Space Empires End Game With Big Empires

[Loser]

I picked up a game where a player decided to leave because his empire got too big, so I think I know what you mean. I am currently in two wars, each requiring it's own design of ships to keep up to date, each benefiting from a different path of research. Add to that my feeling that my economy is the strong point of such a huge empire and attention to it is of greatest necessity and my turns can take up to four hours.... Still, it's fun and I have no intention of handing it off to another poor soul.

There are some things I use that I don't see you've menitoned.
[*]You can save a build list in the contruction window. This is useful not only in newly-colonized worlds, but also in loading multiple-ship build orders. As soon as you have a Weapon Platform design, or set of designs, that you know are going to be in use for a while, save the order the next time you load them into a queue.
[*]I use the various super windows to keep track of what I need to do, and use various sorting methods to navigate them.

1. F9 opens the Diplomacy window, and I use it to make sure I'm both aware of all the recent changes as well as to make sure I've sent Messages to everyone I intend to message.
   
2. F8 opens the Science Window so I can siwiftly confirm that I have properly queued up what I want to research the next turn.
   
3. F7 opens the Construction Queues window so I can manage my economy. I sort this by how much resource each Yard uses if I am fine tuning my economy, by what is being built if I want to change all of one thing to another (when new ships come out), or by what is being built, with the Facilities displayed if I want ot make sure no planet is unfilled, but also not building anything important. This is also where you'll find the Upgrade Facilities button.
   
4. F6 brings up the Ships window. I typically sort this one by Orders so I can scroll through and tell what ships do not have anything to do and where they are. In a simultaineous game I may give the large stationary fleets orders to move to their own current locations, just to keep them from interfering in my search for slackers. I also sort by type so I can find certain ships, like Population Transports, and make sure they are doing what they should.
   
5. F5 brings up the Colonies window. I really only use this one to find out who is Unhappy. I sort by Happiness and try to do something about the Unhappy, or at least about the Angry colonies.
   
6. F4 brings up the planets window for colonization management. The trick here is to sort by atmosphere, and to set all system in which you would not build colonies (enemy systems) as System to Avoid in the F11 window (the name of which I forget). This can be a pain as you may need to switch the systems back in order to assure that our ships will not waste turns questioning your orders, but it keeps you informed of exactly what planets are availabel for colonization in your own space.
   
   

[*]The Upgrade Facilities button in the Constuction Queues window (F7) will not only add upgrades to the queues of all planets with upgradable Facilities, it will also convert all upgradable Facilities in queues into the latest Version, this includes Facilities currently being built, without restart penalty (unless I am mistaken).
[*]Name fleets with the system they came from or the system they are crusading toward, if you know, so that they are easier to keep track of.
[*]Rename Base Sapce Yards with the name of the planet they orbit so that you can easily tell where they are in the Construction Queues window.
[*]Add the Mineral cost of a Unit to the end of its name, that way you can tell how many you'll be able to produce at any one planet simpy by look at the list, without adding them to the queue. For intelligence reasons, I don't recommend you do this to ships.
[*]For Weapon Platforms, which your opponent will never see without also seeing thier components, consider naming them in such a way that you'll know what's on them, like "S.PPB5/2 PDC5/3 a40 1970" or "M.APB12.4 Rel" or whatever.
[*]Give single-race-spreading Population Transports long strings of orders or looping orders. Make sure to account for Resupply stops they may make on their way.
[*]If you can, use Hibernate to shut your system down while your Space Empire turn is still open. You can then start the system back up and the Space Empires turn will still be open and waiting for you. Make sure this one will work right at the begining of a turn, of course.
[*]Play a Single Player game agaisnt 20 TDM races on a 255-system map all the way through to the end, adjust difficulty so that you will have a massive empire by the end. This will help you find your own ways to cut corners, as you will have to.

This is all I can think of right now.