Whatever.  Try my strat on immense or larger with 8 or 9 AI.  Preferably before the 1.02 patch.  

It's on you to prove your claims, not us. 

Your strategy already falls flat on its face if you cannot get 10-15 colonies and straight up ignores research and military. 

So how do you deal with the DoW you get eventually?

Then do it.. Beat Godlike and post proof. 

If you start a game with a big map and lots of colonizable planets and few enough AI:

1. It's not particularly hard or impressive to colonize lots of worlds

2. The AI isn't sitting there waiting for you and doing nothing. They will have lots of worlds too because you made it easy for them to get them as well

I've had games where I had 150+ colonies and not with Abundant x 3. Yes, it got to the point where I was certain to win BUT it wasn't against Godlike.

You asked, "What should I do?". There is your answer, DO IT. Beat it on Godlike, don't just "I believe", play it out.  You might find that it won't be quite as easy as you think. 

And last thing. How exactly does creating a fast expanding race, then doing exactly that in a game that is set up to favor fast expansion some how prove that the AI is dumb? Wouldn't you actually need to beat the AI not just assume you will?  It might "prove" that a game mechanic is out of balance but it doesn't speak the AI, at all. 

Regards and good luck winning that game. 

Suicidal is not easy, it's extremely tough, I don't agree with the OP it's easy.  

But I'm really surprised by this particular statement.  I've won twice on Suicidal without using the sort of tricks you mentioned (e.g. stacking with weak custom races) ... beyond reloading ... and I expect so have many others.  

First victory was a large map with plenty of AI Empires.  Initially I was heading for a loss after the Yor went on the war rampage.  I reloaded a few times to try new strategies and went for an Alliance victory which I managed on Turn 261.  My score for pulling that win off was a massive 32, which I must admit was highly annoying.

Second was a Campaign game, where instead of simply trying to win, I was trying to maximise my Suicidal score for the Metaverse Suicidal difficulty ladder.  

https://www.galciv3.com/metaverse#/playerOverallTab?playerID=eb467f15-9ea1-465f-b60d-25961adba0a7

I'm happy with the level of difficulty you have on Suicidal.  I just look forward to the day when the bonuses to the AI are reduced (i.e. and the AI improved) which will make Suicidal more fun and immersive.

I would also suggest you have an open mind to balance issues at this stage of the release lifecycle, because it's quite possible a balance issue is amongst the kernel of truth behind the bravado of the OP.

My Borg are to be feared at all levels but they are especially nasty at Godlike. Not even the Dregin (sp?) can stop them..  They are always one of the bad guy AI races in my SP and MP games.  Once they are discovered in my MP games the other players and I will try to ally with each other (if we can see each other) to try to take them out. Not really sure what makes them so powerful.  To be honest other than Synthetic and Aggressive I used a dice and rolled their other abilities. 

Now all I need to do is get them to use Borg ships but I don't know how to get them to use these custom designs.

The ai posing some trouble to player at higher levels because it has a bunch of cheats and doesnt play with the same rules as ourselves doesnt prove that it isnt dumb either.

I play on normal because Id rather not play against other ai opponent that dont play the same game, and at the moment its disappointing.

Interesting post Raisinthehouse.

As a fellow winner on Suicidal I also agree those that consider it an insurmountable challenge are wrong.  Balance changes and AI improvements are needed ... I'm sure they will come ... and perhaps some of this will help with that. 

But I also don't find Suicidal "easy".  I've had to reload before those wins.  Do you find you need to reload occasionally and change up your strategy to win (my experience)?  Or are you winning on Suicidal without even needing to reload?

The problem on Suicidal at the moment is the level of AI bonuses.  They are at a level so ridiculous I lose the feeling of being immersed in the game.  I can't wait for a stronger AI with lower bonuses.  

In the case of the OP ... he still hasn't even finished a game on Suicidal.  If you check his other Let's Play thread he's only up to Turn 39 at the moment.  So to say the game is "Easy" at that point is a little ridiculous.  He's off to a fast start, that's all.

AI outproduce and out-tech you significantly on Insane, Suicidal. (~6x the resources)

But still dumb though...If you manage to not get swarmed, carriers are cheap and destroys them. Funny how they build 300 damage battleships and pits them against my single carrier with 30 ish fighters. Goes does before it can radio hi.

Had a good game going but I now crash when I save on the next turn...sigh...(1.03 didn't fix it)

I don`t know whether these guys cheat their way to winning (I`ve heard some constantly RELOAD UNTIL THEY WIN) or whether they are genius`, but I still find myself having a tough battle on Normal, huge.

I hope the Devs do not artificially (bonuses) make the AI too powerful because of people who pretend to be godlike on their games.

edit: Also why the heck does he need to tell us he`s a master chess player? So what? I play chess too, not to master level, but this game is quite different to chess!

Number 4?  Check again mate, you have some games to play!

Completely disagree.  Beneath the hoopla (which is coming from both sides) there are number of legitimate points about game balance that need fixing.  And frankly, what he's posted you can replicate easily enough.  In the meantime I'm simply avoiding things like the coloniser trait entirely.  The OP can also choose to play more interesting set-ups, such as the third campaign mission on Suicidal difficulty.  It's winnable as well but rough because you can't use most of these exploits.  But it doesn't change the fact that some things need a tweak.  Nobody should see a problem with that, it's a relatively new release, of course some things need tweaking.

Let's have an open mind.