Well here's a pretty basic start. Build your free cap ship, I usually build the pure combat one. Build 2-4 scouts and send them out to explore. Build a few frigates and send them with the cap ship to clear out nearby planets. I actually like to start with an asteroid if I can, they only need one upgrade to no longer be a drain. Build a colony ship right after the frigates. Don't forget to immediately build your starting mines as well. As TEC I usually concentrate on my economy first, this works well against the PC, maybe start in on the first level of military research. Once you've got some trade ports and the money is coming in start researching the higher tech. It's important to always expand at a steady pace, have money saved up so you can immediately upgrade planets to become profitable. Don't overextend though, it's important that your planets be profitable.

My first actions are always the same:

Build the extractors, build a cap ship factory, and try to get 2 civic research stations. First techs to research are ice/volcanic colonization.

Build a few scouts right off as well, to scout the immediate area. You're hoping to find some natural choke points to expand to.

Take your free cap ship and a few light frigates and begin taking the neighboring planets. Don't take too many, as you'll likely only have one fleet, and defending these planets is crucial. Don't spread yourself out, and build lots of hangars as defenses.

I'm not sure if you're aware of this, but replays of every game are automatically saved. You can review them to see exactly what everyone was doing at any point in time, including their opening build orders.

Just the kind of thread I was looking for. I'm not much of a strategy gamer, so these tips are helpful. Thank you for the tips/strategies.

ZenLunatic has some really good suggestions. I'm a newbie also and have pretty much discovered most of what He said on my own. One thing I prefer is to build a colinize Cap ship first. I can then use it to colonize without having to worry about my colonize firgate. What I do is use the Cap to clear asteroid fields and then bring in my figate to them. In the meantime I can Move my Cap ship to the next planet and let it colonize there. This really speeds up the process and helps get resources going quicker.

Great Replies, Keep them coming.

Any other tips?

Good points, thanks. As you indicated, a lot of it is map specific.

My start is as follows, no matter the race:
-upgrade home planet
-buy 200 crystal
-queue up cap ship factory, crystal extractor
-2 scouts
-metal extractor(s) as you can afford it
-first cap ship (I usually take the colonizer and head for anything with less than 5 or 6 pirates, asteroids first)
-demolish cap ship factory for 300-75-30 (or thereabouts). This is important because you're not going to be building any new cap ships for quite a while and it also frees up a logistics slot

From here it depends on the race and gametype. I mostly play TEC so I'll assume that. If my cap ship can't handle the nearby pirates alone I'll pump out 4-6 light frigs to help out. Otherwise I go straight for 2 empire labs, aiming for trade ports. I don't research anything else before trade ports except maybe one of the artic/volcanic techs if I need it. After trade ports I try and get one in each colony at least, but keep in mind refinery placement so you get the most bang for your buck. I put traders in out of the way spots and refineries at major intersections so they hit a lot of extractors.

So at 0/2 (war/empire) I send out a few more scouts and see what's out there. Then I choose whether to go 2/2 or 0/4. 2/2 means I start making LRMs and doing the appropriate war research, 0/4 means I'm going refineries and more economy.

During all of this my colonizer cap ship is mopping up militias and starting new planets. Infrastructure is prioritized on new planets, then trade ports. I'm usually heavy on credits rather than metal/crystal, so I keep an eye on the market and buy when it's cheap.

Regarding research: I never go for the increase max pop or increase crystal/metal production techs until I have at least 5 or 6 developed planets. A 5% increase to bugger all is still bugger all. Your research time is better spent on low level war research and your cash is better spent on structures/infrastructure.

All this is about the first 15-20 minutes of the game.

Knowing the layout of the planets is very important. Some maps are always the same, which isn't fun to me, so I play random.

My start:
Queue resources (crystal, metal, metal usually)
build 3xscouts
buy crystal if it's still cheap
build a cap ship factory
Put scouts on autoscout, but direct their first jump usually towards the center of the map(assume jumps away from you are safe, save them to explore later)
Build cap ship when it's ready.
Build a colony ship (if my cap ship wasn't one)
Build a few frigates.

Here's where the decision making comes in, when your cap ship is finished. My general plan is to try and figure out how to get as much "land" as safely as possible. This usually involves finding and holding about two defensible planets that are choke points. I then try to make a line towards them, colonizing asteroids on the way (because they are quick resource boosts). The key is figuring out which locations give you the most real estate to back-capture. I don't tend to research until I know what I want to research. This will be econ if I -have- to get ice/volcanic planets. Otherwise it's military for LRMs. Once I have those planets I will up both supply (usually cap ship first), make a another cap ship and start building LRMs. Then I take start taking planets as efficiently as possible in my "safe" area and ship LRMs forward, and start to build up my frontline defenses.

