Does anyone else think that the game's very mechanics don't work at all with many opponents? I have a Galaxy on Insane with Abundant Systems, Habitable Planets, etc... and yet there still isn't enough planets, resources, space, etc... for even 20-40 factions without things getting retarded.
I find that using high number of opponents doesn't work because the game does not have the resources(planets, systems, etc...) to support them. I'm playing with 40 factions with Insane Galaxy Size, Abundant Systems, Habitable Planets, etc... and there just isn't enough space and resources to go around, everyone has a couple of systems and spends so much time competing for things that you can only have one thing but lose everything else.
For example, you want to secure systems for habitation because the AI acts weird and decides to take the planets next to the player instead of near itself or it's neighbours, so you have to rush colonization, but then everyone claims all the resources and artefacts and plops stations in-between all your worlds creating a heinous patchwork of territories. This also results in not enough Ideology Points early game, meaning Ideology points come to a grinding halt without more planets to colonize.
And all of this was on BEGINNER.
Lastly, is it normal for opponents to be able to go through your territory and settle worlds, build star bases, etc... in your territory? Why can they do that and I can't tell them not to yet they have a fit if even a trade freighter goes into their territory without permission?