Neighbouring Civs are too vulnerable at start
I partially agree with this statement. For me the settings are:
Version - 21, plus SVN build 1986
Map - Gigantic C2C_Terra
Pericles, I do so love Pericles
Difficulty - Emperor
Speed - Snail
Ruthless AI
I think some of my settings may cause the AI problems:
* Stacking Limits: I start at 6 and +1 when certain military Techs are discovered. I'm always the first in the Tech tree, usually by 3,000 BC.
* Surround and Destroy
* Start as Minor Civs
I'll share some hypothesis on how the AI might be struggling. I do have save games from every 1,000 years if anyone is interested in tracking AI behaviour.
SURROUND AND DESTROY IS LACKING
I don't think the AI understands the benefits of Surround and Destroy. They have enough units, but rarely surround my units before attacking. The AI demonstrates SOD behaviour despite the stacking limits. I am able to consistly out-maneuver the AI and get better odds attacks than the AI. I win more battles and the AI army just wears down.
LOW ODD ATTACKS
There is a military concept "Force in being", where the presence of your army gives you power. I see the AI wear down it's army with low odd attacks against low-risk targets that I dangle in front of it. A favorite tactic of mine is to place 3 or 4 Scout/Explorer unarmed units on a wooded hill near an AI city. The AI will go crazy attacking these units. Even when I nerf the Scout line (previous post) the AI is still drawn to it. A better tactic would be to ooze around my units before attacking, and ignore the Scout line if there are combat units in the vicinity.
BUILDS CAVE DWELLING TOO SOON
Another poor choice the AI makes is rushing the initial GA from the Cave Dwelling. If you hold off on this GA until your city is POP 4 or 5 that is just more tiles getting the GA bonus. The AI usually rushes the GA with as few as POP 1. My favorite tech strategy since v19 is to build the Cave Dwelling 1 turn before Ritualism, and have all my pre-reqs to get past Tribalism. I want to switch Civics to Tribalism during the GA to avoid the anarchy.
TOO MUCH ARMY TOO SOON
I don't think any other Civ is a threat until Tracking is discovered. Before Tracking your army will get eaten alive (literally!) in the wild trying to reach another Civ. So I run a very light army in the early turns, favoring food, science, and income in my techs and builds. It is common for an AI to be 2x or 2.5x stronger than me before Tracking. I can see off early raiding units using Surround and Destroy, and get Slingers shortly after Tracking. But using WB and my archived saves I see the AI will have stacks of stone throwers by 10,000bc. This is poor choice for the threats possible at that time. I think the AI would improve with more emphasis on infrastructure until say 7,000bc?
POOR RESULTS FROM RE-ROLLS
Being 100% honest, the AI seems to really struggle when re-rolls are invoked, and often pulls defeat from the jaws of victory.
Having said all of that, I simply love this mod. I play as much for the narrative as the challenge, and the narrative to me is more interesting when I'm the Civ doing cool things like religions and Wonders and exploring the world. I view the AI as the Washington Generals to my Harlem Globetrotters. It's entertaining!