playing (with v1.09) at patriot level and things seem to go pretty well. the AI expands a lot, but they are still manageable.
In the early game, I destroyed two AI colonials nearby, then a third that was quite far away on the main continent by mid-game. Sending combined forces with infantry (for the added defense bonuses in woods and hills), canons (to reduce city defenses) and dragoons (to destroy enemy units) was essential. In the late game, I went against the Netherlands which had 8 very large and well-defended cities on a separate island. my first force of six soldiers was wiped out on the turn after landing. I sent another force of twelve soldiers (half veterans) just after getting the FF who gives defense bonuses for woods & hills, and they survived. After adding several boatloads of canons and dragoons, I was able to take out their cities one by one. I then sent the entire force against the English who had a similar empire on a different island at the other side of the map, which left me as the sole colonial empire on the map.
Sadly, since I've been playing on a sub-spec laptop, my game always crashes before reaching independence - too many units, too many cities. So I still don't know how the WoI would have gone. Well, I think, as I had two dozen Ships of the Line and well over 50 veterans in good defensive positions, and loads of canons.
The Netherlands and English had been very effective, and had "stolen" some dozen high-level FFs that I would have liked to have, but that's the game, eh? Making choices and competing with the AI.
If in newer versions (v1.10+) of the mod the AI is even more effective at higher difficulty levels, that would be good. It shouldn't be easy to win at higher difficulty levels. That's the whole point of scaling difficulty levels.
Great work, Dale.
Cheers, --- Wheldrake