Here are a few tips when you start a match with ANYONE, not just A.I.
Build the battleforge first, then troopers and send them out to capture as many construction sites as possible. THEN a war factory or aerofactory.
Research unit abilities and upgrades.
A few examples:
Shaman has a terror ability, charm, and shielding ability, this can help you ALOT in battle. charm some of their units, or terror them all. Warlock has a rain of fire ability that deals heavy damage to enemis in a selected small area. Zeppelin Has the mustard cloud which deals surprising damage over time in a big area. And the zepp has a cloaking ability which, unless the enemy has a detector (hunter with upgtade or bomber balloon with upgrade or a dragon ability which reveals stealth in an area.) they cannot touch your units except with abilities that target the ground for a very long time.
Armors have an AOE effect that deals heavy damage to nearby enemy light units. Very useful for infantry rushes.
Learn the hotkeys.
Fortunately the hotkeys are actually very easy to learn since most of them are labeled on the icons for buildings and units and such. also zxcv are your "factories" and will select all of a particular type of factory, with that you can build up fast.
There is much more you can do and just try experimenting and looking at all the different skills and see what suits your play style the best and watch what the opponent is doing so you can see how best to counter their strategies.
