I'm well into the game (a month or two).
yuck! This is why I prefer medium galaxies. I just set everything to abundant settings and it feels like their is plenty to do with planets, anomolies, etc. (which are everywhere). I can finish each game in a night or two, and I probably get maybe 50% through the tech tree before I commit everything to destroying everyone (100% military spending once I think my research advantage in weapons and defenses is high enough).
A thing I noticed: I think the AIs are easier if you turn tech trading off. I enjoy having tech trading off, but I do think it makes the AIs easier. On normal games, I notice the AI definetely favors planet colonization techs. With abundant settings, their are plenty of planets available where you don't need to research planet colonization techs. I usually grab all those planets that I can, develop them, and then commit to mass destruction with superior ships and spore ships. The AI wastes time going after the expensive planet colonization techs which I don't even bother with, and I just steal their planets from them and gain those techs anyway through conquest.
I think with abundant settings, researching planet colonization techs is a waste unless you really have no other choice. Let the AI waste time and effort researching and colonizing those planets for you, and then steal them from the AI since you have researched superior weapons, defenses, and factories while they have wasted time colonizing the worlds that require research.
On less than abundant settings, perhaps there are fewer "normal" habitable planets that don't require colonization techs? Does anyone know??
