[Fred]

Here is what I did to make the game more challenging/interesting:

1. Changed default maintenance cost to 20% (from 25%)
2. Changed the Damage to kill one POP from 10 to 20
3. Changed the chance for ruins from 0,5% to 0,3% per incident
4. Changed the Fighter "To-Hit" Bonus to 50% for Small, 45% for Medium and 40% for Large fighters (from 50% for all Fighter types)
5. Decreased the Phased-Polaron Beam Damage value by 5 and let it only target ships\planets. In my campaign this was an "uber-weapon" (usually one of my Dreadnoughts with P-P Beams could easily kill 10-12 enemy dreadnoughts or whole fighter squadrons, without even receiving one damage point). With these modifications the P-P Beam is still a very good weapon, but it does not rule as much as before.
6. Changed the Shield Depleter base damage from 30 to 25
7. Because of a bug in the "VehicleSize.txt" file, bases do not get the disadvantage of being easier hit in combat (as in the description of a base is stated!), but instead getting a "To-Hit" bonus! So I changed the value "Combat To Hit Add" for bases to zero. At least, the base should not get this to-hit bonus.
8. In the AI file "Default_AI_Planet_Types.txt" I changed the values of the "Research Compound" to "Max per system 3" (from 2) and to "Percent of Colonies 28%" (from 25%). I usually won the tech race by a large margin, so these mods should guarantee a little bit more research by the AI.
9. Changed the "Mega Evil Empire %" from 170% to 150%

At least for me, all the changes make the game more challenging. I always play the AI with the difficulty set to "High" and a low bonus setting for the AI.

Fred