Can we please change this to "win a game without ever being at war"?

As it stands currently "win a game without winning a battle" is not something you will ever accomplish in normal gameplay due to pirates, quest spawns - which are unpredictable and would preclude scanning any curiosities for risk of this - and cold war engagements. In short, the achievement is likely only to be attained by artifice. I could probably set up a match on the biggest map, quick, with one sandbox AI and coast to victory for this, but what meaning does that have? 

By contrast, I really enjoyed the equivalent 'Ahimsa' achievement in CIv: BE as I had to bite my tongue every time I just thought 'I'll seize that' from another empire. It's an actually interesting way to play and you could feasibly attain it without trying.

zgrssd wrote:

I have been wondering how to do that myself.

Turning off Pirates? Self Explaining.

Questspawns? Yeah, not really an issue. I could pull off the Craver Quest without doing a single battle. And from all the others you can run and let the AI kill it.

Actually Sandbox Difficulty had totally slipped my mind. I thought about low difficulty.

You could pick the AI something more likely to be peacefull (Sophon rather then Cravers).

If you can force peace? Even better.

I habe been wondering: How do I get the AI to think I am "equally or more pwoerfull" miltiarily? Just count/attack power of ships, even while in Hangar? Something like the Maximum Capacity of Fleets? Or do I need to have actuall fleets formed (even if I just keep retreating from any combat)?

From my experience playing on Endless Difficulty, the Sophons are one of the most aggressive factions in the game, once you reach 200-300 turns, they have massive fleets and enjoy just waltzing up to your systems and declaring war. 

For peaceful factions, I'd do the Unfallen and Lumeris, as one is inclined towards peace and is easier to sue for peace, while the other will accept peace with you if you offer a trade deal. 

As for getting the AI to view you as powerful and stronger militarily, I just stock up fleets on my border systems, each strong enough to kill the AI's strongest fleet, and they generally leave you alone. 

and never, never get into a situation where you have to retreat a full-sized fleet (unless it's a single hero fleet and/or colonizers/exploratory ships). The AI will capitalize on this.

Also, make Alliances.