[MaxWilson]

We could generalize that. The easiest way to defeat the AI is to win battles cost-effectively, be it with sacred units, supercombatants, cheap summons, or what-have-you. Since the AI doesn't adapt, setting the difficulty level higher gives the AI a cost break (bonuses to pretender points, research, income, resources, gem production), which raises the bar on how cost-effectively you have to defeat the AI (because its units are effectively cheaper, and also because it expands quicker and thus has a larger income base, and because the point break on the pretender means its units may have a better bless and/or be produced in greater quantities because of better scales). But the AI never adapts, it just sort of stumbles across good strategies sometimes, due in large part to the fact that certain strategies naturally fall out of certain nations.

When you're being crushed under an army of Illithids or Umbrals, it is cold comfort to note that the AI is not being clever, just rich. Generally being clever is the player's job, to make up for being poor.

-Max

P.S. I *have* found that the AI tends to field better units under Edi's NI (no independents) mod. That's where my armies-of-Illithids-and-armies-of-Umbrals-and-cave-drakes experience came from.