In my most recent game I had one of those occurances where one of the AIs (in this case the Drengin) ended up significantly more powerful than any of the others. Long story short, I stayed out of war with them early on (since they could have squashed me easily), buttered them up whenever possible and focused on invading and conquering the lesser peeps in the game, as did the Drengin.
Well now it is essentially down to a 1v1 (the Torians are still technically alive, with a cluster of about 6 planets left. I just plunked down an influence base right in the middle of their planets, if they decide to go to war with me I think I could easily dispatch their entire navy with a single ship). The drengin, as is their custom, attacked me despite my best efforts to get them into an alliance and end the game the easy way. Well we've been fighting each other for a LONG time with me having only made slight gains. I lose almost as much as I gain and several planets have changed hands many times.
Now I'm confident I'll win eventually because as we all know I am much more adaptable than any AI, and even now my ships are superior to his. But I am pretty impressed that it has gone on for this long without me being able to gain a significant advantage. My ships are increasingly better than theirs, but they just have so damned many of them. I think I may have to figure which planets of his are producing the most and strike them directly to start denting his production capabilities.
Anyway, I found this game noteworthy because its the first time I've gotten into a war that wasn't decided reletively soon after its start. I mean, its usually pretty apparent if I'm going to win or not after a few battles, nevermind a few turns.
Kudos on the AI design!