[dogscoff]

QUOTE:Play a medium bonus game. Give the AI 5000 racial points but don't use any. Don't use mines. Don't use Stellar Manipulation. Fight all your battles in strategic mode instead of tactical. Don't do any trades
<snip>
with 10 planets. Then, once the game has started, take control of a neutral race.
/QUOTE:

You might also try the following to make the game more challenging: Play blindfolded, only colonise systems with the letter "p" in their names, deny yourself sleep for 48 hours then play heavy metal music whilst taking your turns, tell your wife / girlfriend that SEIV is really an interface for a singles sex chat website, smear your keyboard in tuna paste and then encourage a cat onto your desk while you play, rewire your computer to randomly reset every 5-10 minutes, every time you build a ship force yourself go to the window and shout its name at full volume, configure your screesaver to display porn every time an AI glasses one of your planets, hook yourself up to a 3000 volt nipple clamp which triggers every time you win a battle... The possibilitis are endless. A challenging AI game is easy to achieve if you're just disciplind enough...

------------------
"Pinky, are you pondering what I'm pondering?"
"Uh, I think so, Brain, but balancing a family and a career ... oooh, it's all too much for me. "