[NullAshton]

The GC AI cheats in one main way, it already knows where all the good planets are. This is explained in a sense, since the aliens have been around a lot longer than we have. The AI never colonizes anything other than yellow stars, however, and that weakness can be exploited. Get a good Planet Quality bonus, the max you can get, and you can colonize 13 and 14 quality planets, using the bonus to boost their quality up.

Anyway, about the depth... Galactic Civilizations has a really long tech tree. A REALLY REALLY long tech tree... And I think Galactic Civilizations isn't as much as for playing the game, as much as it is for getting into the game and having fun while playing it, using your imagination.