On normal; restarted after a few turns on the grounds that having one's first colony revolting over and over again isn't so great. :)
Wait, what? Your colony revolted? What did you DO to them?

My first colony, as distinct from my homeworld. :) I'd found this really nice planet to colonize that ...

What sized maps have you been playing on?

I've been playing on 'normal' maps.

large maps are often much easier, in practice, than smaller ones.

Huh. I'd been thinking of taking a larger map out for a spin in hopes of getting deeper into the tech tree. I guess I'll put that theory on hold for ...

So, my games with SiS have been, in order:

On normal; restarted after a few turns on the grounds that having one's first colony revolting over and over again isn't so great. :)
On normal with Yoral; win via diplomatic victory, because apparently everyone loves you on normal difficulty.
On hard ...