Been a while since I've looked at the forums...
I can't add too much more that hasn't already been said about the AI difficulty. I agree mostly with Vin's points about the over-aggression and some not-so-smart other moves by the AI. The difficulty settings should fix that for sure.
As for the lower numbers in the lobby. I can't say there is a certain correlation between lobby population and introduction of the AI, but it does seem that since AI was introduced, less people are around. Honestly, I think it's probably just because people used log on at different times, but would wait around a bit for other players to join and start a game. With AI now though, people just log in, see nobody, fire up a game or 2 against the AI, get bored, and then log off. Just an observation, and really no idea if there is a true correlation...
I can't add too much more that hasn't already been said about the AI difficulty. I agree mostly with Vin's points about the over-aggression and some not-so-smart other moves by the AI. The difficulty settings should fix that for sure.
As for the lower numbers in the lobby. I can't say there is a certain correlation between lobby population and introduction of the AI, but it does seem that since AI was introduced, less people are around. Honestly, I think it's probably just because people used log on at different times, but would wait around a bit for other players to join and start a game. With AI now though, people just log in, see nobody, fire up a game or 2 against the AI, get bored, and then log off. Just an observation, and really no idea if there is a true correlation...