If you are a beginner playing TEC...
Turn off pirates - they just get in the way of learning
Get your metal and crystal asteroids populated
Send scouts out to find colonisable planets, on a small map start with two scouts.
Build a Cap factory and a civic research station.
Build a colony ship
Build a Kol and send this to the asteroid your scouts will find. Once the Kol has cleared militia, send in the colony ship.
At the asteroid build a civic reseach station and research either ice or volcanic, or both (depending on what your scout has found) and trade port.
Once you have a couple of planets colonised, and scouts looking further, identify a single long route and build trade ports along it. The longer the route, the bigger the income.
Trade ports are vital to get the money coming in.
As soon as you have enough money, build an Akkan and team it with the Kol. You can now colonise without the colony ship.
Once you have several planets, build two military labs, then research LRFs.
You should at this point have a healthy economy and good colonisation - but don't stretch too far, 'cause the enemy will be doing the same.
If you find a choke point in the map, seize it before anything else! You can build defences there and keep the enemy out while you build resources in safety.
Research flaks. If you have the resources, get Kodiaks too.
And don't forget to research if you have enough resources. Research crystal and metal to improve your income, also the broadcast centre so you can get culture flowing.
Once you have enough cash to get a Dunov, Marza, 20 Cobalts, 20 LRFs, 20 flaks, you can go hunting - if you can add 10 Kodiaks you'll have an awesome strike force. The AI is pretty stupid so the most you will find is two caps and a frigate spam.
Most importantly, have fun!
