Becoming MEE in early game.

[PvK]

If you are using Proportions mod (which Version?) then there are a couple of things. One is that the way the score is calculated, if you build a lot of ships or colonies, you might get rated high enough to become MEE, even though you aren't becoming massively powerful. This is actually something I hadn't thought a lot about and should try to adjust for the Version 2.3. The other part is probably just that the AI needs more tweaking to put up a better fight, which I and a couple of volunteers have been working on and making progress with. Usually it has been relatively good tough if it has a bonus, though. Maybe send me a save game so I can see your example?

PvK