You think the A.I. sucks? Play _Ascendancy_.
Then you will count your blessings. Anyway,
for a harder game, play in a small universe
with the maximum number of AI opponents.
Turn off the neutrals. Set the AI to hard
and give the AI's the maximum bonus. You
might also hand generate a number of AI
players as opposed to using the random ones.
Make them all bloodthirsty xenophobes.