Be aware that there is a very high difference in difficulty between Medium and Hard, though. You'll have to know all the facets of the game to beat a number of hard opponents in unlocked FFA play. And it's glorious trying.

I just lost a 20 planet, 4-player Hard FFA because I forgot to respond to demands from the other players enough to achieve a ceasefire, coupled with I had colonized a number of resource-rich asteroids that didn't give me the tax population and logistics slots for both a decent money income and research buildings. As a result, although I played well enough tactically to slag their earlier invasion fleets (heh - Vasari gravity bomb spamming within an inhibitor's area after driving off an attacking fleet got my capship pair four levels each!), I kept getting hit over and over again at opposite ends of my empire and didn't have the ability to expand. When all three enemies decided to take me out, things, well, got pretty bad...

-- Retro