I think all those changes are good.
I never kept SP or promotions for later because I feel that's cheesy.
For promotions, it's just plain cheese and there's no realism involved.
For SPs, the removal is more annoying because it hinders getting some policies later on. I know that winning a cultural victory under these terms is a difficult chore. I sincerely think the whole SP system is crap, though, and should be ditched in favor of civics like in Civ IV.
The ai improvements are the most interesting part to me, and good moves.
The horsemen nerf is definitely not the one I'd have picked (reducing movement to 3) but may be enough to rebalance the units early on.
I never kept SP or promotions for later because I feel that's cheesy.
For promotions, it's just plain cheese and there's no realism involved.
For SPs, the removal is more annoying because it hinders getting some policies later on. I know that winning a cultural victory under these terms is a difficult chore. I sincerely think the whole SP system is crap, though, and should be ditched in favor of civics like in Civ IV.
The ai improvements are the most interesting part to me, and good moves.
The horsemen nerf is definitely not the one I'd have picked (reducing movement to 3) but may be enough to rebalance the units early on.