Andy definitely gave some good advice in his last like you I've been using/playing against the 
AI from the very beginning and watching it get better over the years as it gets "tweaked" every so often.
I ensure the 
AI is on par with my player set-up throughout as in some cases it broadens out the options in equipment etc. for it.
Timed objectives were a great addition to the game that the 
AI can take advantage of as well. 
I agree with Andy in also "
shaking things up a bit" they've offered so many countries you can play against, and equipment sets you could never play them all.
East Germany as pointed out did you know the East German Army was considered by 
NATO during and after the Cold War the 
best trained, disciplined and lead of all the Warsaw Pact countries?  
Also, it was one of three Warsaw Pact countries outside of Russia the Soviets operated the 
T-80 tanks? 
The Soviets thought the East Germans to be the most motivated to fight as they felt unification would come from them in a war against the West.
Bottomline though is to maintain 
parity between you and the AI, to have anything less would create a "
false narrative" to the facts especially during the 
Cold War Era when the Soviets had such a huge advantage in equipment.
https://www.cia.gov/readingroom/docs...20and%20Poland. 
You'll find 
several posts in this thread dealing with the 
AI starting with the next two pages. There was a long one in here I believe from about three to five years ago that had a lot of good advice in it.
Regards,
Pat
