Favorite trick in the game (spoilers possible)

[Brainiac4]

The Zorg Fridate's third weapon is the Antichronon Pulse Blaster. It's in a rear-facing hardpoint, so you won't see it fire unless you are engaging them from the rear. It has a huge firing arc, though, so you don't have to be too far behind them to see it -- off to the side works fine.

If you are close enough, you can see the mount in the rear of the ship.

One tip -- if you want to see how a given race's weapons work (damage level, range, firing arc) set up the simulator with you as the Urluqai with a single Deep Hunter and two enemies you want to see go at it. Cloak immediately and watch the fun. Nihilix and I spent a fair amount of time with large-scale battles between the Kawangi and the Tchorak. The Tchorak have a notable range advantage, which makes battles between them very interesting.

Also, if you want to see the power of ramming, set up this exercise:
You have 3 Deep Hunters. The enemy is one Yellow Kawangi. Cloak and ram. You should win easily.

[Shadowcat]

I was fortunate recently to enter a system with two enormous opposing blips on the radar. I was not especially well-armed, but I just had to know what the heck was happening there!

It turned out that the Yellow Kawangi were intent on taking out a system patrolled by a Tchorak Vent Mother. That was pretty awesome to watch in a 'real' game

[James Sterrett]

Cool - who won?

[Shadowcat]

The Yellow Kawangi obliterated the Vent Mother once it got into range, and I ran away

The Tchorak has a big range advantage and could pound the Kawangi into space dust, but it made the 'mistake' of closing the distance, allowing the Kawangi nova cannon to start pounding away early, and then the beam weapons finished it off in a hurry...

[Thorpe]

I'm not really sure if this counts as a trick or not, due to both its relatively high requirements, and the fact that it gives no points, but if you have both the Mirror Thingamajic, Gravity Shunt, and Hyperdrive (end game, in otherwords), eleminating pesky alien war fleets becomes no problem. Hyperdrive to a handy nearby Black Hole, and simply use the mirror. Unfortunately for the aliens, they have their adventure ended prematurely.