Typical results?

Do you restart after a bad start to the game.

It's typical for most 4X games. If you want some challenge, you could declare war on every empire you meet, or set them allied together right from the start.

Yes this has been my experience too. You can base a lot on the fact that you have 82 planets (double the number of your next apponent). Try experimenting with giving the AI races all the colony techs right at the start...

Another thought is on your next game with one of those "bad starts" try playing it through, it may even the playfield...

Also play on hard and give the AI full bonus.

SEV, more than a feeling.

Maybe you should role play more and not just think about conquering/winning.

maybe we should create a better AI for SE 5 instead of playing SE 5.

edit-

the AI's are ok in my games, up until turn 20 or 30, then i surpass them, No matter what bonus's i give them :/

Try AI team mod in the game setup!

Charles: Yes, that is typical. This game did not ship with an AI, really -- not one that is capable of opposing the player in any way. (Except for the occasional 18-frigate fleet, those are cool). You have to accept that and "build your own difficulty level" by trying to turn around the huge disadvantage the AI has.

One way is to only let yourself colonize your home planet type. This eliminates the tedium of settling all across the galaxy as no one races or opposes you. Another is to start with extra tech points, but don't use them. "Everyone against you" is fun and can be challenging, but you might want to turn intel off.

Fortunately I have a friend I can play with to keep things interesting. We use http://www.pbw.cc/ to play against each other.

I think all the game needs is a bigger bonus than "high" to make the AI at least appear competitive. You expect giving the computer a "high" bonus is like setting it to Masochistic in Galactic Civilizations. But in reality, it barely gets it up to Normal. Give that same dumb AI a hundred frigates, though, and it might actually look like it can fight a war.

I just have to add to my previous post... I'm about 100 turns into an "unnamedmod" game and I checked how I was doing compaired to the other races... I'm like 1/3 everyone else. I'm getting my butt kicked! it's great!

I have yet to see any real action, but if the stats are true I'll be hard pressed to win this game!!! Ya!

SEV, more than a feeling.

BM9 with full AI bonuses and team mode against human player does give the AIs a big boost. They rarely fight each other any more and are out producing me pretty badly. The combat bonus is a real killer.

Another help is to start with more than one homeworld for each AI. And never play with "neutrals" That helps prevent runt empires (I consider 4 or less planets to be a runt).

I have a few other handicaps which I impose upon myself, and although I still win, the game is fun.