TEC vs. Vasari

Hey there, I'm still pretty new to the game. I'm really a Advent player, but when I play my friend (Vasari), they tend to get off to too slow of a start. I was thinking about playing as TEC, but I've never used them or played against them. I'm wondering what the strategy for them would be on a medium sized planet where you don't have to rush too much but want to keep up.