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For many years, one of my favorite ways of playing 4X games has been to play in a hotseat mode with me controlling two players and the AIs controlling the rest. My general rule is that my civs (using the Civ terminology) don't fight each other but also don't cooperate with each other any more than they are willing to cooperate with the AIs. One of the things I found really frustrating about the PtW and Conquests expansion packs to Civ 3 is that I was limited to eight civs doing that instead of the sixteen that the game supported in single-player mode. Fortunately, Civ IV has no such restriction.
So most of what I've been doing in Civ IV since it came out has been playing on huge, low-water (i.e. maximum land) archipelago maps with me controlling two civs against sixteen AIs - and I've added the no tech trading option to the mix to avoid the messiness that would otherwise come from the question of how to handle tech trades in a way that is fair both to my civs and to the AIs. I've found it sufficiently fun that I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else might be interested in the idea.
That kind of framework might also form an interesting basis for true multiplayer games, with players neither fighting nor particularly cooperating but merely working to see who can be most successful in a world full of AIs. I don't want to commit the time to a multiplayer game right now, but I thought I'd mention the idea in case anyone else might find it interesting.
So most of what I've been doing in Civ IV since it came out has been playing on huge, low-water (i.e. maximum land) archipelago maps with me controlling two civs against sixteen AIs - and I've added the no tech trading option to the mix to avoid the messiness that would otherwise come from the question of how to handle tech trades in a way that is fair both to my civs and to the AIs. I've found it sufficiently fun that I thought I'd mention it in case anyone else might be interested in the idea.
That kind of framework might also form an interesting basis for true multiplayer games, with players neither fighting nor particularly cooperating but merely working to see who can be most successful in a world full of AIs. I don't want to commit the time to a multiplayer game right now, but I thought I'd mention the idea in case anyone else might find it interesting.
they were fun. may have to have another go at that soon 
, ) at shutting off the part of my mind that had just dealt with the one side's strategy and plans, the previous turn, while playing the other side.
, I must insist that I was reasonably effective in doing this, though surprise attack was a little difficult. 
In one particularly masochistic exercise, I played the first year of a giant WWII Eastern Front simulation, with a 6'x6' gameboard and about 2,000 unit counters, totally solitaire.
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