Has the removal of tech-trading adversely affected the AI?

[Horizons]

I remember very clearly from Civ4 days (and vaguely to Civ3 days) that the AI was propped up by massive tech boosts and by making favourable tech trades to itself. A tiny nation could afford to upgrade its army to the latest technology surprisingly easily. More often than not, at Prince level and above (BTS) the AI would be sporting stacks of units at least one technological period more advanced than the player.

Nowadays I rarely see this ... and tech-trading was one of my least favourite parts of civ, so it's not as if I want to see it return.

Yes and I know about research pacts. Not the same as tech trading. Not at all.

 

[Adjuvant]

I feel you're referring to tech "brokering", and good riddance. I suppose a good real-world example of a smaller nation with disproportionate tech is Switzerland, or even Israel, but even then, they don't, and shouldn't, have the tech capacity of larger, more powerful nations. It's just not realistic.