I thank everyone for the responses. Since I posted the question yesterday I have downloaded TDM and am about 100 turns into a new game. The AI is indeed better, as I am into a series of pitched battles with the Colonials for the Qikiltrin system. I will proceed with this game to see whether any new strategies occur to me, then I will see you in PBW. Playing against human competition is always better, like the games of Risk I played as a teenager back in the '60s where we all actually had to sit in the same room. Oooooh, radical man.
