AH ! I might have double posted here 
I thoroughly agree to avoid a cheating AI mechanics, especially if it’s not clearly disclosed. To unaware players, it just makes them feel like they suck at the game, while in fact they aren’t playing on an even field.
Be that as it may, adding a cheating AI is fine if some people really like that (?), but please devs, just bring back the old unbuffed Hardest AI back. Improve that one all you want, but without giving it an unfair advantage.
i saved the unpatched gamefiles - so i could make a version right now with the old ai.
but it kills the whole game, becuase multiplayer will be gone.
i am so sad that there is no reaction from the devs. its weekend, a important time for playing with friends and they just make it unplayable. a simple roleback would been perfect until they had a better solution.
This is a great idea! I’m guessing someone could even add an “Old Hardest AI” mod until the devs address the issue.
but another problem is for many gamers, they will never unlock the masteries now completely. they don’t unlock using mods.
with the old hardest ai it was a good challenge, achievable - not it’s impossible
Damn, I hadn’t thought about that 
This change is horrible on so many levels.
Can’t expect any reaction on the weekend. They’re not working. Next week would be the earliest.
For anyone who doesn’t know and is just trying to complete their masteries, yeah you can’t use mods or cheats, but you can set the map to revealed and resources to maximum. As long as you build a bunch of production buildings and start making units you will still steamroll the AI.
yes thats a good point! thank you - not thought on this.
And you can start in age IV so you only have to kill the starting TC to win. I just gave it a try, playing as Mongols and killed its starting TC at 3:25 with a load of bombard cannons. It doesn’t know how to play with these settings, it does pointless things like making extra TCs and keeps.
These are all great workarounds! Still won’t replace a rollback to a proper Hardest AI, ofc