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I have been using the hardest AI level.

The AI has kind of depended on a few things. I've only played as Britain or France and have always enjoyed and been locked more in the mindset of taking lots of things over rather than purely playing the political points. Been that way since friends of mine started me out on the board game years ago.

In this latest game and patch [v1.25.03] some things show great improvements from past versions such as:

Russian takes Sweden over better by using boats to take the capital rather than marching into Finland and never getting to Stockholm. As Britain I decide whether to focus on the north or south depending on where France sets up boats and what I feel will get me the most manpower quickly. So, I know currently that the Russian AI, and Russia in general, cannot bring the fight to me so I know I eventually will fight them. If early, I know I can declare war and conquer Sweden before they do as they wait until after winter and I have the means to take it and defend it from them before then. Russian declaring war on me is no threat. In the long term, I know how to successfully invade and conquer them once the French war is over. Possibly sooner if I have my full army filled out and free state armies such as Sweden and Denmark. I also know that I can take and keep Denmark without threat from anyone because the sea is a barrier. Two easy means of building fleet and forces up.

Prussia and Russia were both seeming to play well in this most recent game. They were active in moving forces around and I was able to get Prussia to aid me against the French using the diplomatic requests. Austria was pretty neutral in activity after initially taking a couple of minors they were ineffective and then inactive after a couple of losses to the French.

Turkey seemed to play and move well against Russia, who had declared war on them. However this was one of the few games where Turkey had been setup to invade Egypt as usual and expected but they failed to ever declare war on Egypt and never got it.

Spain usually goes for Portugal and gets it without much trouble. After that I have not seen them do much of anything else. Occasionally they do declare war on Morocco and/or Algeria, but often fail to follow through on attacking them or taking them. Knowing this, if I play in the Med sea early on then I focus on taking Naples before France is a neighbor there and usually that affords some security for it. And then I work to get African provinces before the Spanish. If I take Morocco/Algeria before Spain then there is never any aggression from Spain against me unless I instigate it and the rest of North Africa is easily mine for the taking. Britain's superior morale usually allows for easy gains, especially using Echelon to break the low morale minors. In this most recent game, getting Egypt because the Turks ignored it was a gold mine for Britain. The Egyptian corps and fleet are one of the best assets to Britain.

France plays well but predictably. They are hard to beat until well fleshed out and able to replace forces at a high rate. Impossible without Prussia and Austria at least keeping them busy.

Some strategies that make things easier for me:
1) Doing whatever it takes to knock an enemy down on the political chart. If they have many minors, once they hit instability they lose them all unless they have forces in them and most of them often do not.
2) Never worrying about the AI declaring war on me without cause. Usually I start the wars, but sometimes get dragged into them over declaring war on the same minor and not backing down, which I hope for anyway at that point. Only in this most recent version was I surprised when I was in Russia, just finished defeating them and all my armies were tied up there when Prussia declared war on me.
3) I only go for unconditional surrenders versus the computer. I choose 3 territories which hurts them/helps me the most. I choose enforced access because that has prevented me from surprise game rule issues with not being able to evacuate correctly or easily. And I have learned to take leaders away as they are the hardest thing to overcome in battles.
4) I have found that fleets usually won't run a blockade and that I can use a minimal amount of ships to blockade the French freeing me up to use enough of the rest to ferry my troops around.
5) The AI is pretty good at screwing me up in many battles. I will admit there are times I will reload combat or land/naval moves, especially if I have been complacent or lazy in my actions. On the naval side of things, definitely noticing interception more often than in the past. Usually easy to get around by making sure I move a larger force in
moving things around for blockades and then moving on with the ones not needed to stay for the blockade.