"bothersome: I haven't noticed any. There's ICBMs and Nukes, but every nation gets those. Plus there's the nasty Apocalypse countdown on the nukes. "
There's also the techs that after the library is fully researched that you can research...
I think (without looking) you have:
1. Any game winning criteria that you meet will end game instantly.
2. All units produced instantly.
and then there's two others.
"As for unique units, I noticed each nation really only has 2, maybe 3."
When each game goes to launch you get something showing the unique units... I believe the number you were looking for is 6 or 7.