beating 'difficult AI'

[magnate]

I find this too. The trick is to do a lot of scouting, and expand so that you only meet AIs when you choose to. That way you can pick them off one by one. This is why crowded maps are so much harder (try playing vs all 16 AIs on the Desert Eye map!). Admittedly they will eventually reach you later on in the game, but by then you should be able to sustain war on two fronts. If you are ever fighting three at a time then you have expanded wrongly or are simply not quick enough at sieging and finishing them off. Are you taking their castles first or last, or not thinking about it? My advice is always take the castle(s) first, then they are easy to mop up. Watch out for a killed pretender reappearing at his castle gates though!

CC