Hi!

I'll tell you the secret: virtually every GalCiv game can be won, if you don't play the way the game was meant to play; if you don't play by your strenght, but by AIs' weaknesses.

AIs in game can't addapt to certain strategies, can't change their responses, and fall to the same trick again and again. In my case, it was interesting to try and to test these strategies and weaknesses, but at the end it feelt like playing the same game again and again. 

In your case and with tough AI IMO you don't need to play that way. Just try to expand more agresively at the beginneing of the game, and use diplomatic options (that 2000  years old roman method of "divide and conquer") more often in mid game, and you should be fine.

One more tip: going against the odds, using a tiny window of opportunity, and prevailing, usualy made my most memorable games. Before you quit, try some options. You can't lose more, can you?  

BR,  Iztok

First problem:  Small map.  The smaller the map, the closer your enemies start out.  The whole game will be an exhausting battle of attrition.  If you choose the most ginormic map available, you'll have more time to prepare your attacks/defences. For example, they might only be able to reach you because of some stupid little defenseless influence starbase in your area.  Take it out and you'll be out of range.  Then you can maneuver to strike their worlds.

Also, remember to always be poised to grab resources as they become available often with all of the wars and such.  When someone declares war on me, it's usually because my military strength is low.  But when they do, I grab all of their red and green resources first, since the red can make them up to 4 times more powerful and also they won't be able to afford their military once I grab the green ones.  It's nice to reverse the circumstances on them.  Get the advanced starbase construction researched and make your starbases virtually impossible to destroy with modules.

If you start out fairly isolated, you'll have more time to research while the others are wasting their money on ships and upgrades which will all be obsolete when they declare war on you.