Playing versus AI is fine, but every time I play against my friend I just can't beat him. He always place Sparta (which, according to all the videos isn't supposed to be top 5 civs) and I've tried Carthage, Ptolemies, Iberia - lose, lose, lose.
The thing that's perplexing is I max all my stuff out, build walls and (recently) attacked with 500 swords/calvary/archers.... nothing. Sparta just waded through them like they were paper.