In my last two metaverse games I saw something I never remembered seeing in DA.  The Iconians managed to get all the races besides me allied with them while I was fighting two or three empires at a time.  What happened to the DA Iconians, the speed bump race that took all the planets I can't colonize and then get overran by a couple of AIs that are consolidating their territory only to surrender to one of the other good races or occassionally me?  I used to only hafta worry about the Torians, Korath, Altarians, Drath, and maybe the Drengin or the Yor.

When did they get smart?  For that matter, I thought the conventional wisdom was that the Iconians were the weakest side.  What is the AI doing to get them to do so well?

Or is it just two really good starting spots in a row?