Is Hard really very Hard now?

I have been playing AOE2 DE for a while now. I started playing with standard, then started to beat moderate comfortably. But I feel the jump to Hard from moderate is really big and I can't seem to wrap my head around it. Even if I do an archer rush with Mayans/Britons, I get killed off pretty fast by Skirms and Archers (within the 18th minute) before I can kill some villagers. If I don't attack rightaway with a rush and let it boom, it just comes and destroys me after 30-35 minutes after I resist the first wave. Do you feel the Hard AI is a big jump from Moderate with the recent patch? I've tried multiple civilizations (Byz, Mayans, Lith, Aztecs) but I seem to always lose even with a 2v1 handicap. Any suggestions? Thank you!