Spent rather too long playing a concentrated bout of Stellaris yesterday. Got to somewhere around the late 2300's I think, have about a third of the map within my borders sort of wrapped around the galactic centre, with about 5 alien races as protectorates under me. Of course, pretty much everyone else dislikes or outright hates my xenophile, diplomatic, democratic arse.
At the moment I seem to be running through the same stuff again and again just managing resources almost for the sake of managing resources. Possibly slight burn out after most of a day on it.
One thing I do dislike some is the diplomacy options. Unless I'm missing something really obvious, the only way to get positive reactions from other species/governments is to share certain ethics and government policies, and establish an embassy. Gifts and treaties have little to no positive bonus to relations. And unless you're of a pacifist ethic, you can only have 3 embassies at any one time.