did they want to actually win the game?

This is a problem in all strategy games, the AI always lacks killer instinct, when its got a human player on the ropes, it just does not seem to know how to finish a player off.

I suspect alot of the defeats in GC2 and in other games to the computer r down to the player not having the will to be bothered digging himself out of the hole. I find even when I am near defeat I can always come up with something that allows me to stay in a game and I eventually go on to win.

If I remember correctly,
the AI in galciv2 was not designed with a "I want to win" way of thinking

it will try to win but not at any cost for its people, its way of thinking is rather : "I am the ruler of a race, how will I handle this?"

in Moo3, the AI (despite the fact that it cheated) was designed like a player and did in fact "want to win" which was really bad because whatever you did you would ALWAYS end up at war with every computer given enough time (because at a point you are considered a threat and too powerful so they declare war even if it's too late)