Hi,
Just got to that point in my first "Painful" game (all AIs set to Gifted, large map, everything else set to occasional) where you know you're going to win. My starting position was crap (I only had 2 planets for the first half of the game) but I managed to turn it around...mostly due to the ineffective combat AI. Unescorted transports, fleets sitting motionless in space, unimproved military starbases, 95% of ships are speed 2, planets defended by obsolete ships and freighters etc etc. I repeatedly fought with the drengins, who had overwhelming military superiority, but at no point were any of my planets even threatened.
The AI seems especially lost when fighting multiple opponents, it seems to get confused as to where to send its ships.
Don't get me wrong, I love the game, but I was hoping for more of a challenge. I can't imagine how difficult it must be to write combat AI routines with all the variables you must have to take into account. Oh well...Masochistic, here i come...
cheers
h
ps. I'm baffled as to why the AIs never seem to research 'Xeno Ethics' until super-late in the game. considering it unlocks all sorts of ridiculously powerful weapons and defenses...