My suspicion (and, well, hope...) is that the relative absence of much Dev interaction with the community since 1.33, other than to state every once in a while AI is a big focus for 1.4, is an indication that they understand the game has a long ways to go gameplay-wise and that the battle-planner AI, strategic AI, pathing AI, and production AI are all currently woefully inadequate to the needs of a game this complex.
From their posts it sounds like they were caught a little unawares at the magnitude of the issues still existing after 1.3, but now they've appropriately assessed it and are taking it seriously.
From their posts it sounds like they were caught a little unawares at the magnitude of the issues still existing after 1.3, but now they've appropriately assessed it and are taking it seriously.