bearcat33: I'm playing EE:AoC. If you have not purchased this game, I strongly
sugget that you avoid it like the plague.
Ok, I'm getting REALLY frustrated with this game. I've been on a
Civilization 3 forum, where it was revealed to me that the Artificial Intelligence
does, as I suspected, CHEAT! The computer opponents are all aware
of what units you have, without having even come to your settlement.

bearcat33: I'm playing EE:AoC. If you have not purchased this game, I strongly
sugget that you avoid it like the plague.
Ok, I'm getting REALLY frustrated with this game. I've been on a
Civilization 3 forum, where it was revealed to me that the Artificial Intelligence
does, as I suspected, CHEAT! The computer opponents are all aware
of what units you have, without having even come to your settlement.
The various computer civilizations will give each other trade deals that they will
refuse to give you. and etcetera. Lame-O! Needless to say, I don't play
that game any more.
About Empire Earth: I've got the game set only one step up from the easiset setting. I played
the easiest, and it was incredibly boring, especially in later Epochs.
However, now it's also no fun, because it's insanely frustrating. I'm doing
all the right things, building both my economy and my army, and things
are pretty dull. Nothing is happening. Suddenly, ALL of the computer
civilizations attack, all at the same time!!! Their armies are insanely huge.
We started out even, yet obviously they're CHEATING to be able to
build such huge armies so early. And WHY are they ALL arriving at the same time?
What moron designer said, "hey, that would be fun to play, something completely
impossible to win!"
I'm also noticing that the "Space Age" is missing from the Epoch progression. Why?
I recently purchased "Original War" and loved it! This game has a COMMON
SENSE, user-friendly feature.....a slider to adjust game speed!!!! I am not
a computer! I cannot give commands to all of my units simultaneously, or be
in seven different places at once. "Original War" allows you to pause the game,
scroll around, and issue orders.....which will then be carried out when you
un-pause the game! YeAh!! When you are attacked, you can slow the game
down to "slow motion"....as your units take damage, it's easy to retreat and
repair them.
WHY WHY WHY WHY do games like "Civlilization" and "Empire Earth"
lack this common-sense feature??? I'm not a crack-addicted hyper monkey.
If I wanted to mash buttons frantically, I'd go play an arcade game.
The "Real Time" aspect of Real Time Strategy Games BITES INTENSELY>

WyleCoyote: I completely disagree with you. This is my favorite RTS ever.
However, there are some things you need to be aware of.
First, you can (and should) adjust the game speed up or down or pause it completely in single player. I think the commands are +/- for speed and F3 to pause (but check the manual or key bindings to make sure).
Second, the AI is efficient and aggressive. At the beginning, it is imperative that you either built sufficient defenses (walls, towers, etc.) and/or military units to counter the initial rush. If you don't, it's game over. I prefer to throw up some strategic walls to protect my citizens/resources and then grow my economy, but either approach works.
I find the balancing at the beginning the toughest part. You have to be fast and efficient. Like the above poster said, you need counters for everything. However there are multiple ways to counter.
Don't discount the benefits of economic bonuses or converting enemy units to yours with priests.
Set your speed to very slow and pause often until you get familiar with everything.
Good luck.

BoxOfSnoo: I strongly disagree with you. I don't think it cheats, it's just playing a lot more aggressively than you are. It's not a stupid AI like some games that pick the cheapest unit and make a mass of them, it comes at you with everything, and if you haven't made defenses against air, ground, and water, you're toast.
Build towers. Build lots of farms (3-4 fully populated mills). Build more citizens. No, way more than that (like, if you haven't produced 500, you're not doing it right). Infantry, tanks, siege weapons, air, water AND anti-air. Don't leave a hole in your defense! The AI will find it.
Don't forget the most rewarding games when you win are the most frustrating to start out with. When you beat it, you're KING OF THE WORLD.
I guess you can tell I love this game.

bearcat33: I still can't figure out why or how ALL of the other civilizations show up at the same time, attack me........but while there, don't attack each other!

bearcat33: Uhhhh. Okay. If you define "agressively" as sending the army to invade someone, then
you're correct. I keep it home to defend. When the enemy shows up, I'm pretty certain the quantity of soldiers is literally impossible......they are more than my army, plus my
workers, combined. So, the game is clearly cheating somehow.

billramey: I'm late to this party, but here's a quick comment. AI players will gang up on you if you don't specify teams. I usually put myself on a team with one AI ally and then put two AI opponents on a second team. It makes for a nicely balanced game, and the ally AI in EE seems to be much better than ally AIs in other games.
Overall, EE is an acquired taste. It isn't quite like AOE or AOE 2, but it's a polished RTS with a solid AI.

