> What these games really need is a diplomatic option for you to demand they surrender to you completely and become a client/puppet of your empire. Furthermore, the AI should always accept this offer if they can see they have no chance at defeating you in a war.
Try Stellaris then; vassalizing your opponents is a great strategy (even more so now that they have fixed a few things). Another strategy is to force your ideology on them, changing them into an empire with ethics more like your own who can become an ally.
> there's an additional problem: you are often so far ahead of the computer AI opponents that it feels like you'd have to make some huge mistakes to give them any hope at all. It can then feel very frustrating that you're so far ahead but must still go through the whole song and dance to finish the game.
Stellaris has an interesting innovation here too. As the end of the game approaches, there is always a Crisis which is more powerful by far than any of the AI. A good human player can beat the crisis head–on in most cases, but it is definitely a challenge. In fact, the whole game can be seen as an escalating series of boss fights built into the 4X framework, with the crisis as the final boss.
Try Stellaris then; vassalizing your opponents is a great strategy (even more so now that they have fixed a few things). Another strategy is to force your ideology on them, changing them into an empire with ethics more like your own who can become an ally.
> there's an additional problem: you are often so far ahead of the computer AI opponents that it feels like you'd have to make some huge mistakes to give them any hope at all. It can then feel very frustrating that you're so far ahead but must still go through the whole song and dance to finish the game.
Stellaris has an interesting innovation here too. As the end of the game approaches, there is always a Crisis which is more powerful by far than any of the AI. A good human player can beat the crisis head–on in most cases, but it is definitely a challenge. In fact, the whole game can be seen as an escalating series of boss fights built into the 4X framework, with the crisis as the final boss.