I have to disagree. The original game and DA are simpler, features-wise, but simplicity is not a bad thing. In addition there are some irritating bugs with the TOA AI that are absent in the previous games. I personally still play all three, though Dread Lords much less then the other two.

The most serious ones:

• Some evil races do not colonize properly. In my games the Drengin are the only one severely affected, but others have reported the Korath and Yor behaving similiarly. I've had to switch the Drengin to a different AI personality in order to make them a competitor.

• Some races (Altarians, Korx, Drath, and sometimes Terrans) don't build a military until attacked - then surrender to the attacker. Not building a military is a valid strategy that many human players use, but surrendering like this is a bug or major weakness.  When the surrendering doesn't happen, they tend to build up very fast and become military leaders, so it is a working (and unique for the AI) strategy, but the surrenders are still a bug.

• The Torians and Iconians frequently leave many of their planets undeveloped, without any structures.

• The Torians and Thalans tend to expand like crazy and wind up with far more planets then anyone else. Usually, they don't become game-winners because of other factors like the Torian bug above, but it still tends to make them among the top players in a game. It can be annoying to always go up against the Torians and Thalans.

Other players have reported other AIs behaving in a bugged fashion, such as the Arceans failing to expand, but I've never encountered any problems with any AIs but the ones mentioned above.

I agree. I JUST got ToA and I don't think I'll ever go back.. lol