I think that even if a 4x galactic empire game weren't to your taste, you could still enjoy this article by Brad Wardell (or one of his pen names). Essentially it is him playing his own game, taking note of what the AI is doing, and while he makes his own moves to defeat it he is also taking into consideration what changes need to be made to improve the game as an opponent.
You can read the journals in general if his article made you curious about GalCiv. The one right before the current one about the mysterious process known as "profiling" was also a good read.
(CW)TB
January 23, 2006
