I have a very small map (6 systems) and just start a game with 2 players, full tech and 10 planets each. I usually makes it sequential to make saving easier. All in all it will take me about 5 minutes to get 2 decent fleets together for testing if I start from an old save. If I need to test some racial techs or some strange bonus settings I will have to start from scratch, but it will still only take 10-15 minutes.
