Favorite Settings for Sandbox Play?

[SiliconMagician]

I'm curious as to if anyone has any good advice for how to set up the objectives, timing, scores, etc. for sandbox play that will optimize the AI's ability to fight at the Corps/Army Level. I know an AI isn't a human being of course, but Norb's AI is absolutely fantastic and given the right conditions, can really put a whooping on somebody. Given the wrong conditions, it can be head scratchingly dumb. Which of course is completely understandable. I don't expect a human like AI, I simply would like to know a few starting conditions that would have the best chance of creating a battle that the strat level AI wouldn't have too many problems handling in a sensible manner, rather than some of the odd things I have seen above division level. Some battle it seems like there really is a general controlling the entire side in some manner, and others it seems like the divisional commanders are independents just moving around the field at random making them vulnerable to defeating in detail.

The question is, what are some of the communities favorite settings for Sandbox play regarding number of objectives, scoring, time to hold, etc. that makes for the most interesting play against the AI? It stand to reason that the AI would do better in some setups than others. I figure that the best battle for the AI would be a fairly linear arrangement of objectives set towards the center of the map. But how many objectives would be reasonable? Also, I'm still trying to figure out how scoring works regarding objectives, best score limits, etc.

A little advice would be very helpful.

Thank you

[cliometrician]

I play about one solitaire game per day, and four or five nights a week I play MP, cooperatively, with a friend. We now play only the Union side because the Confederates, in most Sandbox games, are far more aggressive than the Union side.

We've played a couple of hundred MP games and choosing the right scenario OOB is most important for us. We now always play an OOB from the Peninsula Campaign: "Glendale--Jackson What If". That OOB has the most aggressive Rebels that we have found. Second most aggressive is "Jackson's Flank".

We use two Objectives. At first we had it set on 2,500 pts. every 15 minutes. We have since increased difficulty until it's now at a challenging 6,000 pts. every 10 minutes. But we never seize the main objective before the enemy. We let him take it....then launch our attack, normally releasing our divisions at different times, not all at once.

It's different with my Solitaire play. I use two objectives, but it is set for 3,000 pts. every 15 minutes. I either put the AI on seasoned, or I customize it with the AI at a +1 or +2 difficulty setting. There are three Union Corps with the Glendale OOB I use; when solitaire I take one Corps, Fitz-John Porter's, but play it at the Army level---and pray your own AI will send reinforcements.
In MP, my friend and I both take a Corps. Our time limit is almost always set for a two-hour game.