[Suicide Junkie]

Be sure to build at least 2-3 Space Yard Bases over your homeworld so you can pump out colony ships faster, and warships later on.

If you grab missile tech and a few levels of ship construction, you can neglect a LOT of otherwise critical technologies, and save those research points for whatever research path you prefer.
(shields/armor, sensors/ECM, and such are not needed for missile ships)

The key here is to have sufficient numbers, as combat will be more of an all or nothing deal.
If the enemy has enough PDCs, your ships will be relatively harmless and get slaughtered in a corner.
Otherwise, they'll be pounded by the long range bombardment and be unable to fire back, meaning you win with little to no casualties.

[ March 27, 2004, 16:14: Message edited by: Suicide Junkie ]