You make some good points SMZ, however I wasn't declaring the AI was cheating uniformly at all times. The AI has different concerns than the player does. The AI can tech up quickly and get to better units long before I can because, as I understand the campaign AI it doesn't have to fight all its neighbors at all times. It can put all its money into teching-up rather than having to put on a strong front at every corner of its empire. That's certainly not cheating, its just the AI benefiting from itself, so to speak.

At one point during an early Turkish campaign I was the chief power in the Mid-East and opposed to me was Hungary. Between every 1-2 turns I'd face a full stack army composed mainly of dismounted feudal knights, they'd spam those things like crazy. Each turn they'd ask me to become a vassal, even though they'd won exactly ZERO engagements against me. Even funnier was the fact that even If I accepted vassalage they'd just attack the next turn anyway so why bother?

I find I have to put strong garrisons at every point where my empire borders an AI faction, and even then when they have no chance of winning they'll attack. In the aforementioned Turkish campaign Venice had Jerusalem, and no other borders with me. They had a garrison of say 50 men. So what do they do? they attack, and I easily destroy them. I don't have the luxury of denuding any part of my empire from troops as the AI will attack, under any circumstance, regardless of my strength so long as I share a border with them. Granted, I have yet to determine how to survive as Hungary or Russia but it's not that I'm in danger of losing a campaign. But rest assured when the AI is fielding stacks of Trebuchet and Fedual/Chivalric Knights, I'm probably still stuck with Militia Spearmen.

I have to build big armies to defend myself, the AI does not, its not necessarily cheating but it is an annoyance. Besides the fact that the AI doesn't seem to have any troop production limit and can thus produce say 7 units of feudal knights in one turn. Anyway it is what it is, it does get under my skin though.