Quote Originally Posted by zcb888 View Post
Does BI get to be more challenging?
Yes, but not always in a good way. As I wrote, the A.I. can do strong naval invasions, but they will also start wars by making stupid, undermanned attacks, like the Romani on Corinth in my campaigns. Since we had no land borders and the Romani weren't in a position to hold Corinth, the war was over as soon as I wiped out their petty forces, and the attack was essentially pointless. However, it did mean I had to patch up relations or lose a trade-partner, and a few dozen turns down the line they would try it again. For me, that's frustrating rather than challenging.

I am sorry that I can't give you a clear yes or no: it depends on your tolerance for such things. I switched back to vanilla R:TW. I imagine, though, that when playing a faction that would require naval invasions (Carthage and Rome for the Punic wars, Casse and nearby factions), BI could be an improvement. I maintain, though, that there is no other difference between the A.I. of R:TW and BI.