Not sure whether this is been suggested in the past, or indeed whether it is even possible, but I've always thought the idea of an IC-style "campaign mode" would be really cool.

It would essentially be the same game in terms of galaxy size, set up, resources, exploring/attacking/defending, but it would be a 1 player campaign against a number of AI opponents, with the aim of eliminating all other players and/or occupying all of the planets.

There could be the potential to set the skill level of the AI players (which would perhaps control their "activity" level, aggression with which they explore/attack/defend/opp etc. etc). 

I think this would appeal to a lot of people, particularly newer players, who learn the ins and outs of the game playing "easy" mode, but also the more experienced players who could fulfil their long-held dreams of total galactic domination in "hard" mode.

I appreciate the logistics/programming of AI players would probably be a nightmare, but is something that is even remotely achievable, or am I thinking too ambitiously?