Hey folks! I hope somebody can help me out =)

Out of a whim I was looking for a new 4X game to play and I stumbled upon EL which I fell in love with quite fast. Now while looking for some stuff about the game online I found the ELCP and  thought to give it a try. On my first game, only with AI, I was playing on Auriga as the map with Vaulters and the factions on their respective starting locations true to the lore. Difficulty was on normal. Now, I'm not good or anything in 4X and I'd consider myself a casual on that regard, I just like to build stuff and explore and get immersed in the world but am I that BAD or what went wrong?

Because after approximately 150 turns I left my semi-continent to explore regions for ruins and what not and I found the cultists who had 2 Guardians, 2 Urkan and armies with 3k+ health in total while I was walking around with 4 Units and 600 health in total. On normal difficulty? I played on Auriga on my very first playthrough, without the ELCP on normal and it was a walk in the park. I loaded the game and took place of the cultists to check how far ahead they were and they were researching the first tech on era VI and are basically about to achieve a science victory on turn 180. I thought the ELCP would make AI more "human-like" as to attempt to achieve victory conditions and do shit in the game but this is just nuts.

Anyhow, I love the game and maybe somebody could tell me what went wrong because this felt quite disheartening to be honest XD Did the AI exploit the Urkans maybe? I'm not entirely sure what the Urkans can do yet but they seem rather strong for economy? Should I uninstall the ELCP if I'm looking for more of a casual experience with the game? Because I can't see myself beating an AI like that on normal difficulty, especially if I play on maps like Auriga that have assymetrical starting positions. Okay enough blabbering from me! Have a nice day <3

You're definitely not doing anything wrong! I recently picked the game back up after not playing it for a lengthy period of time, and I ran into the same problem. 180 turns is fairly far into a game, and that sounds like it's an appropriate amount of stuff for a somewhat lucky AI. The Urkans can provide you with a few extra resources, or act as an army. I don't find them critical for any games I've played, and I usually only get control of them when or if it is convenient. I'm not sure if this is helpful, but here are a few things I improved about my play while getting back into the game. Most of them are pretty simple.

1. Remembering to allocate population in cities
2. Remembering to expand with new cities (I can get caught up in building up the cities I already have)
3. Exploring ruins. I didn't do enough of this the first few times I started games and realized how valuable the resources are early on
4. Just exploring the map. I usually give this task to some poor unit I acquire during play that I can't upgrade. It's okay to hit auto explore. Let them be free.
5. Pacification quests can come with bonus resources, or research. It's easy to attack the neutral civilizations, but you'll get more in the long term if you do the quests. If a pacification quest is too difficult don't be afraid to try a different strategy.

Okay, thanks for the advice, I'll keep it in mind =) I'll try it again on easy just to play the story of the vaulters and see from there! I'm really intrigued by all the factions and their lore so I'll probably will end up playing each of them once, that's plenty of time to practice haha

Well one change that ELCP certainly does is make the AI more capable at using their resources. The single city factions left to their own devices can get a pretty strong economy going, so yes, they can grow quzite scary, especially on lower difficulties, where other AIs (and newcomer-human players) are slow to expand and exert pressure. However since they only have a single city, it is also easier to stop them. You can ally yourself with other factions and declare a combined war. You can also simply ally with them ;). And ofcourse you can always turn down the difficulty.

Note that working on a first victory tech at turn 180 isn't considered very fast.