Just got the game and started a random, single-player huge map. I chose no pirates and easy enemies. As soon as I built a single ship and went to a neighboring planet, I ran into several AI opponents ships (though the planet wasn't colonized). How did an AI player get ships built and into that space within minutes of the game starting? A bit later in the game (after I had colonized a couple of planets), I found that my neighboring AI owned 10 planets already! This also caused a problem where 2 different civilizations were attacking me and I could barely hold them off.

So, it seems obvious that it's not like...say, Civilization 4, where everyone starts off with 1 planet and the same number of ships (none). The game setup is "cheating" and giving the AI players several or more planets, and many, many ships and other bonuses, as well as spreading their ships to far-away places. Is there a way to mod the starting info so that all AI opponents start just the way you do...with nothing? Thanks!