How can I give the computer larger armies?

Ok, I wont lie. I like to cheat when I play this game. I dont have a lot of time to play, so I tend to cheat to speed things up and make things interesting. This doesnt mean I like things easy. I miss the massive stacks of MTW. In both RTW and BI the computer never seems to get the steamroller effect going. I like holding a city or a bridge with a full stack of solid cohorts with good experience and actually having to worry about whether or not they are going to be able to hold it.
Whats a guy to do? Can I cheat for the computer? I'd be prefectly happy with each AI getting +20,000 money every time I do, so long as they arent using it to bribe my cities and armies.

I know cheaters tend to get flogged on a lot of game sites, so feel free to criticize, but this just happens to be the way I like to enjoy my game.

People here won't flame you for cheating, it's your game you decide how to play.

That said, on to your problem.

It might help to just send a diplomat to the said enemy or AI faction and just give them a ton of money - obviously the more the better.

You could also mod the said factions units prices to say ...half the regular price, or give the AI more starting units.
The latter option is ofcourse only if you know how to mod those specific text files, which shouldn't be too hard.

:balloon2;

You can give the enemy 99999999999 denarii at start. It would probably require more modding to let the AI factions get more money each turn, instead of all at once(btw, the AI already do that at VH, I think).

To increaser the starter money, go into the file
\\Activision\Rome - Total War\Data\world\maps\campaign\imperial_campaign\descr_strat.
You can also change starter units and buildings there as well.

Don`t know how to turn of bribing, tho.

Gah, it`s supposed to say \descr_strat, but some reason the board does not allow me to write just that.

Thanks for the advice, I think I'll just drasically reduce the cost and upkeep of military units. That ought to have just the right effect.