Every game it doesn't start until turn 100, when I'm just finishing up winning, so I only get 1 or 2 quests into it without reaching the ending. The main reason I'm looking to extend the game out longer, is that I haven't actually really done much with the Academy Quest yet.
That's why just switching to Slow or Endless speed isn't what I'm after that would just be the same problem, only instead of finishing on turn 100/300, I'd finish on turn 300/900 or something.
Now, it's not technically that I want the game to be harder, exactly, just that I want to get more than 33% of the way towards the turn limit for the game, since lots of cool things in the game only become available in the 'late-game.' Though, I'm assuming that making the AI factions more difficult would be a good way to make it take longer. Pretty much all of them were Supremacy victories, with one Conquest, since it seems to be faster to nab all the Home Systems than waiting for a different victory condition, once I'm stronger than everyone else.
I know I may be jumping the gun here since I haven't started my game on Endless difficulty, but so far playing on Normal Speed, my games on Normal / Hard / Serious / Impossible Difficulty have lasted approximately 130 / 120 / 110 / 100 turns before I won, getting faster even as I increase the difficulty level.
