Are Roman AI a bit strange at 0.8?

[cezarip]

Epeiros has problems with Macedon, too. They very rarely manage to take Pella- it shouldn't happen every time of course, but I've never seen them do it at all. Instead the KH usually manage to take Thessaly and Chalkis first, then Pella and steamroll the entire Balkan peninsula in about half a century.

The problem is, I guess, that Epeiros tends to expand northwards into the rebel lands. While taking Dalminion early on is sound strategy because it has mines and can train those Illyrian units, they don't spend enough time trying to take over Pella. The KH's only land route for expansion, apart from Aetolia, is through Makedonia.

Not necessarily! In my last campaign as Carthage, I was trying to keep Epeiros alive as a buffer between Sicily and Romans. So I gave them about 10-15000 now and then. For about 5-7 years they fought the romans for me and even captured Capua (which they lost after other 3 tours). Behold, the next time I check the map, they have conquered the Balkans. Macedon and Greeks were reduced to one city away from the continent (Rhodos for Greeks and the island city next to Pergamon for Macedon). Their next move seemed to be Nikea but soon after Spain was mine and I stopped playing.