In the other EMPIRE games I always felt that the AI was too 'cheaty', how is the AI fro this game?
(To the people who've gotten it to run)

i haven't played empire earth but in this game too the AI players apparently receive free resources, and probably proportioned to the difficulty level. But even so they can put up a real challenge

The AI cheats on resources like no other. I have played this game for many years when it was originally released and bought it again recently (nostalgia). The AI is stupid. But it can multitask and because of how SSSI compensated for weak AI, along with the potential of a very high unit cap (80,000), and the massive amount of free resources it gets... eh, less fun than I remember :)

Honestly, unless you are playing on a very small map with low population, where you have a chance of hitting a cap without the AI producing 100 fighter planes for every 10 you can pump out, I'd just stick to playing against humans.

I absolutely love this game and its gameplay. I feel it gives a good feel to the RTS world and for it's age, amazing. It will still give new releases a run for their money.
The AI's can be easy to beat once you learn the game, BUT luckily you can increase your number of enemies or allies, as well as the difficulty levels. The levels have a good amount of range.
Find your favorite faction(s) and learn them. Strive to beat a computer. Very fun.
You can also play with other people on "gameranger". I recommend this game 100%. I feel in love with this game many years ago and it is still 1 of my favorite RTS's today.

AND FOR THE SO CALLED "CHEATING" AIs.... BULL. PPL DO NOT LIKE TO LOSE SO WHEN THEY KEEP GETTING BEAT, THEY MAKE UP LIES. I HAVE PLAYED PROBABLY COUPLE THOUSANDS OF HOURS SINCE 2005 AND TRUST ME....THIS GAME IS FAR FROM ANY CHEATING. THIS GAME IS WHAT IT IS. GET BETTER OR CHANGE IT UP IF YOU DO NOT LIKE YOUR TURN OUT AGAINST AIs.
I have found them to do really good at times too. do not under estimate them.