DA Strategies Questions

Depending on the race you choose I'd go for an influence or early conquest strategy, at least if it's a tiny/small/medium galaxy.

You'll need a strong military (Spin control center!) and/or good diplomacy to avoid being declared war on every few weeks - so many races on a map tend to cause "close borders" and "alarming influence" factors that have a negative influence on your relations with the AI's. Extra trade routes (ideally 2 per AI) and any treaties also help to improve relations.

Trade non-diplomacy techs with all minors to gain a lot of cash and to make the minors stronger once the AI's declare war on them. It's also good to keep some transports nearby any minor that is being attacked: let the AI wipe out their fleets, then move in with your transports to capture the planet.

1) Influence: just park influence starbases next to their capitals and major planets, to flip them. Use the above tips to keep relations better than 'hostile' with those AI's. Once you flip their capital it's a domino effect.

2) Early conquest: some AI races are slow to build any kind of defensive fleet so if you research planetary invasion soon enough, you can invade them without too much trouble. Getting some additional planets early on will help a great deal in an "uncommon stars & planets" setting.

If you happen to find good quality (at least PQ 10) heavy gravity / aquatic / ... planets, it may be worth researching that technology and grab the planet before any AI is ready to take it.

pick a civ with a good starting system, liek the altarian, wisp starts as a class 3 but i've seen it grow into a class 18 once terraforming's done. THis is opposed to picking the terran or drath who usually have garbage starting systems - but you might want to pick them anyway for their awesome diplo power.

Another viable strat would be to pick the korath or the yor, not only can they colonize toxic and barren enviros respectively, so you may be able to get a few extra planets in a prolonged Colony rush; but they have powerful ground troops, so if you rush to planetary invasion you might be able to nab a minor civ's capitol, and get the entire system