Why don’t you try PBEM? It’s not as fast as real time but it does open up the door to a different set of challengers. You might only get 1 set of contires played per day if you are lucky but, with extra time you face very well thought out attacks and a deep game by the opponent.
The computer AI is brutal as are most AIs. The only reason a computer can now beat a chess player is that the computer can look at about 100 million moves per second so can play out all move combinations 8 moves ahead. Since there are way less legal chess moves then legal Axis and Allies moves a computer can’t ‘think’ deeply.
An invasion of England requires some deep thought. I built 4 FTRs, am I further ahead? Nope, move 1 over. Move 2 build 2 CVs, am I further ahead, hell no, bad branch don’t think ahead but even if I do…. Move 4, build 5 transports, am I further ahead, hell heck no. Move 5invade england and win. Obviously it is far harder, by move 2 or 3 ahead of the current one the computer tries building a navy and sees no immediate benefit and thus doesn’t investigate this branch further.
BB