The more recs posted (both wins and losses), the better it can become. TheMax can then see what it's doing wrong and fix those things, while also being able to see what it's doing right, so those things can be maintained.
If you have the impression that it's becoming weaker, it's likely that you, or the friends you play with against it, are becoming better and anticipating its actions and responses better. If you've changed your preferred map and civ selections (for yourself and the AIs) over time, that may also explain the difference.
From a pure gameplay perspective, it's now faster, wastes less villager time, and has better coordination. Assuming a fair game on Hard difficulty, I think it's definitely better. On Hardest, it's different, as some of the automatic cheats have changed over time, so it likely has less extra resources now than before.
If you have the impression that it's becoming weaker, it's likely that you, or the friends you play with against it, are becoming better and anticipating its actions and responses better. If you've changed your preferred map and civ selections (for yourself and the AIs) over time, that may also explain the difference.
From a pure gameplay perspective, it's now faster, wastes less villager time, and has better coordination. Assuming a fair game on Hard difficulty, I think it's definitely better. On Hardest, it's different, as some of the automatic cheats have changed over time, so it likely has less extra resources now than before.