Quote Originally Posted by LordK9 View Post
I don't think I've ever found a game where that wasn't true, modded or not.
Indeed, and creating a competent A.I. is already a fairly challenging part of game design. However, R:TW's combat A.I. is the nadir of the series. All it can do is line its army up. Unlike previous instalments, it does not use the terrain correctly or scout for ambushes. It either sits there and waits for you to approach, or it marches straight at you.

AI improvements seem to be adding money and supplies (resources) which makes it harder early
Actually, there are things you can do to help A.I. without giving it bonuses, even in R:TW. DarthMod improved combat A.I. by fiddling with the formation files. It still makes the mistakes described above, but at least the forces are arrayed in a more competent manner. These adjustments have been incorporated by many other mods. EB created its own formation mod (which also improved the A.I.), but there is a submod that allows you to replace these with Darth's. It's been too long since I played EB to remember which of these was better. Some people swore by DarthFormations, but others said it barely made a difference for EB.

Slowing down combat also helps. I believe the other reason why the R:TW A.I. fails so dismally is that it cannot keep up with the pace of the battle. S1:TW and M1:TW battles were much slower, allowing the A.I. more time to respond.

Fiddling with recruitment and construction priorities/limits can force the A.I. to spend its money more effectively. There is also a faction-objective file that can be used to prompt the A.I. to expand in more sensible directions. (Not sure if this was incorporated in EB. It maybe be BI-only. If so, there is a submod available, but it only works for EB-BI, which is not officially supported.)