Aehem, i guess my play style is a little bit more relaxing than the usual piff-puff-poof one year victories you guys are used to.

If you look at my first entry, it took even longer. But thats mainly because i got an event where everything was limited to a speed of 5 pc, which is btw realy awesome when you rely on the first strike ability as much as i do.

Also, in admiration of my military strength the ai is always quite generous in handing out their most valued treaties to me (the ones indicated by a red line in the diplomacy screen).
So i end up with the whole galaxy against me pretty much all the time, which can slow a game down quite a bit i figure.
Truth be told, i actually do hit turn alot early in the game, because i just cant put up with the ai at any aspect of the game at this point. So, im basicly focusing solely on research and diplomacy (which im not exactly good at) until i can compete militarily with the ai, which is when i got all the logistic, hull, miniaturization and engine techs and the black hole missle thingy that makes your fleet battles going to take forever, because the bloody hole has to open up first and close again before the oponents vessels receive any damage (Zzzzzzzz)

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Anyhow, the drawback with this is, that chances are high that i will have to face one or two Super Power(s) with insane military strength that late into the game, that will take quite some effort and time to eradicate from my galaxy.
I hope this makes sense. I know it doesnt to me.

Its just the way a pathetic noob like me can win at this difficulty, if you want to put it that way.
Im not a mother tongue english speaker, so if the writing above reads like a recipe for a delicious strawberry pie or something like that, feel free to ask for clarification.

Btw, congrats to your high point game neilo. I wish i could put down a score like that, but i think my games just take to long and are to slow for that to happen.