Are there any difficult Deity maps at all?

[Victoria]

The AI needs to have some degree of pull down the leader imo rather than letting each one getting picked off by the human player

I think if the AI could fight better then perhaps we would not need such a strategy. But yes the AI does not seem to be careful about treading on others toes and so they end up hating each other. Not always and when I see two liking each other I tend to like to join them through pure bribery.