Help! Sailing changed today on live/open!

[Edward Edgemenace]

OK, is it just me, or has everyone noticed that the NPC ships are sailing drastically different today, than they were yesterday. Some of the things I've noticed in the last hour (maybe it is two bad servers in a row) are:

NPC ships are aggro'ed by getting within one compass width of them.
NPC ships disengage if they get more than one compass width from their starting circle place.
NPC ships triple their speed once you shoot their masts.
Nearby NPC ships will suddenly use their strongest attacks on you (even though you were more than a compass away from them) once you cripple a flagship.
Your broadsides no longer shoot to the side, but auto-target to the boat that is nearest you (even if directly behind you, because you turned away to try to prevent the auto-targetting from selecting the wrong ship again.)
Auto-targetting, after selecting the wrong target, will miss with 80% of shots fired (within 1/3 of a compass radius.)
Enemy health meters appear when you are hit. For one second. Then disappear again.
Enemy NPC ships' broadsides now have free 360 degree targetting ability.

Has the AI learned to glitch? What is going on? I've never had a bad day NPC sailing before...this was horrific, one server after another. Halp!