@l3illyl3ob: Yeah, I have to say that the tech tree stuff has become far more apparent now that I'm about 4/5 the way through my second game. It seems like the AI is trying to directly research its way to a science victory rather than upgrading its military. For instance, I was allied with America and had found out they were going for a science victory, so they just made a beeline up the tech tree to space race techs completely glossing over everything else (they ended up researching lasers before metal casting). this effectively made them jump from swordsman to mechanized infantry. I'm hoping that this is something that can be addressed in patches, because right now its kind of dumb.
@catsanddogs: From what I've played of the game, I've had a harder time getting an abundance of strategic resources, and therefor had a harder time upgrading my army. It seems that when the AI isn't upgrading, its for the same reasons.
Eroq's comments