am i on the right track

[oleg]

Tom, if you have surplass of resources and must build resource storage facilities, consider to build star bases with space yards around your homeworld. Also, reseacrh fighters ASAP and start build them on planets without space yards. Fighters are good defence against AI, you will need them in LARGE quatities. They do not pay maintenance and if later on you will be short on minerals, you can scrap them on planet with space yard and get some refund.

Also, build a lot of research centers from very start. Later, if you will need some resources, scrap them and build miners, farms, etc. on planets with reasonable resource values.