I love this game but cannot enjoy it due to the insane difficulty. I am playing on the lowest difficulty level!

No matter how well off I feel I am, some asshole hegemonic imperialist will declare war on me in early mid game and just absolutely destroy my well-defended choke points with ridiculously strong navies.

This game is only fun as long as there is no war. It is just frustrating to have to end another super intriguing roleplay run because some other empire needs to invade me for no reason just as I am having fun in the game.
Even if I try not to roleplay, the AI is just too strong and my allies sit on their butts and do nothing.