It has been nearly a year since I got my full copy of SEIV, and lot has happened in that time.  I have made 15 ship sets, 13 published, 4 web sites, one still up thank god, and have played countless hours of SEIV.
Today, something inside of me just said enough.  I need to take a break from this game for a while.  I simply am just burned out on it.  I love it endearingly, and will not "stop" playing it.  I just need to take sometime away from it for a while.  
I will still play my PBW game, and post here, but I think I will avoid playing a single player game for a long long time.  The game has many things to offer, however, one thing the game does not have is, and what I need, is game play excitement.  I know how to get the AI to surrender even giving the AI the best possible advantages.  Regardless, I own the game by turn 200, and the rest of the game is spend exploring and populating.  Might as well all it SimSpace at that point.  All I am doing is building infastructure.
I have done it all, I have hiked the cost of research to god levels, added many new classes of ships, beefed up the AI to max, and still, I always win by turn 200.  Simply put, the human ability to reason and direct efforts is so far beyond any AI that by turn 200, I have simply out paced the AI in research and intel.
The rest is mopping up.  
Given this, I have literally lost interest in playing Single Player.  DON'T count Single player out, its just that I have played it for over a year, and know it inside and out.  I just need to step away for a while and redevelop my interest.  (Usually takes about a month)
I am still interested, and excited about PBW, and egarly await my Turn notice.  Right now, I am dead Last.  
 
------------------
New Age Ship Yards
"We've made too many compromises already, too many retreats!  They invade our space and we fall back -- they assimilate entire worlds and we fall back! Not again! The line must be drawn here -- this far, no further!  And I will make them pay  for what they've done!" -- Captain Picard STNG
 
Borg Breen Species 8472 Cardassian Dominion STNG Ferengi  Klingon Romulan
Trek Movie era TOS Illuminati  Starwolf