Need help on Galactic Empire

[troche58]

I've come back to this game after quite a while off. There are a couple things I just don't understand.

1. Every game I am way behind on Might and pretty far behind on Development. What kind of cheats/advantages does AI have. There is no way they can be playing by same rules. Do they have zero maintenance cost and all the perils of the planet ignore them? I'm constantly fighting off the planet peril (whatever it might be) before I can even think of expanding. And by time I meet another empire they are way ahead and no way I can attack them
2. So many games in a row now the AI does illogical diplomacy. On one turn I sign non-aggression and on next turn they attack me (while I'm busy fighting another tough war). Are they just very opportunistic and will attack when they see you tied up. It seems impossible to keep all but one of them from ganging up on me

I guess where I need the most help is how to grow my army and empire so that I don't get my clocked cleaned when I go to war. (NOTE: I can do OK if I start with a level 20 hero, but when I try to start a new planet with level 1 hero I have no hope)

 

[coodav]

The computer starts with a number of advantages. Sometimes bonus units and/or settlers. That said, you shouldn't be overwhelming to them, even on the hardest settings. Note that some of this was discussed here:

Popular Galactic Empire Mode Loadouts

Greetings! I am back from hiatus, and I got quite a long video for you all today! Here is a a link to my discussion with Coodav on our favorite galactic empire mode loadouts: Here are my notes that I used for this video: In this video we...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

That was a decent walk-through.

You can also find about the most insane build here:

Empire mode at its most broken

Last few games, I went through empire mode again, and tried to win as fast as I possibly could. I started with the one-city challenge, but made it a playstyle. It was insane. I won in 50 turns, but that was only because the opponent was on the...

forum.paradoxplaza.com

With that, empire mode shouldn't be a challenge, ever. I think you may be using inapplicable strategies. Could you explain how you begin? Note that this game mode emphasizes ultra-short term thinking.