[PvK]

I quite agree, but would add some other thoughts which might help some people get more fun out this and other games.

* It's also possible to learn ways to enjoy games that you "can beat" (like playing against an AI which you know ways to beat) by willingly limiting what you do, not just as a handicap, but in imaginative and fun ways. For example, try roleplaying Ulm, and trying to make mostly-national human armies with forged items the core of your force. That's still one of my favorite ways to play (and I'm talking about since getting hooked on the first game in the series: Dominions: Priests, Prophets and Pretenders). Or, think of other thematic ways to play the other nations.

* Ok, so you've figured out some things the AI does or doesn't do that you can exploit to defeat it. Congratulations on your cleverness. Now, can you be clever enough to realize that if you enjoyed that challenge, you could have another challenge by choosing to not exploit that technique? After all, once you learn that the AI can't do something, using that trick against the AI isn't exactly playing fair, is it?

* Even if you think you only enjoy mental challenges without handicaps, try this idea for a minute: Try to find interesting ways to make the game challenging for you by thematic (or arbitrary, or balancing) limits such as I mentioned.

* Consider that you get something pretty cool when you succeed: a game that doesn't stop being fun, satisfying, interesting, and challenging. Not all games are fertile enough to allow that, and very, very few are as full of possibilities as Dominions . . . unless you let your own close-mindedness blind you to their potential.

Just an invitation that might help some people have more fun. Meanwhile, I'll be continuing having a blast as MA Ulm against the AI...

PvK