2350: Took stock of our empire, running over each of our worlds; for some reason Sssla's Eco slider was running a little high, we're picking up ten extra RP per turn now.
2351: Sent the wayward colship off to Vega. IIT 9 goes into the percentages.
2352: We stumble upon the Human colony of Argus, pop 97/87 factories/1 missile base -- they've quite boxed us in to the west, no luck there. ECM I into the percentages.
2353: SScout arrives at Rotan, Arid Poor 18: yes, colonized by Sillies. The other planet scouted this turn, Ajax, Toxic Rich 15, is uncolonized, but we're unlikely to get
that before the Silicoids (boy, do I hate having them for neighbors).
We drive off the humans from Beta Ceti with our fleet of fighters. Hurrah for Sakkra arms supremacy!
We get a spy report on the Meklars:
I like Improved Eco and CPU level parity, a lot, but with our (lack of) defenses it'd be crazy to try and steal anything just yet.
2354: The Silicoids arrive at Ultra Rich Beta Ceti with an unarmed colship. Ha ha, not yet, rocks. Our SScouts in the "galactic west" have run out of things to scout, I send them back towards the central Rich planet Simius.
Hello! Where are you coming from?
2355: Klackons attack at the nebula Tundra world. We have no chance against thirteen fighters and retreat. When these bugs scout these bugs
scout!
Tau Cygni is about to max out on factories, so I get to play with the sliders some more. The Death Spores lightbulb is about full, so hopefully we'll see our vital next Planetology tech very soon.
2356: A truly exciting turn: we find that the neutron star by Ajax is nothing but asteroids.
Oh, go jump off a cliff:
This, however, is very good news:
Death Spores are in the percentages just now, along with ECM I and IIT 9, so putting Tau Cygni on research isn't the best idea. I think it's much more prudent to put Tau Cygni on fighter duty for a little while. If we go full-bore on ship building it can build 12 PewPewPews per turn. These fighters could be put down in the systems threatened by Silicoids (pretty much everything in the south) -- the Meklars, Humans and Klackons aren't going to be snapping up the tundra/toxic worlds for a little while yet, but if we fortify the planets near the Silicoids we might save a couple of them for ourselves.
The Ultra Rich world is obviously priority #1, I set Tau Cygni to RELOC its fighters to Endoria; from there it's a short hop to Beta Ceti. To fortify anything else of note, of course, we need reserve tanks. The Rich worlds Simius and Ajax would be worth fighting for, and even the Ultra Poor world would be worth having if only for some extra research (alas, no good for transport duty in this variant.)
If we don't pop tech in the next turn or two, it's probably best to put Sssla on fighter duty as well. Come on IIT 9! Come on Death Spores! (Sad game when you're cheering to get Death Spores.)
2357:
OK, I'll take it. With the extra space we can stick an additional laser on a medium hull/reserve tank ship; more guns make Sakkras happy. IIT 8 is the only choice to move forward, and a worthy one. Unless my memory fails me badly IIT 9 + IIT 8 + our Planetology levels should allow for at least a reserve tank standard medium-hull colship with a laser.
2358: We discover a habitable world, unsullied by the Silly Clods, covered in sapphire oceans!
It has roughly the mineral content of hard vacuum, but you cannot have everything! This surprises me a little, as I think we all suspect the yellow star near it to be Cryslon. We have a scout en route to that planet, anyway.
I move Tau Cygni to producing reserve tank medium fighters; I think we will want some fighters around the other interesting planets in this area, and we have lots of PewPewPews for Beta Ceti.
2359: We pop ECM Jammer I.
Improved Robotic Controls III is the only CPU choice.
I go ahead and do this:
It puts us back in the red for some turns trade-wise but a 25 BC/year deal, while fine for diplo, isn't going to do much for our economy now; we are nearing 700 BC/year in planetary production, even though our newer colonies are growing very slowly.
Looking at the spy report, the Meklars have an alliance with the Bulrathi now.
2360:
Here is a map of the galaxy as we know it:
That is 10 years in office, and the Ssslian Congress grows ressstless; even my own Praesaurian Guard are whissspering among themselves that my rule has gone long enough. To avoid a consssstitutional crisissss I turn over my powersss of officcccce to a new Gunsslinger. Our initial ssscouting efforts are nearly at an end. We know that the galactic sssouth is rich in valuable planets but unfortunately also rich in freakish alien beings that sssmell funny, dirty things that only wear one skin. Although we are aware of the general location of our opponents, we ssstill have only contact with the Meklar. We did not get a lucky breakthrough in our Death Sssspores technology during my term, regrettably, but my resssearchers assssure me it will arrive any year now.
We do have two matured planets capable of research or building warships, and we'll have our third soon enough. We do have ssssufficient production to defend the planets encroached upon by the living rocks, if we move our ssships quickly. Seizzzzing the mineral-rich planet Beta Ceti would make an excellent prize, and give us a sssolid, if unspectacular expansion.
OOC: Our options for coming in contact with the other races are limited, and that's a pain. We won't meet the Humans or Silicoids ourselves without settling a hostile world, though that's our top priority anyway. Inertial Stabilizer will take forever to research and be of limited benefit (except for opening up the next Propulsion techs and as trade bait, perhaps). I'd hate to see us get first contact simply by them researching improved range or by settling closer to us, although that might be what ends up happening (especially with the Silicoids).
Looking at the map: The Humans appear to have a worse start than we do, assuming the Klackons are indeed beyond them in the northwest (they reached the nebula via AI-alliance with the Humans, apparently; they weren't allies with the Meklars). Looking at the Meklars' expansion pattern I'd venture a guess that the Bulrathis may be at one of the yellows in-between their north and south. If that read is true, the southwest is wide open; we're looking at strong bots and/or bears, never fun. The Silicoids have eight planets already, so the southeast must be mostly rock planets by now.
Save attached. Good luck Maniac!
).
However, and this is where I would like to see what others think: personally, although I'm pretty okay with Poor worlds... I really don't like Ultra Poors very much. Their development is sooooooooooooooooo slow. 
When they are well behind the front lines, this may not matter much, but that isn't going to be the case in this game. My past experience has been that you either have to be prepared to lose them after having them for a while (and I hate losing planets I've colonized), or accept the liability that they pose and be prepared to devote a lot of resources to defending them-- and they usually require a lot more starfleet defense than you need for your non-Ultra Poor worlds. And the only thing worse than losing a planet you've held for a while , is having tech stolen upon conquest in the bargain. 
but if someone has had better success with spying, please share about it.
