I don’t know if this should be in this thread or not, I never really got the hang of forums, if there is a more appropriate thread, I’m sorry, please post the perma-link. I just thought it would be fun to discuss general strategy with everyone. I don’t know if I’m any good or not, I don’t have much difficulty with the computer (I haven’t tried against unfair yet), but don’t have high-speed internet so I’ve been avoiding online games, and I don’t know anyone else who’s into these kinda games. I am planning on getting high-speed soon though, and thought I’d see how everyone plays, I’m not trying to get an upper-hand or anything, I just thought it would nice to talk to other people about strategy.
My favorite race is the Advent, because of the Knowledge Aggregation research speed upgrade and the Divination exploration cost upgrade. I start out right off the bat by making a capital ship factory, then I que up all my resource extractors followed by two Harmony empire labs (so I can research Volcanic and Ice colonization). For ship production I start off with a Progenitor colony ship and while I wait for my factory and the ship to be completed I build five Seeker scout frigates which I set to auto-explore. When my capital ship is complete I send it to the nearest colonizable asteroid and set to attack all Krosov Siege Frigates then Colonize, that way I can retreat once the planet is colonized if my shields get taken down without worrying about the neutral ships left in the area destroying my colony. I start off with asteroids because they have fewer ships so I can get experience, then wait for my shields to recharge before moving on to the next body, usually by the time I get around to an actual planet my ship has reached level 2 and I choose the Malice ability to give me an edge against the larger numbers of neutral ships. When I first colonize a new body I immediately upgrade the Population capacity until the underdevelopement fee reaches zero, this is another reason I start off with asteroids, they only require one level and the Progenitor capital ship’s Colonize ability has a limited time cost reduction effect. I build a Harmony lab on my first asteroid so I can research Interplanetary Trade to build trade ports, Distant Visualization so my Seekers can explore nearby star systems, and Divination. Once both levels of Divination are researched I fully explore all the bodies I can afford to.
After that I work on upgrading all my planets population to get the most from taxes and research Rich Ore Skrying and Selective Harvesting to increase Metal and Crystal Extraction. The rest of the game I pretty much play by ear, I try to get large fleets of Capital ships and research Mass Transcendence to increase experience gained and so I don’t have to pay to upgrade them to level 4. I generally avoid single star or small systems, I like the feel and the time consumed in building a massive empire to throw at your opponent, though the computer tends to lag if all the AI’s have the fleet research and capacities maxed out, so I usually go for 1v1. I can go either way with pirates, though with how I run my economy I rarely get raided and I think that it ends up giving me an unfair advantage over the AI, the more they lose to the pirates the harder it is for them to work up a bounty against me and then they get raided more often. I do love to attack pirate bases though, it’s a great way to earn experience, but later on in the game (if pirates are active) you have to keep a close eye on the battles so you can retreat in time. I like to go with all the game’s optional speeds (research, income, phase, etc.) maxed out, though I think this tends to work more in the AI’s favor since the computer isn’t likely to space off while waiting for money to build up and doesn’t have to waste time navigating a GUI. As far as planet defenses, once everything else is taken care of, I upgrade my tactical slots all the way and build as many Hanger defenses as I can and use what’s left for beam defenses. I especially like the Advent’s hangers because you can upgrade them so each squadron holds 2 extra craft.
Anywho, that’s my spiel, I’d love to hear what everyone else does and would welcome questions and especially suggestions, though I’m kinda spacey when it comes to checking forums.
Thanks to everyone, and especially Ironclad, with whom I’ve begun a totally one sided platonic love affair... I lurk in the shadows whispering poetry 
