So I've played about a dozen and a half games by now, having beaten various hard AIs with all three races, and have decided to focus primarily on completely mastering TEC, particularly in the multiplayer arena. I usually try and expand early, followed by economic turtling. I'm just curious - how early do experienced TEC players usually colonize their first, second, or third planets (beyond their homeworld, obviously)? Generally, I'll expand as soon as I reliably can, upgrade the infrastructure, and hopefully stack a few trade ports on a 3, or occasionally 4 length route.

Oh, on an unrelated note, do most of you buy crystal as soon as a game starts? I've found that it is almost always my limiting resource, whether I'm trying to LRM rush, expand quickly, or tech rush, so I've started buying 100 or 200 crystal as my very first moves in a game.