I can't stop getting my ass kicked!

Technology and Economy. Period. Especially in a normal game. Military is all fine and dandy, but you can pass by with a small (not weak, but small) military if you have the technological and economic edge. Build Economic Centers (ie, Markets, Stock Markets, etc) and also keep up with the technological edge. Set priorities when it comes to technology: Do you really need to research those farm improvements? (hell no). And make sure your always working at 100% on the slider bar, or as close to it as you can be.

Which version of the game are you playing?

I am one of those who said the game was too easy as of update 1.2 -- but 1.3beta2a and 1.3beta3x are not too easy -- at least for me. However, I can still win at suicidal on occassion at least.

If you've done a search for posts with "masochistic" or "suicidal" in them then you've probably read most of the strategies that players have posted.

Other than that -- practice, practice, and practice till you get a good feel for the beginning of the game. It helps to know the numbers behind the game ( build costs, tax rates, tech costs and bonus's, population growth rates, etc .... ). But in the end, It is still a matter of feel -- a couple of turns late can mean a lost game ( so lots of micromanaging at suicidal -- at least for me ).

farms are extremely important economic base, one farm does more for your economy than an economic building (if you can keep all those people happy of course) usually for me i set one of my high quality worlds (usually 12 or above) as my economic powerhouse i build 2-3 farms (depending on wheather i have moral reasources or not) 4-5 moral buildings and the rest i just build the economic buildings

one or two planets like this plus building one farm and a moral building on some of my planets that are big enough to handle production centers and an economic boost usually gets me by good in the game

i suggest getting economy and military bonuses then you can afford to take some money out of military and put it in social and research while still rolling in the dough. try 30% economy bonus, 50% military bounus, and 20% with fedralist party. then set economic sliders to 30% military, 30% social, and 40% research. you should be able to win that way by out producing the enemy with the military bonus since its really at 45. try and make your first planet a manufacturing planet and the next one with lots of farms and equal amounts of entertainment buildings, then manufacturing again then research etc, ect. make ships that are cost effective first that have a survivablity rate(have more defences than guns)and make friends with people your on ailinement, they like you more. if you go to war try and cripple high lvl planets with plantary warefar or pay someone to do it for you while focusing on defence. build economic starbases near your core worlds and military bases near your rim. only put your output slider to max if you can afford it. move it as close as possible without going into a negative profit.

I usually build up my economy and research. doesnt matter wich planet i ALWAYS have 1 farm (i tend to get the bonus tiles on almost every planet) and 1-2 economic buildings. On EVERY planet. I then have research stations for the most part and a couple off economic star bases. I only have production planets if its a 16+ ^^ the more factories the faster they poop out ships

lol, I totally misread this thread title, I erroneously assumed the thread maker liked getting their ass kicked.. great suggestions guys^^

Expansion expansion expansion, it's all about expansion and early in the game. Take Ion drive right off the bat and build you a movement 5 colony ship and BUY them. Don't wait for them to be built by industry. Travel out as far as you can go and try to get those 10pt planets early. Then worry about the miniscule planets behind you later on when your big productive planets are churning out colony ships in a few turns. You also don't have to stock every colony ship with 500 pleebs. I get by on 200 or 100 most often. Just enough to colonize a planet and keep on colonizing.

Once most of the planets are colonized then it's banking time and manufacturing. Technology is ok, but, it's not that necessary to stay ahead of the game as economics are. If you don't have money you can't do much of anything. Don't be afrad to borrow in the early game, but, not too much. If you borrow too much then you ruin your economy early on. This takes practice to find the best borrowing limitations.

Early in the game have one of your planets producing the cheapest fighter class ship you can make. Anything, something with a weapon on it and start defending each planet you have with at least one of these. The AI is too stupid to know you have cheap military ships it only recognizes HOW MANY YOU HAVE for military might (hope they are fixing this in 1.3).

Trade Trade Trade. Each turn check the STATS tabs of your opponents. Down at the bottom shows what each one is teching up in. If you have that tech then when they are 1 turn or 2 turns away from teching up in that field, sell yours to them. I've made a bundle and always stay ahead in economics and technolgy by doing this every turn. (This is also something that should require spying, but, they haven't changed that either so use it).

Beating the AI on normal is as normal as the normal setting goes. hehe It all boils down to your economy first. If you don't have a great economy then you are going to fall futher and futher behind.

I have found balance to be the most imporant thing. The only times I lose are when I do not balance my empire correctly. Sometimes, I will put too much investment into building up starbases around my planets (econ, mil), only for the AI to attack my defences which are not bolstered enough.

Othertimes, I may put too much into researching a weapon type rather than spreading it across improvments in research and econ buildings. Or I might create a slightly too large defence force before making the economy to sustain it. I often look back and realise the stratagy may have been fine under a previous example, but this current map size, layout, and race selection makes that stratagy poor.

The fun should be in the finding out. Load the new game up, look at the minimap, and then the "territories" and surrounding areas. Maybe do the initial planet grab, but probably before then, outline a strat to try and give it a go. I find saving from one point and saying, "ok lets try this" then giving it a go is fun and informative. I may screw it up but then can load from that early game and try something else. Its a fun learning experiance!

Thanks for all of your replies! It was very informative.