It is also really hard to play when you can easily trade for all or most of an AI's unimproved colonies. Like the twenty some quality planet I got for some early techs along with all of that AI's tech and a research treaty and cash.
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Admittedly, I've done this as well. I say "admittedly" because it's such a steal from the AI that it's almost shameful, but I've done it nonetheless. The tactic is so successful it has become an integral part of my strategy in TA. Even if I start out in the poorest and most planet-barren of corners, I can count on being able to trade techs for planets either (a) just colonized or (b) just captured and thereby catapult myself right back into the game. Evil races are far more likely to do this than good or neutral civilizations in my experience. I don't know to what extent this should be toned down, but I think the AI should probably give more consideration to the potential value of a planet it is trading. For example, an undeveloped class 20 planet is obviously a very valuable planet to hold onto and probably should not be traded for anything other than the most critcally needed or advanced techs. On the other hand, a fully developed class 4 planet might be considered worth far less.
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