The only difference between playing the AI or an actual person in AWS is that in a multiplayer game you might have a chance to stumble across a goldmine before your opponent does.

The game is not balanced well enough to give someone a chance at a comeback once the opposition controls the majority of the mines. Because of that factor most of the battles are actually revolved around the gold mines, which tend to get old fairly quick.

Another shortcoming of AWS is the lack of well designed maps. On top of lack of quality we also get stuck with lack of quantity; not many maps were put in the game. The game uses the same maps for both multiplayer and single player skirmish mode (or custom game as AWS likes to call it).

Not everything is written in stone, but for the most part I think that only player of equal talent will enjoy the multiplayer part of this game. I’ve noticed that for the most part, most multiplayer games are done rather fast – either with a quick win or defeat, which makes me think that some balance issues definitely exist.