For latest game I started two levels below all the other races in my attempt to find a game competitive till turn 200.

Details:
Major Race: Federation
Minor Races: Many
Difficutly: Impossible
Random Events: On
Galaxy Shape: Irregular
Galaxy Size: Large.
Starting Level: Feds: 1, all other Empires: 3
Mod: Dafedz's Ultimate Mod 2.0.0 patch 1
Other: Ferengi have had their their ship cost and maintainence doubled.

In The Beginning ...
There were several false starts to begin. Basically, if I ran into an empire before turn 30 I was toast. I finally found a game where I was able to hide in one corner until about turn 40.

Starting at Level one is harder with the Ultimate Mod than it is without. This is due to the total population increase. After building a transport I then have to build nothing but food for the next 8 turns or so. This effectively put me about 30 turns behind everyone else (not counting the two tech levels I was already behind).

The map contains relevant screen shots from turn 83 and turn 162.

First Contact
You can see that on the Turn 83 map that I ran into the Cardassians about turn 40 at Deneb. After a short while he brought a dozen capital ships and I had to back off (I only had four destroyers at the time). Deneb cried out for assistance and for some reason the Cardassians backed off. I eventually moved my fleet of 4 destroyers, 4 Connies, and 2 Tamarians to battle his now 14 capital ships. My four destroyers were quickly destroyed but the Cardies were no match for my Connies.

After this smacking the Cardies backed off and Deneb was mine. As you can see, but turn 83 the Cardies were a match for me. I was quite pleased. Shortly there after the Cardies asked for an alliance and we had a strong union for quite a while.

With War on the Horizon
On turn 162 the Cardies terminated their alliance with me. It seems that over night they went from worshiping me to being neutral. Until just recently the other empires had been warring with each other. Now, though, all empires are at relative peace with each other This definately the most peaceful moment in the galaxy's history.

The Future
I've found my competitive game. That stats show that by turn 183 no one had a stranglehold on the galaxy. I'm having to quickly build up my intel as I'm losing a building or two every 5 turns or so and I know this will only get worse. I've got my Galaxy II's and Star Bases to protect my borders. They are more than a match for any one empire. Just can't let them all gang up on me.

May I should have made one empire start at Level 4. We'll see. This might be competitive enough.

Nice Idea! Those could be a but ob the large size. Why not the feds?