Pretty similar, I too drop strength, cunning and politics to 50%. But I raise all others except organics and radioactives to 105, then take research, happiness, and construction to 110, and I pick psychic as my ability. I nearly always play as artisans, but I'll sometimes play as scientists.
I did, once (before the 1.19 patch when emergency movement pods worked on bases), play engineers, with 150% construction and the enhanced shipyards trait and temporal tech. I knocked out a sphereworld in under a year with the bases being built near planets and using the emergency propulsion to move to the star.
It was kinda fun, but not what I'd normally do. I also make a large variety of races purely for their roleplaying value. Where I pick the traits and all that for personality reasons rather than for raw power. My Favorites are the religious zealots who live only on Gas Giants with no atmosphere, and the eugenics-created (organics-tech) oligarchy that enslaves all other races and keeps a menagerie near its homeworld with one of every race in the galaxy, as well as a mothballed fleet of all thier ships for the nobles to hold feats and parties in from time to time.
------------------
Compete in the Space Empires IV World Championship at
www.twingalaxies.com.