I can't say the same when I play as any other faction besides carthage, since they seem to just sit around and occasionally attack me with a navy, but as them... WOW.
Im playing on h/h and I focused on Sicily. I attacked the roman captain to the north of the volcano, and of course instead of running back to his city he decided to fight. With clever use of my elephants I was able to rout and wipe out that army. I did the same with the rest of Sicily. From there I built my navy and launched an assault on italy. I blockaded every port with atleast 3 ships and, with use of multiple elephant charges, was able to conquer roman city after roman city. Within twenty years I completely destroyed rome! This is an accomplishment for me and it got me thinking that this game could be immensesly harder if the AI played as aggressive as the players do in the campaign, then the game would be alot more difficult (obviously) and would last longer...
I myself usually grow tired of a single campaign before I reach 50 provinces but this is because I grow tired of having to manage all the provinces. In the beginning of the game I can focus each town on specific things and it feels rather personal, but towards the end its just too much to manage them all to your content with that same sense of focus.
I hope that was clear enough
