Started out with A&A around the same time as Der Kuenstler, a few years shy of high school I think! Those were the days...... no internet, no cellphones, no cable TV even! (at least in my country).
I had a group of friends who I would play D&D with on the weekends. These sessions later evolved into games of A&A.
I remember one of the rules we came up with to make things more challenging was "no factories outside of your home country".
Makes me want to buy a copy and start playing again!