I just got back into this game and I have looked at guides and nothing helps. No matter what I do the AI always speeds past me and ends up with insane amounts of ships. I can beat them still battle for battle but they keep coming and chipping away at me. And this is supposed to be normal? What in the wold am I supposed to do?

Focus your research on planet-types, happyness and food-production.

A quickly growing soon-to-be huge population is the key to everything else.



When designing ships, not only look at tonnage efficiency but at cost-efficiency aswell.

That +25 tonnage probably is not worth paying twice the cost of a small ship.



Use troopers to invade instantaneously.



A good starting order for techs is:



N-Way Fusion Plants

Soil Xenobiology

Arid Epigenetics

Xenobotany

Xenology

Isolation Shields

Compact Fusion Reactors

Sustainability

Particle Scanning

Botanical Scanning

Applied Casmir Effect

Around what turn should I start making ships? How many should I make? I either have too little or so many that I go broke.

Most of us were in your shoes early in our ES gaming. In one way, you're in an enviable position: You have a challenging computer opponent that doesn't cheat!



What's cool about this game is although there are plenty of "wrong ways" to do things, there is more than one way to win.



For example, my friend expands as quickly as he can and is quick to go to war to expand further. He builds his military up early and puts them to good use.



I, on the other hand, expand at a much slower pace and work on building my economy and science up. I build only enough ships as needed until I'm good and ready to go to war. (In the meantime, I'll have a fleet capable of defending each of my border planets.)



Using a custom race helps. One thing I do is take either deadly weapons 3/3 or snipers 3/3 to give my ships an edge in combat. I'm sure some experts will tell you I'm wasting my time with those picks, but it sure works for me.



Another thing that will come with experience is knowing which improvements to ignore. For example, I rarely build defensive improvements. Other improvements are very helpful on some planets and wasted on others.



Exploiting planets is an art form you will want to learn as well. Early on, you usually want to exploit for food. Once the system reaches maturity will you want to switch from food to something else. Don't be afraid to switch back as you get the tech to develop a new planet in the system.



Once a neighbor gets aggressive, it's time to get a fleet hero developing. Heroes make a HUGE difference in combat. I prefer pilots but will take a fleet commander if no pilot is available. The good news is heroes in charge of a fleet and do a lot of fighting will level very quickly.



There are so many other little things that add up to a huge difference. I'm glad I stayed with it through that early frustration period because this is a rare game that I enjoy playing just as much today (hundreds and hundreds of hours into the game) as I ever have.

The time to start making ships is not determined by the turn but instead by the circumstances.

You might need them to clear systems from pirates in order to colonize, you might need them if someone starts besieging your border planets.

If you have a direct connection to an alien race that is not one of the three peacefull races (Amoeba, Sophon, Pilgrim) you should definately start getting some ships.

Cravers, Hissho and United-Empire are almost guaranteed to declare war as long as they are not already involved in another war.

The +8 dust-building per tier 1/2-building should really help you with dust problems.

Note that systems outside of your borders do not generate nearly as much dust.

If you can get them into your border by building the +3 influence-radius-building on another system, it often is well worth it and also helps you see buildup of enemy-forces near the borders.

Happyness buildings are also very important. More happyness usually means you can raise taxes without your people going on strike.

I should mention that I never play with pirates on, so that influences how many ships I build. It's worth considering turning them off for at least the first few games.

Playing without pirates feels slightly different.

Everyone is able to expand much quicker early on.

This of course means, conflicts with the real races also occur much quicker.

No pirates? That's an interesting idea. It never occurred to me.



I rely on pirates to level my initial fleet hero. Without them, I'd be forced to engage the NPCs early.



Sounds like yet another a fresh approach.