[Edi]

The forum population here is heavily skewed toward the multiplayer aspect and a lot of people seem to try to maximize the effectiveness of their nations. I like to roleplay, for example.

The problem with the AI is not that it takes some bad scales, but that it is not uncommon to see a Death 3, Turmoil 3, Misfortune 3 combo and at that point you can generally walk all over the AI with both hands tied behind your back. On the other hand, if you like playing a hard research game and you run into an impossible AI that picked good scales, there's a real chance of being overrun unless you can hold it off at a chokepoint.

Especially with the Better Independents mod, because then the AI will not be able to recruit crap chaff. If it has indies, it'll be crossbowmen, heavy infantry and heavy cavalry with some militia, but mostly national units, heavy infantry and the decent light infantry and crossbows in the MA and LA.