Last night I ran a test using v1.1 to see if this was introduced with v1.2. The no-expansion issue is just as prevalent (didn't try the protectorate issue, that was bugged in 1.1 anyway). I played 20 turns for each, Med/Med, as the Britons (unlocked, not mod), FOG_OF_WAR:FALSE in preferences.txt.

With no saving/loading, the factions expanded normally, eating up the rebel provinces and fighting it out with each other.

With a save and load each turn, not much happened. Diplomats and stacks moved around, rebel stacks got pounded, but only one province changed hands, I think (Brutii took Thermon, no siege, just walked right in). It seemed like after a load, the AI would do whatever it could short-term within it's interests (mainly crushing rebels). I don't think I saw any sieges lifted, mainly because the AI never got around to sieging cities in the first place. This would probably be present if I waited 3-4 turns between saves/loads.

I have screenshots at each turn for both test cases, the end result is pretty much the same as Bromley's. These results lead me to think that the reassessment is an integral part of the game, just as the .com post said, not a new "feature".

On the FoW issue, it would be interesting if CA tries to use Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle as an excuse.