Moo 2 clone with some tools to easier manage huge empires and were good to go as far as awesome single player goes..

For multiplayer the only feasible option is Sins of a Solar Empire.
If you play it on the fastest mode you can have short games if you dont have too many players.
A really good game.
I always wished they did to civ what Sins did to 4x stratgey games.

I suppose AI War isn't what you're looking for.

I tried the demo but I wasn't really feeling it

http://www.listal.com/video/10479575
popcorn

Star ruler is a huge interface scale pain and grind. AVOID.

Distant worlds is awesome cause the ai can do everything for you. With a bit of human help it can easily beat itself...

Sose just makes me want to play Spring.