Board Game Arena

Is it possible to win single player? I'm playing easy difficulty with basic rules, and no matter what I do, the first doomsday machine is killing me.

I think I colonized and develop tech fairly quickly, checked this against several games by experienced players. Should be enough to win against easy difficulty, at least...

It must be possible. Here are some 1-player wins from the latest finished games:

https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=795494199
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=795351720
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=795338548
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=795322486
https://boardgamearena.com/table?table=795234692

(I haven't reviewed the games, just checked that the player is declared as winner)

All those games end after turn 1 when trying to replay them.

I think BGA often declares victory and defeat incorrectly after solo friendly games, I had this happen in my solo games as well.

Maybe you need the advanced rules to be able to win against the doomsday machine?

Tested it, it becomes easier with the additional income by MS when using advanced rules.

Surely it is possible to win using standard rules, just for a new and clueless player as myself it is not easy....

It is possible to win single player games; I've done it a few times. It has been a while since I've played any 1p games, but mass seemed to work better than upgraded units. I think I used a lot of DDs and SYs and prioritized homeworld defense vs. defending all outlying planets.
Resources spent to explore deep space seemed to be an insufficient return on investment for me, but I don't think I've played the higher difficulty levels. It might be necessary on those.

The BGA replay feature doesn't seem to work for any Space Empires finished games. I'm not sure why that is, but it is a thing.

I agree, once you figured it out you can win it consistently.

It just doesn't fulfil the promise of the "easy" difficulty setting at all.