Personally I would dig in deep and start mass producing instead of colonizing.

However the reason I posted here is because many people might ignore this for the subject line. I'm posting here to give you a bump to see if there is better advice out there. However for best results post a more subject oriented thread.

Props for it being funny though.   

Most of the useful answers are already in the thread you're referring to.
I think the key is to specialize them. Have your homeworld run as an economy-only planet, then have 1 high PQ for research, 1 for manufacturing. Of course starting with some manufacturing buildings on the research planet as well to speed up construction.

Since you're up against 9 opponents it's a good idea to try and take a few of their homeworlds as early as possible. Don't lose them and after a year most of the AI's will be asking for peace.

Two risks:
1) Make sure none of your planets can be invaded. Losing such a specialized high PQ one or your homeworld would be a deadly mistake.
2) Be on the lookout for enemy AI influence closing in on your high PQ planets. If necessary, spam their homeworlds with influence SB's and research some diplomacy / build a Spin control center to keep them from attacking you. Wait for the homeworld to flip, then enjoy the domino-effect

I once found 3 PQ26 planets as the yor on a large map, 2 solar one after the other with 3 PQ26 planets and 2 PQ12, needless to say i was thrilled.

While I realize that the game has probably progressed for you, I have some general remarks about high PQ planets, espically those clustered so tight.

With most races, it is usually a good rule to reserve high PQ planets to economical planets. This is becausea an economical planet needs roughly 5 tiles just for the pop and initial colony building. The rest will be a mix of factories and econ buildings. Additional income from the econ buildings will be roughly proportional to (PQ-5). This means that you can get roughly twice as many econ buildings on a level 15 planet compared to a level 10 building. The curve flattens a bit as the PQ gets higher, though. A PQ 25 planet only houses 25% more econ buildings than a PQ 20 planet. And A PQ 26 planet can often grow all the way to about PQ 31-33, depending on your race etc.

There are also a few things that can make you want to place production, or more likely, research on these biggest planets. The main things are:
- If it's your research capital. While an econ capital only equals 4 stock markets, a research capital doubles the effect of all your research buildings.
- A production capital, for the same reason, though not as important.
- If it is near where you want to place econ starbases. Since the effect of of such starbases is proportional to the number of developable tiles withing their radius, a system with 2 high PQ planets is an excellent spot to put a research and production capital, surounded by the maximum number of econ starbases.

The point of maximizing the bonuses is two-fold. The obvious part is that it increases overall input, but increasing bonuses also has the added benefit that you dont have to pay full credits for the additional production and research points, making you less dependant on econ planets too. (I alwas play without tech trading, so I don't get all the econ techs that you can otherwise get, so this is very important for me).

In fact, it seems to me that at least for research, you pay even less than half for the bonus part, since I've seen planets that have a credit consumption far below half their research output.

Of course, if you find such excellent systems early on, you will probably not have the economy to run them at max production. In this case, it may be a good idea to build a few farms and econ buildings early on, until your economy base is secured, and only then re-zone the planets so that they max production/research.

Also another few things...........

The post about placing a shitload of cultural buildings on a high PQ planet like that is interesting.   I personnaly think it would be fun/funny.  Cheers for it being funny as well.   Rock on Chrizzle!!!  

I am still playing DA (Dark Avatar), and in a recent game I found in one system 5, read it 5 PQ 26 planets. In a nearby system I found a PQ 42 planet, with the other 4 being PQ 1. This was on top of that in the sector beside my HomeWorld!!!!!!! I colonized each one of them. The PQ 26's once fully Terraformed (with an Orbital Terraformer) turned into PQ 50 planets!!!!!!!!       The PQ 42 turned into a PQ 64!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!          And on top of that...........The PQ 1's turned into PQ 26's!!!!!!!!!!        It was the BEST FUCKING GAME OF MY LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!!!          I decided to give up the colony rush and dig in. I had 5 Precursor Mine Bonuses PER PLANET!!!!!!!!!!              I was absolutely amazed!!!!!!!!!!!! Needless to say that I won (of course  ). Also the Precursor Mine Bonuses coupled with Manufacturing Capital, Economy Starbase Modules, and asteroid bonuses, was MIND BLOWING!!!!!!!!!!!!           

Now that is what I call ORGASMIC!!!!!!!!!           
LET'S RAGE!!!!!!!!  

Or a fantasy game. In an unrelated note, I won the lotto.

Kzinti, MottiKhan, Yar...........

I am being absolutely honest. This is True (read it, True), as in, it is NOT False. This is an absolutely True encounter. I don't know how it happened, but it did.

And on top of that...........

IT WAS FUCKING AWSOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  

That doesn't mean you have to believe it however. I know that it is true, and that's all that matters to me.

Either way..........

Rock On (all of you)!!!!!!!!!