On my second game. First game the AI had double my score and then started rolling into my systems with 15 ships.



So, trying again. This time I'm expanding MUCH more aggressively. Pretty much every other thing in my build queue is a colony ship.



Happiness is ok and my score is just a tad above the AI. Damn, how can they be keeping up with me?



But if this game is about FIDS and the more and bigger systems you control the more FIDS you have.... grabbing as many good colonies as quick as you can seems to be the best way to go.

I'm in my second game as well, and only on normal difficulty. I came to the same conclusion, but I found that idea did not sit really well with all the AI factions. I was moving along with that plan and things were looking good when suddenly 3 factions openly declared war on me and the other 2 in my game harassed my newly settled colonies which were just outside my sphere of influence. I suddenly found myself just mass producing ships to fend off the seemingly never ending waves. Finally got things stabilized and have been on the offensive ever since.



I already had a few fleets around in case I did piss off someone and to fend off pirates, but I was utterly surprised at how much I pissed off everyone and how many ships they all possessed already. I'm just glad I learned this on a lower difficulty, because I'm sure I would be wiped out on the harder levels. What I considered a "big stick" in terms of my military power was more like a little twig.

I usually try to grab all the planets in my starting area (all the planets you can get to without using wormholes). After that it depends. If you play with 8 factions the starting area is usually "your" territory and some maps offer free-for-all territories. For example the spiral galaxies, the middle is the free-for-all territory and each arm connected to the center is a player territory. That's generally speaking, but you can still claim any system in any area of the map at any time, so you want to claim all the systems in "your" territory before anyone else has the chance to.



There are certain factions that are more aggressive than others. For example: Cravers (need to expand to survive), United Empire, Sheredyn, Hissho, Horatio (sometimes), and Amoeba (sometimes). Any faction can and will declare war on you if they don't like you (or just because if they're more aggressive) and you can become friends with any faction (the more aggressive ones are just harder to be friends with, but usually make better allies).

Same conclusion here after a few games on normal.

At first, with the happiness restrictions i thought expansion had to be reasonable, but after playing different factions on noraml, it still comes down to taking the most planets you can early game.



When you reach mid game though, that's another story. Depending on what's your goal and faction, you may want to expand fast or not.



And on the score the AI gets, don't worry too much about it.

On normal the AI gets ridiculous scores, but it still does stupid things and most of my games i'm 3rd or 4th in score at the start, yet i have no problem rolling on them when my economy is set up.

Everything in the game expands exponentially, thus early game is a land rush, the more FIDS you secure, the stronger your empire will grow. If you don't grab enough you are simply out of the race to the top. The only faction that can still turn this around are the Automaton or the Harmony, as they both get an incredible FIDS boost to shine through midgame. Especially with the Automaton in a game that has a lot of players due to their (30% - % of colonized galaxy) fids bonus.



But again for the Automaton this is mid game, as having double their amount of systems does mean you potentially will have 100% their fids.



However only expanding and not being able to secure it is a risk. Against the AI you will be totally fine, but against human player you have to calculate this in and be able to defend your new colonies.



There are 3 factions that have a key advantage over everyone else when it comes to the early game expansion:



1) Vaulters - If played properly - 0 expansion disapproval, very fast forward colonization due to them being able to vault into unchartered territory with colonyships produced at the very core of their empire, saving the ships many precious turns of travel time. Also they are able to then reinforce and defend any of their systems, unless overwhelmed by fleets that they cannot defeat in numbers. Which does happen against the more experienced warmongering players.



2) Cravers - 25% fids bonus on everything - that is population refill, production and science to get the critical wormhol traversal technology. Speed is key, and power is mighty, especially military power in this case.



3) Sophons - Due to their science boost early they will be amongst the first to explore the unchartered territories that lie beyond the wormholes in their home system.





This is an especially big advantage in maps that have a middle section, usually the player that wins the fight for the middle also wins the game, as the middle usually contains the most valuable systems in the galaxy.

Actually, I have more success by developing my first two systems for a bit before I even build my first colony ship. If I have an uncolonized tier 1 or (more likely) tier 2 planet on my homeworld, I'll get that almost fully populated before building a colony ship.



Don't get me wrong; it's vital that you eventually colonize all or almost all systems in your starting sector. It's vital that you don't let any other race come into your starting sector and colonize one of "your" worlds. However, get your first two systems going first, get a few key tech advances, and then--and only then--let the land rush begin!



Four more points to think about:



1. If you find two especially juicy systems early, build your first colony ship sooner rather than later. However, still wait to build your second colony ship until after your initial systems are more developed.



2. If you have two potential systems that are fairly close in value, colonize the one that falls in your sphere of influence first. Colonies (actually they are outposts when first built) outside your sphere of influence get half the dust and research.



3. Don't underestimate the tech that gives you satellites. They let you expand your influence.



4. Don't blindly build every improvement on every system, especially defense systems.