"AI plays very well now IMHO. But, and I mean BUT, the combination of those two tweaks made human SM very robust. In the game I play with latest settins, it is very easy for humans to get very effective expansion tool. "
Just my 2 cents but....if what your looking for is a cheaper way for the AI use stellar manip then you could go one of two routes.
One, make a tech tree that is for the AI only and have certain techs (like SM) available early on.
Two, make a mount (yeah I know, I AM mount happy
), have the stellar manip component cost a HUGE amount to begin with in resources and then make an AI mount reducing the cost, that way if humans want to use it it costs alot to build the ship itself even though the research is fairly easy....
just my 2 cents anyway......
