Playing on hard but strangely easy... an AI bug? Guardians op?

[shuriken]

I have played hard games - i know how hard a standard or easy game can be, but this one is weirding me out.

Medium | Arctica | Hard | 3 state start | TL4

- A major declares war, i rush to the border, find minimal resistance from a few units low on supplies, i advance, and discover that the major's home city was already taken by a guardian minor regime.
- A second major declares war, very few units at the front though advanced (laser weaponry and battledress compared to my heavy and gauss), just sit around and get surrounded, again a guardian regime is at war with them (is there a pattern here?).
- A third major declares war, not bordering with any guardians as far as i can tell, just gives up a city, no attempt to hold it, i found out that it has a high tech industry and metal soil filtration facility and 15'000 inhabitants.

An additional strange thing: energy isnt being transported to my units equipped with electric drive vehicles or weapons. Everything else gets through but energy remains undelivered despite requests. Plenty of log, close to a railhead with 3k excess log.

Question is, have i just lucked out or is there something else going on with the AI here? And idk what is going on with the energy deliveries, thats a new one to me, but could it be something to do with SHQ delivery priorities - i would have thought that energy as fuel or ammo would be covered by existing priorities.

[Xmudder]

Energy is considered as ammo, and the game prioritizes food and fuel over it.

As for it being easy, are you playing the "g" Beta? I noticed my last game (first one under the g beta) that I won very easily, before turn 100, and even before I had researched Polymer Armor and Heavy Combat Armor. I had just got turboprops and turbojets, but no thopters or VTOL turbojets. I had gauss guns but not charged gauss guns. It usually takes me a LOT longer to win, and there were surviving minors next to hostile majors.

[Kylejack]

Three state start will make it easy, that's a huge advantage. Try one and no starting armies

[shuriken]

Since i posted this turn ~70 the AI has now started to put up stiffer resistance - but it took about 20 turns of war for them to get their act together, now turn ~90. Now im facing brigades of tank destroyers and heavy tanks -- Thats more like it! Though im having surprisingly good success attacking these with RPG corps and AT-300mm reinforced motorized infantry.

Yes, i started with 3 states and 0 armies. I enjoy a more economic focused start. I have not found the number of states to alter AI behaviour however. Usually it presents a serious challenge with armoured breakthroughs and mobile manoeuvring.

Still, i must have witnessed some very strange AI behaviour, because these majors instigated the wars, and they were clearly suffering from log issues, or something was happening on another front that was a huge disruption. I have never seen such behaviour in 600h.

I think the point about ammo might be the cause of the energy issues, even though it was being used as fuel for mechanized forces there were some huge fluctuations in stocks and supply around this time as i began the electric transition. To such an extent that I had to revert back to fossil fuels and scrap the models with electric drives that were stuck and immoblie.