Razzoul: I know I am replying late also, but here is my two cents
First most older games has this what you call a "cheating" AI
Civilazation and EE are harder RTS's, and will take the time and effort to get into them and decently good at them
And for EE it doesnt "know" where your bases are, but oddly sends a ton of scouts then calls it a day when the AI's scouts do find your base. The only way EE "cheats" is the avg common flaw of using a AI. Also the sense of the nature of EE, the computer will make you work hard even on the easiest setting..... and for god sakes never do a huge FFA, because once in a while all computer players will attack you at once.
try a team v team match, or just one vs one to get the hang of things. Also looking at the chart of what counters what helps a TON.

UnF: Empire Earth does indeed use a cheating AI. I discovered it during some skirmish games after I had my a** destroyed too many times ;-) I haven't played this wonderful game for ages, but I remember having disabled the fog of war to observe the beginning of a random game : the computer seems to have been given faster and cheaper buildings, while it doesn't have to wait for long before producing lots and lots of units (as it there were no population limit constraint, nor sufficient ressources gathered).
I also remember a statement made by a french programmer, who won a scenario competition with an impressive map, full of complex triggers and AI tweaks : he was disappointed to discover that the AI was cheating, having first thought that it was a true programming performance by Stainless Steel.
Anyway, I am not criticising the fact that the AI is cheating or not. It is not much of a problem : if the game is fun, entertaining and skill-raising, then it's OK. EE was shipped in 2001 : back in the day, I felt it was a wonderful improvement over other RTS games offline-wise. A high difficulty, combined with an efficient "rock-paper-scissors" system that could be easily verified on the field, has helped me a lot to improve my skills and use them back into other RTS. Of course, it was frustrating at times, but overall it was one of the best experiences I have had. I still have good memories of EE, mostly because I had fun to play campaigns, I could challenge the (cheating) AI while learning to play well, I could play against talented players online, and last but not least, enjoy one of the best editors ever built. The trigger system and map design are just perfect ! I was able to master them, while I was the biggest noob on earth at that time (16 years old, without any experience in computer programmation or design).
Well, I may surely not be impartial because of the good memories and my love for Rick Goodman's games. But I recommend you to persevere, you will learn to develop your skills. I prefer to suffer a little and to enjoy a great rewarding feeling in the end, than to play bland and easy campaigns ; plus you can find nice scenarios made by the community. Hey, I almost forgot : EE's idea of aircraft fuel management is awesome ! Sometimes you have to risk yourself in enemy territory to build a new airport because you are out of range... A very great idea. Sad that Mad Doc Software did not go on with that concept in EE2 (airplanes can now fly without limits).
P.S.: Please forgive me if there are some mistakes, english language is not my mother tongue... I tried my best - first post on Gog.com btw ;-)

BoxOfSnoo: I think it's time to call the waaaaambulance. I personally don't care anymore what you think of the game.
If someone REALLY doesn't want even try to practice or take our advice to understand the game, all that's left is mockery.

ThatNamelessOne: You can turn off AI cheating in a single player game by using the scenario editor.

ThatNamelessOne:
Start a single player game.
Save it as soon as it starts.
Quit the game.
Navigate to the saved games folder. Saved games have an extension .ees. Change the extension to .scn.
Move the file to the scenarios folder.
Start Empire Earth and go to the scenario editor and load your saved game which is now a scenario. (Avoid looking at the world map if you don't want a "spoiler".)
Go to players and AI settings. Uncheck the box under cheat for all computer players. (See attached screenshot.)
Exit game.
Changed your file extension back to .ees and move back to save game folder and play.
The computer opponents are forced to gather resources like a human player.
I agree that it would have been nice to have a pause feature where you could issue commands.
(Pax Imperia: Imminent Domain had such a system. Another great RTS.)
There are four game speed options for single player though: slow, standard, fast, and very fast.
The game does cheat quite a bit on hard difficulty. I've noticed it gives itself resources.
I've never noticed myself being ganged up on though. It seems the computer players are as likely to bash each other as me.
I do love the game. It's one of my all time favorite RTS games.
I don't know how much you've played the game, but experiment some. Try different maps, settings, etc. There are some excellent random map scripts at EEHeaven.