Really no bonuses ?

[Akka]

I'm having a doubt on a subject, that spoils me the fun of the game.

I deeply hate anything but "equal grounds". When I play against a AI, I want it to abide by the exact same rules than I do. As such, I always go straight to the "neutral" difficulty level.
AFAIK, it's the "noble" setting in Civ4, where nobody (neither player nor AI) is supposed to have any advantages.

And the point is, I'm clearly not sure about this. I don't have any definite answer, but I can't help to wonder "do they REALLY have no bonuses ?". It may be that I'm simply still having bad habits from previous civ game, that I'm not used yet to the gameplay, or that I simply suck, but I am often outclassed by the AI.

So, my question is : does someone has actually really tested the game to check if there is, indeed, really no bonuses for AI ?
Please notice that, though it's always interesting to have hints at strategies, it's NOT what I'm asking here. For strategies and improving myself, I'll play game and hang around the "strategies" forum.
My question here is that, and ONLY that : is there really no bonuses in Noble ?

 

[Revolutionary]

well I haven't tested anything myself but in the manual it does say that the higher the difficulty level the more costly tech research and maintain becames for the player

at the same time the AI gets more free units and discounts on techs, growth, unit training, building and wonder construction

 

[Mercade]

The difficulties range from Settler (used for the Tutorial) up
through Noble (the default difficulty level) eventually to Deity
(a nearly impossible level!)

I haven't checked in the editor, but I think it means that "default" in this quote should be read as being the level at which all parties are treated equally.

 

[warpstorm]

Noble has some bonuses, look at the XML.

 

[Akka]

Noble has some bonuses, look at the XML.

Ah. So it wasn't just an idea (unless the bonuses apply to the human, but then I would be devastated to know that even with bonuses I'm being beaten by an AI ^^).

Edit : found the file, I'll have a look into this.