I am an Influence go-getter... i attack, develop, design, build with that context in mind for well over 85% of the games i either start as defaults or even as a custom race. I rarely go for anything else, unless some mega-events enforces me into a different strategy.
I also use tactical steps (claiming to be good enough at times), progressive local assets (sticking at the Trek's prime-directive/like non-interference theory as long as possible), full blast research edges (maximums, fast, hurry up), exploit minors if any (quick BCs), destroy too militaristic threats asap. Etc, etc.

IMHO, the balance tilts in favor of the Korx... cuz, they provide everything else necessary to the above "patterns" of gameplay experience, or choices.
However, the dividing line(s) between Trade & Influence is sooooo slim that it often makes more sense to cash-in/out the military might before things get worst. Namely, the remaining holder of the tiny missing 5 to 10% for MY own quick Influence victory, planned.

- Zyxpsilon.

I find that playing the Terrans is "easier" because of their diplomatic bonuses. When I need some spare cash I get more for selling of techs. When I'm struggling at the beginning I give away a tech or some cash to keep warm relations up with my neighbors so nobody (normally) attacks. The diplomacy bonus tends to keep me out of trouble and also earns me some extra cash. Of course, their econ bonuses help out too.

But I also like the Yor and playing my custom race - the Mandalorians. I'm still shopping around for the Super Ability that I like though.

Plague and disease? On robots?! I thought that was called rust. X3

Thalan
Hive with fast factories, great on gigantic maps.


Z E R G ftw

Barring TA, my favorite in DA is the Thalans. My favorite in DL is the Yor.

In DL, the Yor are awesome for one single reason, 25% miniaturization bonus. It just makes everything better, faster colonizers, bigger warships, etc. They also get really good starting techs.

The Thalans are amazing in DA. With their super hive ability, it makes building planets quick, cheap, and easy. That's something that helps through the whole game unlike other super abilites that only help during certain phases of the game. Also, they have fantastic starting bonuses. Not only do they get 33% in social and military production for free, but they have a 10% miniaturization bonus to boot. And don't forget about that class 15 homeworld. The Yor are still pretty good in DA, the super isolation ability helps fend off colonizers and transports, but they're not as powerful as they were in DL. They would be my second choice in DA. I like Custom Race, because of the control over all aspects, but they just don't get perks the way the majors do. I don't play custom much anymore, but I still like it a lot.

I can understand while people like the Terrans. For one, it's nice to be human, but otherwise, they have very strong diplomacy which is good for less aggressive games. When I first started playing GC2, I played a lot of games with good alignment as the Terrans because I was always trying to avoid war. However, now I spend most of the game at war with most of the races so diplomacy for the sake of avoiding war isn't much use to me. My philosphy now is "yea, bring it on baby".

In DA, it was the Krynn, mostly because I liked the morale bonuses of the race. Also because it was convenient to just to put counter-espionage on every planet early in the game and not have to worry about the computer spying on you.

In TA, I'm going to have to go with the Korath Clan. Good military production and morale, strong ships, dark influence, very little maintenance and spore ships. Their weak research line can be upgraded by going neutral and getting Neutrality Learning Centers. What else do you really need? Of course their lack of resource extraction sucks, but I assume this to be an oversight that will be corrected in future betas. At any rate I usually don't have time to build up starbases too much anyway, most of the time it detracts too much from my military production, and research as well if I want them defended.

The Torian homeworld isn't all that important because if you keep morale on the colonies at 100 you can very rapidly get to the point where homeworld population is negligible compared to the rest of your empire. The Central Mine is cheap to build and gives decent production so the colonies will be capable of sending out their own colony ships in short order. It can be tough at the start if you don't have a production bonus on Toria, then production of colonizers will bottleneck your early expansion.

I was producing colony ships as fast as possible for the most part running at a deficit of 30bc or less. It got up to 150bc for just a few turns when I founded a pile of new colonies all at once, but that quickly recovered thanks to the insane population growth. With other races if I colony-spam like that I'll get to the point where I can't build anything on them without bankrupting myself; with the Torians I could keep building as fast as possible. The turnaround point where your cash flow goes back in the green came a lot earlier too. I was still in the initial colony rush when I was able to max out espionage and rush important improvements.

Also, you can save a lot of money on invasions because there's often no need to pay for better tactics; just pile 3 or 4 billion troops onto a transport and they'll all be replaced in a few turns.