is the AI cheating

[rdonj]

Personally, I would never try to fight more than one AI at a time unless I was one of the top two or three nations. If you're having trouble beating them because you're fighting 2 or 3 AIs simultaneously by the start of the second or third year, you probably should be losing. Unless you're using a strong bless on a good chassis, you won't be able to maintain enough armies of size to hold them back really early in the game.