Thats happening on my current game. Find it quite funny, as the Iconians (my current enemy in the game) remind me of the former Iraqi Information Minister, Mohammed Saeed al-Sahaf (aka as 'Baghdad Bob')I'm just waiting for the immortal line 'are going to surrender or be burned in their starships. They will surrender, it is they who will surrender' Or...as my fleets approach New Icos 'Everything is fine' What a hoot!   

It calculates via military power, which takes numerical value of ships into account too much. A ship can probably take on 4 of those half as powerful as it without problems. So it rates the numbers highly, while the fact is ship-ship you're superior. Once it's military is below yours, it starts checking exactly how much it's losing, goes "oh..." and starts begging for surrender.

And don't blame the AI for being stupid at challenging. It's still braindead.

Then why are you playing challenging, if it's so easy?

And don't blame the AI for being stupid at challenging. It's still braindead.

It does not matter what level u r playing at.

I play at suicidal 1.3b2a, AI algorithims on. In the game I am currently playing the Yor have 5 planets left, I have 33 planets, they have 4 powerful ships in orbit around 4 of there worlds, giving them the highest military rating in the game. So they r operating under the false impression they r winning the war!

When I have got 50+ warships, taken 10 planets off them, they have not even got near any of my worlds. They should be groveling for mercy, begging for peace before there entire race is eliminated, not saying my defeat is certain      

It's nothing to do with me playing a beta or a bug (its been this way in every single version), its the fact the AI is scripted to just look at military rating to see how its doing in a war, which gives it a completely false impression.

Military rating needs to be altered to include number of planets each side has and industrial capacity. This would give a more accurate guide to how powerful everyone is in the game.

The AI script for each individual race is only as good as the person who wrote the script.

The OP is spot on in his post.

Military rating needs to be altered to include number of planets each side has and industrial capacity. This would give a more accurate guide to how powerful everyone is in the game.

Equally as bad is how military strength is calculated in the first place. The way I play, I usually have an immense tech lead, but a pathetic production capacity. This means I'm often completely in control militarily on a gigantic map despite having a dozen or less warships. The AI just seems to tot up the numbers, paying no mind to the fact my 12 warships are utterly untouchable by the 200+ enemy warships.