The secret reason Mega Churches are OP.

[wingren013]

You sound like you play only SP on sparsely populated galaxies, which while certainly a valid game option, does not mean it is the only way to play.
And it certainly skews priority picks.

For MP I play with whatever settings people want. For SP I usually have ~15 empires in an 800 star galaxy with a third of those being advanced. Sometimes less, sometimes more.

Generally I expect to have a neighbor within 4-5 jumps.

 

[Less2]

I'll also chime in and say that discovery and it's survey speed is the most important stat in the game if you're playing in crowded galaxies.
Being first to the chokepoints will win you games.

No, it's basically the worst stat. Most time spent surveying is wasted on science ship movement from object to object, sublight speed is more important. Additionally you can double/triple/quadruple your survey speed very easily, it's called buying another science ship and is pretty cheap.

The main obstacle to getting as many starbases as you want up is and will always be influence. Even fanatic xenophobes with -60% starbase cost get choked on influence.