Of course, this all depends on the size of the map and who you are playing. The larger the map and less opponents, the more important it is to rush expansion. It's a bit more dangerous on smaller maps versus aggressive opponents.

Game begins, you have a frigate producer, two con ships, and a terran planet...
-immediately upgrade your civilian infrastructure for more Credit income.
-get your crystal mine started, then queue your metal mines up behind it.
-build 2-4 scouts, depending on the map. Set them to explore the moment they come out.
-build no less then 3 light frigates (cobalts or the equivalent) and throw them at a asteroid as soon as all 3 are out.
-build a colony ship
-attack, clear, and colonize a nearby asteroid.
-wait, buy crystal if you have to, and build a capital ship factory, and get your capital ship out.
-by this point, you should have begun expanding. Throw your capital ship (yes, alone) at a lowly defended planet. If the planet has few enough ships, the capital can deal with it, send the frigates to help when they are done. Use your colony ship to colonize both.

After this point, its pretty much varied depending on situation...
-save up, buy a pair of CivResearch stations.
-research volcanic and ice colonization as needed.

-Anytime you colonize a planet, immediately purchase at least one Civilian upgrade in order to get it out of the red. Two is best if it can support that. Make sure you save at least 4 logistic slots in EVERY planet you colonize for one trade station.

For military research, Armor > Shield > weapons. Only expand to higher tiers when you have exhausted all the research in your current tier, have just colonized a desert planet and have additional resources, or need something specific.

when you hit the fleet cap, and you will, don't be afraid to take the first fleet upgrade. The second one should be taken when you begin an actual war with another empire, with the remaining ones coming as you need them.

For long Research Queues - you know what I'm talking about, when you have 10 or so different researches all lined up. Unless you have a massive flood of money, cancel a few of them, and use those resources immediately in your empire.

Trade: Trade should be gotten as soon as possible. This means the Vasari should get a number of CivResearch stations out early. Once you have this researched, take a moment to build a Trade station in every planet you can, making sure you have as long of a 'line' as you can. In order to maximize the length of this line, it may be imperative that you neglect to build a trade station on certain planets.

Tactical slots: PJI (it sucks, but it can be useful) when it becomes feasable, Repair bay (atleast one) when you have the resources, and a whole lot of hangars once they are teched. Put the PJI near the lane headed towards your empire if you are having problems with JANs (Jumpers After Nuking) or near the lane in if you are having issues with massive fleets coming in, doing damage, and retreating to safety without taking many cassualties. The repair bay should be placed where your ships intend to be while defending the planet, and the hangars should be bunched up. If you have enough TecPoints left, put a turret or two down next to the hangar cluster, for added defense.

Split fights and bombers from static defenses 50/50.

Cap ships should have all Fighters UNLESS its a carrier, then 50/50 is fine. This is so your Cap ships have their own, natural anti-fighter/bomber defense. I personally run my fleets with all fighters, I figure my capital ships churn out enough damage as they are.

The best military advice I can give anyone is Bottlenecks! Find those planets, we all know which ones they are, that are in the most direct route from their empire, to yours. Colonize them, and stick a good fleet there. This helps defend from unexpected attacks. Having 4 lanes between your empire and your rival's is good and all, but having only two will be much easier to defend, and will require significantly less resources in the long run. If your enemy claims a bottleneck, push and try to take it, if its feasible.

At least one capital ship should be in every major defense fleet. Two is better. Which capital ships you build depends on your race. Play single player to get familiar with every Cap, what it can do, what it can't do. Where its strongest guns are, where its got weak or a lack of guns. Your first should be a strong Battlecruiser (Kol, Radiance, Desolater) Something that packs a punch. Your second should be one with good supporting abilities (Carriers, high grade ability caps, Ect)

For ship abilities, your first capital should focus damage, your second, survival, from there, get what works.

Carriers first aren't good, for it makes it difficult to colonize planets with flak frigates.. which is a great number of them.

Only build Culture structures if your enemy does, save the resources otherwise - but leave a few logistic slots here and there just in case. Especially on border worlds. The best defense against Culture spam is a fleet of capital ships in orbit.

Fianlly, Don't neglect cruisers and Frigates. 16 capital ships as an armada is good and all, but when the enemy has 100 LRMS, and thats all you've got, you get to watch the miracle of massed focus fire.

Is there any reason for getting a cap ship yard so early? I usually start with a col. ship & two light frigs, jump to the nearest asteroid, then get the ship yard. While it's building, I colonize the asteroid (usually before the defenders are dead, since they can't damage it) and develop it. This lets me get some additional metal and crystal income going faster and lets you send your cap ship off to another planet bordering your HW.