I don’t know what you did with the AI in the latest patch, but the game is now impossible to win.
I used to consistently win skirmishes against absurd, but have not won once since the new patch.
I have observed that the absurd opponent progresses rapidly and without creating the number of villagers I have to create to do so. Additionally, the absurd opponent somehow is able to create armies at the same time and constantly launches pre-emptive strikes that divert me. And then, of course having cheated on every front, finally it creates a wonder before I can even advance to level IV and get half the resources collected to create a wonder.
Thanks a lot. No point in playing the game now.