Good Game Wasted

I started playing this game; WAR! Age of Imperialism. It's a computer version of a board game, which I'm sure is a great board game. It's a great computer game if you like turn based strategy games, which I do. I found out yesterday the mistake I made though.

I was looking for on-line games to get into. It has an on-line function built in. Since it is turn based rather than real time it doesn't require a committed group all on at the same time and long enough to play it out, it's sort of like play by e-mail. That works for me, and I'm interested.

Where I found out I had made a mistake was when I stumbled onto a game review. They said 'Most of the time spent in playing is spent reviewing the computer opponent's moves, learning strategies that work. Eventually this developes an ability to compete with the artificial intelligence, which plays a very strong game even on the easy setting.' I thought the review screens were cool, but time consuming, and mostly skipped them. Maybe that's why I need to find live opponents. I can't find any harder settings for the AI, which I've been drubbing since day one. Had I let them teach me their strategy I guess I'd still be losing.