Sounds to me like a lot of players writing online are into advanced starts and blitzing.
My typical setting have been Impossible, pre-warp (I like controlling early game, and advanced start feels like cheating on impossible as the start is where the AI runs ahead of you), huge world (why finish game so early?), tactical combat, antarans and random events of course.
Dictatorship sounds like best gov to me. Feudal hopeless with research penalty (on imp, huge, pre-warp), democracy too expensive and unification loses out on morale. Can get +50% morale fairly early in game.
When trying to optimize, I typically pick a -food, -ground combat, low gravity penalties. -food is just a not too big starter penalty, ground combat fairly useless and low gravity just noticeable between creating new planets and teching gravity generator.
Usual + picks have been creative, subterranean and telepathic.
Recently, to up the difficulty, I'm trying to play -10 race with the above negatives. Plan is to assimilate aliens to get away from penalties and get some bonuses as early as possible. But are currently having some issues with either getting attacked heavily before I'm ready or having a runaway AI on other side of map which comes with a huge armada.
Plan is typical to:
- Tech research lab, automated factories, techs for scout, freighters, soil enrichment (early to battle -food penalty), fuel/armor to get nuclear missiles with MIRV. Build a small force. Hopefully an alien just colonized neighbour planet and I'm at a stage where I can take it. Trading for better armor/shields/heavy armor etc might help being able to. Typically using missile ships early, with a scout that can run away from missiles and missile ships that can retreat after spending the missiles. Dauntless guidance system also great if you can get it.
- On best luck, I can assimilate tolerant, lithovore, subterranean silicoids and start breeding that race instead of mine. I can then ignore -food and low-g penalties, and - ground combat just mean I need to build a few extra transports or bomb target planets a bit extra before invading. With the above combination one can grow to high population on few planets fast.
- On average luck I might need to hurry for gravity generator and terraforming while trying to keep up in techs and get a fighting force. Still doable with careful planning.
- On worst luck there's a close early warmongererer that hits me before I'm ready or a run-away AI further away that attacks me in scale while still outteching me before I've managed to level the playing field.
Hard to know what to play for though. Typically trying to set some restrictions and then see if I can beat the antarans or not. Speed play isn't interesting for me (at least not real time) Maxing score is pretty meaningless when you can recapture as much as you like, and having to manage all but one planet to max pop everywhere. Feels like work more than skill and play.
