[HreDaak]

It is possible to make the AI expand faster. AI is ALWAYS on exploration state until it makes contact with another race. Depending on the size of this race and possibly on some other things the AI chooses another state which usually is not exploration. By boosting the AI's colony ship production (in exploration state) and making sure that the first few planets it colonizes are colonies with space yards you can get it to expand very rapidly. Also one way to make the AI expand more rapidly is to make sure that the first few exploration (attack) ships it builds are built in 1 turn (escorts). This aproach has few setbacks though (very little defense on AI planets when it makes first contact). But if you are playing in very large galaxies (200+ systems) the AI has enough time to build up its defenses when it changes its AI state away from exploration...