I get that these types of games tend to be about maneuvering in a loose sense when it comes to war, sometimes whack-a-mole when you like annoying. But now the AI runs in the opposite direction of you, letting you blitz it's worlds before it even fights a single space battle, just so it could run around in your backyard. It's neither fun, cool nor challenging. You can just look "Hm, it can't reach my backyard before I take everything since the distance it travels through all these friends is way too long and even if it does it's my backyard with nothing".
I think it used to do this in 2.1 but I don't remember Fallen and Awakened empires doing that too.
I think it used to do this in 2.1 but I don't remember Fallen and Awakened empires doing that too.