AI passive during sally is still there. Post patch the AI is better than it was but it still needs a lot of work. If you have missile power (or change that to get plenty of archer units) you can cut enemy ranks down to a manageable size. For example, I had an army of mainly HA, a few heavy lancers and 2 units of mercenary spears. This army was confronted by an army twice its size and vastly overpowered in both infantry and cav quality, however it only had a couple of crossbows. It stood there (field battle btw) until I had run out of arrows by which time I was able to run it off the field with my HA! I had no need of my inf and cav.
The game still has that annoying 'enemy sally' bug too. I maintained a siege on Magdeburg, the last Polish province. The Polish King and his heir sallied with a small army that I ripped to pieces. The King died, his son escaped (last man in unit) and a few others. They routed into the city and stayed there, leaving me no choice but to escape, lose the battle and have to start from scratch. Now this is bad news, a city can hold out for so many turns but if the garrison walks outside the gates and then walks back in what has changed? Their supplies are still gone and they should lose. It was quite funny to see my 10 star General and his army retreat to Stettin after a 'close defeat'. The Polish had 23 men in total and they also now had another 10 turn breather

......Orda