[Arak Koba]

I don't have my copy of SE4G yet either, but I can tell you the way I will start most of my games:

Low start techs
High Racial Points (for maximised race uniqueness)
One planet start- because I like starting from scratch.

Though for multiplayer, 3 planet starts and medium/high tech start is probably more practical.

Probably will play Rock/Oxygen races mostly; though this is not always going to be the case. I am looking forward to trying each of the different options for planet/atmosphere types.

And I like huge-mongous galaxies that are clustered. I like the idea of encountering other races within your own cluster of systems, and then later encountering other advanced races in other clusters after wormhole technology is discovered.