If I set them at the "Beginner" level does that mean that they'll get the extra bonuses that I receive when I select "beginner" level difficulty for myself?

It's been answered a few other places, but I guess it's good to have a thread for it so everyone can find the answer easily.

No. Difficulty for AI is "reversed", meaning at Beginner they have penalties, at Expert they have no penalities, and above that they get bonuses

Ahh, okay. Thank you.

I read here somewhere that actual astral lords do have their own difficulty regardless of your choice.

The normal opponents on the shard are effected by the diffulty the player choses.

I guess they need a 'Kiddy' level setting as I'm getting my ass handed to me regulary. It really takes the fun out of the game.

Probably the most important thing to note is that you can't expand too rapidly )you have to be able to defend your territory) but you also can't sit and develop your territories while your opponent expands. It's an ugly balancing act that doesn't leave much room at all for mistakes. An easier setting would be great, though. This game is just mean.

Instead of a "Kiddy Level" you could just quit the game and duplicate the save folder before crucial decisions that effect long time development.
If it goes awfully wrong you can revert to that savegame 10 turns ago to save the world (or in this case shard)

I was having trouble after the 12th shard or so on Beginner. I ended up editing the "difficulty.var" file to make the game a bit easier. Now the game is more fun and less frustrating.

Excellent! Thank you. I don't know why I didn't think of that. +1

I have noticed that. If you click on a crown mid battle it will explicitly say the difficulty of the opponent and as you progress in the campaign that difficulty increases beyond your own actual difficulty.

So if you chose expert difficulty for the game to have a "fair battle" you will find the AI actually has unfair advantages pretty quickly

Or maybe they keep their designated difficulty even though you changed the overall difficulty from the start.

which would make it an unfair battle as the enemy starts the campaign with penalties and ends it with advantages.