Thanks for clarifying. That looked like that was the case! It looks like the handicap bonuses don't really affect AI personality much like the hardcore/softcore aggressive AI variants from Dresden do.
It seems they mostly just modify empire costs, research time, agent success, siege related stuff etc. which may possibly translate to different AI decisions.
What are peoples experiences playing normal vs hard campaign difficulty on DEI? Does it just draw the campaign out more on Hard or does it actually translate to better gameplay?
I'm thinking of doing the Hardcore Aggressive AI only but I feel it may just create a world war environment where as right now, there isn't much aggression from factions on turn 130+. Would increasing to Hard alone have a meta effect on AI aggression?