Maybe I am an idiot here but I read that you can have like 100 different players. How is that when at the start of a game you cannot pick more than 9 (that includes yourself with an AI opponent of the same race). There are only 8 major CIVs to choose from.
You must create custom factions to get the option to add up to 100 other players...
see this post...
https://forums.galciv3.com/465323/page/1/#3549529
That has about 45 races of mine in there you can add, plus a few others may have posted to it as well.