(small.tectonics.9 civs.normal speed.noble.1/30.Roosevelt/American)
Okay, my most recent game was an exciting thriller all the way to the end (or, to be precise, 2048AD). Really enjoyed playing it. The AI is doing a great job of keeping up in tech and in military building/warfighting. I found myself in a serious fight for control of the seas for the first time in a very long while -- I felt so threatened from sea attack that I even joined a Great General to a destroyer (which worked out very well.) I even had my a serious bid to seize control of the Incan lands defeated -- first time THAT's happened in a VERY long time. (France went to the rescue of its vassal and chopped my invasion force to pieces. Had to abandon Cuzco three turns after I took it.) And if it hadn't been for nukes, I would never have stopped Hannibal from launching the spaceships. (Ahh, nukes, the great equalizer....)
That said, I have a couple of critical observations. These certainly didn't make the game less enjoyable, but perhaps are areas that could be improved.
1.) I started on a continent shared with Stalin. I out expanded him two-to-one: when I had four cities, he had two. More importantly, there was no chokepoint or other way for me to block his expansion, he just didn't do it. He actually beelined for feudalism (he was on "Get Better Units) and had longbows when I was still playing with swords and axes. If he'd had a third city, I would have had serious trouble taking him down even with my elephants and cats.
2.) In the end game, after I built Manhattan Project, I noticed (via spies) that Hannibal was starting to build SDI in Utica. I quickly built some nukes and did a smash-and-grab attack on Carthage (which had the bulk of his army and something like 6 wonders.) Once I took Carthage, though,
he switched from building SDI to artillery. This was incredibly daft, since he had Mech Inf, since I only had a comparatively small force of SEALs/tanks (with one or two artly pieces,) and I was building a nuke every 4 turns in Washington. So I just did another smash and grab then mopped up his remaining two cities with my conventional forces. WHY did he stop building SDI??!? He was maybe 7 turns away from it when he switched, but since I was only building one nuke every four turns, he might have been able to complete it before I could get in position to take the SDI-producing city (which was inland, far away from the coast.)
3.) Hannibal didn't have oil, yet he could build Mech Inf. That just doesn't make sense. (Not a "Better AI" complaint!)
EDIT: I also used the air unit Explore option for the first time. It worked, but not as well as I'd hoped, since the air units were exploring areas that I wasn't interested in scouting. I eventually turned it off and manually ordered the air unit recons.