[dogscoff]

Interesting idea. I have played games a little like this, with the warp points disconnected. It was very interesting, and even more interesting when I finally got stellar manip and broke out to find all the AIs.

Oh, and I have seen a sphereworld full of cultural centres... Just use the map to have a sphereworld as your homeowrld. It's pretty impressive.

As to your question... maybe you could start a game with just you and the neutrals.