yeah, its kind of disappointing sometimes. I actually just beat down ctis (or ulm..hmm) I think, and the pretender had W9N8... yet no sacreds in any armies. So, even if they get a good bless build, they might not take advantage of it.
Playing with all AIs at impossible is actually much easier, they can stand up to each other a bit more. So now I'm only fighting 4 wars, and no one is wildly overpowered.
It still annoys me when someone declares war on me and I haven't even found them on the map yet. Like turn 4 and 4 nations decide they hate me