I get that SD doesn't want custom races to be as cool as the built-in races. I don't like it so much, but I get it - they don't want a game like MOO2 where there's very little point in playing a built-in race when a custom race is generally as good or better. So SD chooses to nerf the custom race making it so the 15 points, on average, are far fewer than the 7-10 points built-in races get once you factor in their built-in bonuses.
Okay, that's cool, makes their work of building interesting races worthwhile. Fine. But what I really hate is that I feel like building a custom race as an opponent is a bit of a cheat. I could build nine opponents who have a whole bunch of very small bonuses, make them peaceful as hell, and know that on any given map, a built-in race that specializes in one area will pretty much crush them all.
I don't do that, as I'm not that concerned with the points race, but I could.
Now, I don't much care what other people do, but I would like to know if SD ever plans to make it so I can build a cool custom opponent. I like the built-in races and all, but I wouldn't mind a custom opponent that isn't so crippled as the custom races tend to be. I'm fine with only being able to play a 15-point custom race, but it'd be nice to have 20 points or something when customizing an AI-only race. I'm sure I could do this by editing XML, but I have a feeling that race wouldn't be valid on the metaverse....