I find it interesting that others do not focus on growth, which to me is an obvious objective. I don't say that my playstyle is superior. It does start out bottom of the power graphs and spike dramatically late game, and that would never fly in a cut-throat MP game at all. In the description of the Dread Lords it says if you leave them alone too long they become a big danger. For the AI, that is true about me. If they don't take me out early game, they are in great danger. Often, when they have started their invasions a little too late, and I am building my fleet as they wreak their wanton destruction, my faction has the motto, "We may be in trouble, but you are doomed."
I consider it evidence that the devs have managed to design in different ways to play the game successfully, for different definitions of "successfully". That is a necessary and neat trick to pull off in a sandbox game, and it deserves mention and celebration.
