AI modifiers are the same as player modifiers, although the difficulty levels are in reverse. So the max difficulty AI gets the same bonus as beginner players. (correct me if this is wrong, Gremlion)

The +15 is the maximum bonus, lower difficulty means lower bonus. I think that the bonus income is applied to the demesne. I can't be more specific without knowing the AI difficulty though.

Those starting tactics from Gremlion do make sense. I would concur that Astral Energy and Web are both easy to under-rate for an Archer character. If one goes the Warrior route, I'm finding that Astral Energy and Magic Armor are also very nice (although the higher GP cost to get the structure with Magic Armor can make it a limiting option early on).

My observations were not coming so much from an "I can't win this game!" standpoint (the reward in reaching the summit lies in the difficulty climbing the mountain, no?) as an observation that it's a game play experience that could turn a lot of players (and potential referral sources) before they started to unlock the meaty goodness in the game.

I also think it's interesting how, given the AI starting bonus and flat bonus to income, starting out with both your and the AI's demesne in Swamp provinces puts you at a bigger handicap against the AI than other, higher-income provinces might.

Some shortcuts need to be made to make the AI challenging and the approach that they've settled on isn't a bad one, but it does very dramatically affect the player experience when it happens during defense of a Home Shard when you're both starting in Swamp provinces. Inasmuch as there's any critique of the game at all, I'd limit it to that.

I dont think theres a bonus to income, at least not on expert and below. All we could confirm so far is no upkeep for guards and up to 150 starting gold more on expert.
Dont forget that in the campaign the AI probably has energy on the astral plane,too, and can use it to get lots of starting help.

There's no upkeep on guards, but there does seem to be a purchase cost. Early on the AI uses much cheaper guards. If you hit them fast enough they might only be using militia or light infantry, while later on they may be using mercenaries or men at arms.

Yeah. Mostly I was just struck by how, by Turn 2, he had multiple heroes and was mowing through 1st-ring provinces with decent gold and villages. Doesn't mean he couldn't get there using Astral Energy, if he's blowing 450 Gold on his second hero, it seems... impressive that he could expand quite that quickly.

I suspect high-level human players could do that using specific strategies, but I've seen no signs that the AI can be scripted to be nearly that devious.