I have just tried to complete a single player game for the second time and, after four hours, the game decides to cheat on a grand scale. I was on default, random settings.

I was playing as a TEC Loyalist with one team against four other AI's and after my team mate decided to wage war against me after all other players were defeated, the game stopped production of my Titan until the foundry was destroyed, I was unable to colonize a planet with a colony scout, the Novalith Cannons I had were firing on planets already dead or the inactive pirates, not the enemy, and a massive force I had, maxed out in weaponry and shields was eliminated within seconds? I addition defeated players were suddenly resurrected with a large force from nowhere.

I was playing defensive, as the Loyalist should, with a great source of credits, crystal and metal, so I decided to withdraw to my three available planets (against the enemy's remaining five) and fortify as much as I could. But then the game becomes punitive in the late game, if the player does not do what the program wants or expects you to do, and in all likelihood will lose. Four hours of hard work to obtain a superior position was just trashed in minutes. This only serves to frustrate rather than enhance enjoyment. Is the single-player now such a poor neighbor of multiplayer or co-operative play, that the developers can't be bothered to produce a more subtle scenario for AI play than whacking the player with a sledgehammer because the game has no answer to your chosen strategy?