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I feel a little sheepish (don't touch it) posting about strategy, simply because I'm not in the class of those above. Sometimes, I hope, it's useful for a less-than-stellar player to post to encourage others who are just starting. My attitude's a little different, and I like GalCiv bacuase I can adapt it to an enjoyable experience for ME, rather than the game dictating a certain path to success.
Two things first: I'm more Machiavelli than Sun Tzu. I love it when planets/civs fall at my feet worshipping my greatness without me lifting a finger, as opposed to parking a dozen dreadnaughts on top of them. I love flippin 'em rather than squishin 'em. Secondly, I play small maps. The small map provides an 'edgy' experience that can be played out in a few hours, so I don't get bored or feel like it's a chore to finish when the result is not in doubt. Tiny is very hard, due to the lack of resources, and I found medium easier to win because I seemed to have more time to achieve things. Thus, I often end up with alliance victories on a small map, although I'll sometimes convert to military if things are going well and I'm in the mood.
My setup relates to my desired type of win, I guess, although I think more of mil/soc bonuses than Pontius - perhaps because I play at lower difficulty levels. I tend to choose Industrialist, and add pop +70, mil +10, res +10 and dip +20. I also take the Feds routinely for their inf/mor bonuses. I have never found speed a killer bonus on small maps, often because additional resources are so far away the AI gets to them even if you have more speed. I play tight clusters/abundant and I will ctr-N if my starting position is penned in by AIs, or I'm in the middle of a desert. I found it takes MANY games to get a smooth approach and decide how development should flow - one feature of this game is the necessity for ALL ROUND development; get high pop levels for high tax/eco base, don't ignore research, etc.
I too have found no alternative to the initial colony rush - set sliders to 100 mil until you've pumped out enough colony ships to take all the available yellows; I don't colonise less than 15 PQ planets until much later, when I can use hab impr and soil in sequence on those 13 and 14 PQ worlds the AIs largely leave alone. Once the rush is over, I go mil/soc/res 20/40/40 and set planets on slow production of constructors. Cranking up research to chase comms and basically any diplo bonus techs, trying to get to diplo trans ASAP. Diplo trans is critical to my success - I beg, borrow or steal to get it and will go into significant early debt if necessary. It gives me such an advantage that I can win back the tech I've missed during expansion from the other civs. None of the other wonders I've found absolutely critical; Gal Stock Exch is great if you can get it, otherwise I generally go for techs/wonders that increase influence, diplo and morale and pick up the rest trading if necessary. Alliances is also critical for this strategy, although most civs pick it up anyway. It's a bit of a laugh to achieve alliances, give it away from to the other civs, watch their relationship to you improve so you can ally with them almost straightaway. The other tech to notice is mil - you need to keep you mil strength high, even if you don't use them; if not, the other AIs will take this as an invitation to attack you due to your weakness. Corvette tech is a great level to reach - they don't cost much to build or maintain, and they'll keep the other AIs off your back for ages. Dreadnaughts are the other turning point - they allow you to throw muscle big time if this is want you want.
Developing planets - it's a no-brainer to build the things with no maintainence cost, but watch the order - you need a strong economy and manufacturing output powering up throughout the game. Soil first, banking centre, fusion power, manufacturing centre, hab impr, eco exchange, research lab seem critical to me (on every planet). I usually build news network everywhere, just because I hate getting flipped myself! Later, stock market, and depending on your morale harmony gens and stadium are good. Other than that, structures/wonders that enhance my goals - star influence, morale, more pop are the big things. I usually never build starship foundaries or plantary defences, and I'm happy to let planets build nothing if I've completed my goals. All the while, constructor output proceeds and I build up resource bases in home sectors and cultural bases in enemy sectors. Smaller planets can produce freighters and having a stock of these in reserve is useful for the inevitable time that someone else's war interrupts a trade route. Trade routes are something you MUST incorporate and learn about to keep your economy moving. Keep morale high - your pop grows better and more pop means more taxes, better economy and more productivity. I keep it above 60%, even at the cost of reducing spending, for this reason - I feel the long term payoff is better, as you can always increase your spending again later.
Get stuck into the diplo stuff with the AIs - trade techs like mad, especially with the minors; maintaining chaotic good seems to mean you do OK with most civs. Too good irritates the Drengin, too bad and the Altarians dislike you. Pontius is absolutely right re getting tech development back from the AIs through diplomacy - it works.
You can see from this I rarely get through to the end of the tech tree, or even close - I tried once, but it took sooo looonnggg for the last phases it just wasn't enjoyable. And that's the thing, at the end of the day - play a type and style of game that ENJOYABLE. I plan to move up difficulty levels (and I'll certainly take note of Pontius' suggestion of changing the AIs ONE at a time) gradually, as I feel comfortable I've learned the lessons of the lower levels - even if it takes me a while. Take heart newbs - there's hope for us all; I've still managed to be in the top 100 on the Metaverse!
/serious mode off
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