JoeBax,

You'll find in v1.1 that the ai uses its general and its cav better. Even so, the ai does become predictable after a while. I always play without the timer to remove that method of winning the battle. However, some battles can turn into very long affairs, and there is no way to do a gamesave once the sequence of battles starts on a turn. If it's the battles you are interested in, online MP offers more of a challenge, although, there are some playbalance issues which means careful army choice is required to be competitive at the highest level.