Endless Space attempt #3

It's going longer than I had expected. In fact, it's going really well. After some border issues I've forged an alliance with three other factions, crushed one, one died to pirates (not my fault, honest), then another got bribed into an alliance, and the galaxy is now enjoying peace until I'm ready to attack the last civilization. Or assimilate it into the alliance. We'll see.

Screenshot from before we stripped the pink empire into pieces (with me getting almost half their solar systems):

Oh yeah I'm the red guy. Yellow is the last empire that isn't in the alliance.