The AI has no advantages on that difficulty. It has to scout just as much as you do. You actually are the one cheating on this difficulty level and still cannot keep up? Perhaps a switch to the lowest possible difficulty is in order? It takes a while to learn the basic strategies for success.

IcantHear, I am afraid that you are just expanding too slowly.  I have posted three playthroughs over the last few months.  The were all on large maps, at Ridiculous and Insane difficulties and by turn 50-60 I had scouted all the AIs.

In the first two, by turns 100, all the opposite alignment AIs were dead.  In the third, I was deliberately not starting any wars, and only expanding by colonization and influence push.  By turn 65, the population/city count, according to the "foreign relation" screen were:

My side 664 (9 cities)

Pariden 731(5)

Gilden   916 (6)

Tarth     828 (8)

Kraxis    300 (3)

Altar      566 (2)

Magnar  604 (7)

Yithril     507 (5)

Resoln   150 (1)

As you can see, some AIs spread much faster.  In that case, it was because some started in cramped positions, near other players, while others (Tarth, Gilden and Magnar) had started pretty much in a column in the middle of the map, with no one on their West.

You said that you had a nasty surprise by turn "couple of hundreds".  Well, you can be way beyond surprises by that time.  So just stick with the game, and work on early scouting and land grab.

If you want to look at the playthroughs, they can be found here, here and here.  Word of caution.  They are each from different releases, and many strategies will no longer work.  The one that will still work (better than ever) in .96 is "Self buffing heroes conquering the world"

Master scouts on scouts gives the ai enough of an advantage, on pioneers it's insane  just reveal the map and watch the Tarth AI, I am just going to assume from now on when someone posts about crazy AI city buildup they are talking about Tarth. And quietly rename the thread please for the love of pete  nerf the crud out of master Scouts, make it so all your units get the stealthy trait for free, no monster attacks at all and no wood movement penalty is absurdly powerful in pure turn savings.

Worst forum software ever.

I was wondering if the Master Scout ability was unique to the premade Tarth character, because I can't seem to find it when creating a custom faction/leader.

Also does anyone else notice that you can't enter all the quest locations spawned by quest maps? Like the location appears on the map,but there's no dialogue like in regular quest locations upon walking on the tile.

I've been finding sort of the opposite - Playing on challenging and usually, with the exception of tarth the AI doesnt get going fast enough

played about 4-5 games like this

Thanks - Yes I've run up against him a couple of times with decent expansion, the others not so much

in my recent experiences, i pick 3 pioneers, and use my starting hero (and recruited champ nearby) to expand quickly.  within 50 turns i easily have 3-5 settlements.

my custom sovereign has wealth, betrayers and the trait that gives free champ recruiting.  my early build:  buy pioneer to follow sovereign. build a second pioneer.  in 2 turns, rush it and build militia.  2 turns build, then rush.  pioneer.  2 turns build, rush.  if i can't get early cities, i will get early forts.  i tend to ignore items and clean monsters out of my area first.

i am not perfect yet, and the AI still out-techs me - however once i get my 3-5 cities upgraded i can overcome the enemy.

Actually Thadiana's strategy is very sound.  I've used a custom faction like that with pioneer-rush builds and floored ridiculous CPUs easily.  Research in this game actually is not that important early on as early regular troops at the moment are not really competitive.  Moreover, the CPUs are not aggressive at all either, which makes it too easy to sacrifice research early on in favour of rapid expansion.  The gaps between each research tier is HUGE, so you can afford to increase your potential resource base first.

I would actually recommend not playing a custom faction/sovereign as they are way too overpowered to really enjoy the game.  Serious nerfing of faction/sovereign points is needed--A good system is like in Master of Magic--if you customise a sovereign you have less custom points to spend when compared to a pre-made one.

I have started only playing standard sovereigns now and it is a hell of a lot more fun.  I'm still easily winning challenging but I expect expert and above may actually be a decent challenge now.

I am by no means a expert player, but the expansion outpaces me.  The new production changes and increased costs puts me at a slower pace.  I think I do fairly well for start locations.  I have had some 3 or 4 material sites for the first city.  I guess that because I build a bell tower / logging camp I am not exactly rushing pioneers.  But they can take 11 turns to build if you don't.  -- long story short..  every time I meet an AI they have DOUBLE the number of city/settlements that I do.  I know they are pioneer spamming whores who don't care which lairs are next to them. 

I am kind of frustrated on this end.  To me strategy shouldn't be rush pioneer. rush pioneer.  ignore monster.  find settleable spot. found city. repeat.

Clearing monsters is something that should be done before settling.  AI doesn't do that and is never penalized for it  (monsters attacking them the units and the city/outpost.  It's one thing for a lair to be at the edge of an empire boundary.  What I'm saying is the settling and founding takes place adjacent to lairs more often than not. 

Other than suggesting that pioneers/city/outposts are extra tasty to monsters,  I don't think that making it cost money is the right answer either.  My next thought is too look at greying out settle/outpost buttons if there's a lair within say a 3 tile radius in addition to any other checks.  That will literally force  player and AI alike to do some clearing instead of rush-ignoring.

Meaby the sad thing is people still feel under pressure even though the AI loses cities, I don't mind ATM though
They keep off the hero-focus tactic and I can win every game

Sincerely
~ Kongdej

I agree.  The idea of forcefully taking back the land is cool.  I'll try my next game w/ more wildlands and monsters.

As an aside, the setup customization screens are brilliant.  So much of the "balancing" that we're always demanding can be adjusted to personal taste now.

Pretty much what I see too, so I like the well-written-ness of this post.

Sincerely
~ Kongdej