This brings up a good point, BTW, in that I wasn't using LTC either, and I think Lusted tried to tune up the strategic AI in LTC. You probably aren't seeing the strangely foolish AI behavior I see on the strategy map, where I can leave just captured cities entirely open and an AI army will often march right past them trying to reach cities that are still in their hands. I only had two or possibly three cities recaptured in my whole campaign, Jerusalem and Prague.

I'm still working on this, off and on, and I managed to get a 'Victory Imminent, Faction: Rebels' warning that I need to post a screenshot of sometime. I imagine I may be the first person ever to see that particular warning in the actual game.