One time I accidentally played a game against one bright AI and 8 fools. The fools weren't even speed bumps, I had half of a gigantic galaxy colonized, and none of them had a third colony yet. So I gave them all colony ships. Which they didn't use.
MeridianMale- In the original backstory of GC1 there was an explanation for why the AIs knew where the good planets were. With the improved AI of GC2, that isn't necessary anymore, so it was removed in late Beta/early Gamma, but I don't think the manual has been updated. The non-human races do start with Stellar Cartography, but that doesn't tell you any more than where the planets are. Since you already know where the stars are, and the planets are always around stars, that really isn't much of an advantage.
