[Sombre]

They are in MA. Are you playing with the latest version?

I think the elites beating AI problem is something which comes up with virtually every nation - try massing ermor/pythium elite infantry or even just lots of indy heavy cavalry and see how the AI does against that. I believe you'll find it falls apart in much the same way, because it just throws chaff at them piecemeal and they all end up with lots of experience and virtually no casualties. Other nations are actually far better at this because they have more powerful sacreds, generally speaking. The AI has no answer for basically any sacred with say F9W9 on it.

Marverni are pretty much the absolute worst nation (in EA), so while I can imagine them winning against any other given nation (with difficulty, especially in early game), they aren't especially useful as a balance measuring stick.

The real issue for me is that a lot (if not all) of these problems vanish in mp.

Btw I'm 99% sure the AI doesn't adapt and basically builds at random.