I've heard this repeated quite a bit, and while I haven't checked the AI scripts themselves (although I don't recall/imagine there being a script facility to gi

I've heard this repeated quite a bit, and while I haven't checked the AI scripts themselves (although I don't recall/imagine there being a script facility to give oneself resources..) I can say that, engine-wise, the only handicap behavior for AI that I've noticed is: - On the highest difficulty ("Hardest"), AIs are bestowed 500 to all resources on next-age research completion. - Work rates for researches are skewed to be slower for the lowest-difficulty setting.