At least in the players guide and the game, the Carthaginian reforms are still a pain to get. I am currently in a campaign where I've clobbered Rome, but have to keep them alive for the absurd requirements of the game. The reform requirements sound good on paper, but in practice they can be quite difficult to get.
I'm in the year 226 BCE, my faction leader is a Barcid, I hold Gader and Qart-Hadast in Iberia (and the rest of the eastern Iberia), and I've conquered almost the entirety of the Italian peninsula. I've fought several major battles. The problem is that they don't seem to count if they're fought from a besieging force sallying out, even if it drags a big Roman army into it. I have no idea how many battles I've fought that actually count towards the six battles necessary. Now I have left Ariminum in order to allow the Romans to create more armies that I can defeat.
My wars in Iberia with faction reemergence from the Areuaki provided a painful but fair challenge, it felt organic. Rome feels like a complete pushover, and they should have some script that beefs them up or something. But back to the main point, I think Carthage's reforms should be simplified a bit. Instead of requiring a certain number of battles, maybe just change that requirement to just having been at war with Rome followed by a number of years after that. Or, that requirement could be decreased to only a couple battles, so I don't accidentally conquer Rome before I meet the requirements.