1. The retreats are because the AI will now (I don't know if this has always been so) "regroup" just outside of LOS of your forward base and wait for the arrival of their slower units (cannon, infantry). I play with Japan and use Buddha tech. I see a clump of halbs and some Hackapells massing just beyond my LOS (not wall, definitely bounded by LOS) and somewhere further back, a battalion of falconets coming to join them. This is different from AOK, where units attacked as soon as they reached the enemy, not waiting for backup or siege engines.
2. Forts = definitely. As of 1.04 the AI decks still have a predominance of unit shipments and the Fort is a convenient dropoff. The AI have always been very agressive with fort placement and it's an effective strat for a superior eco but inferior tactical personality. That said, you can always count on ambushing a fort wagon crossing the map at a certain point.
3. Multiple TCs are the best way to boom and catch up to the expert AI eco. They also control terrain and protect your hunts.
@Campaign AI vs. 'standard AI': Iv'e noticed some differences too. In campaigns, especially those where you start with few resources and only a handful of villagers, the AI preferentially destroys economic units: villagers, mills, TC, etc. This is by design, because the AI often starts with multiple raxes/stables/castles scattered over the "hidden" parts of the scenario maps, and effectively controls most of those resources and areas. You have only a small area to hide villagers in, and the fewer they are, the more aggressively they will be hunted down. This is not always the case in regular compstomps, where vills are sometimes left unmolested while the army bears down on your military buildings and especially forts and walls. The exception seems to be builders, which are always targeted first.
Crunkatog on ESO
Bart331 balance suggestion: aztec: remove civ
Voltiguer: Ender, Sioux in 1.04 will be a top civ, no matter how many layers of Sioux goggles you put on
schildpad on Elephants: ...their mansabdar unit sucks so hard it looks like a black hole
Crunkatog on Steam.