one of the things about the skirmish ai mod is that the dg's actually buy good items for their build. They also actually do good ability builds as well... and they buy the critical upgrades at the right time (for the most part anyway). If you just want to take the training wheels off a bit, give that a go 1v1.
And a final thought - you could go online and host a 2 human v 2 ai game. Not alot of people play comp stomps online, but I'm sure someone will likely join you. And remember - as long as you get achievements, you still do get favor even against ai online (just not the total favor that is reported at the end of the game).
