I love the fact that the pre-game settings affect which strategies work.

In fact everything you learn from tiny maps (rush and declare war asap) is sort of reversed on gigantic ones (build solid  sustainable infrastructure).

I wondered what everyone's favour combination is any why.

Personally I'm on Masochistic, Large, Normal Stars, Planets, Habitables, Anomilies etc.

I try to play the each race in turn with default attributes (but I tend to choose the political party to complement these bonuses). 

I've switched off all victory conditions bar conquest
(I think to "win" by forming an alliance with a run-away civ is silly... they have won not you! Influence and Tech tend to be too easy once you realise how the very flawed military calc is done).

This IMHO gives me the widest range of strategies that can work, I can look at the situation and decide between an initial rush or a patient trading, diplomatic waiting game.  I never ctrl-N and love the thrill of the early turns in a poor map.  With ship designing you can even overcome the isolated corner maps that used to be fatal in GalcIV I. I suspect everyone who complains life support is useless is either starting from a better position or smaller maps.

I've still got tech trading on, but will probably switch it off for all subsequent games to get the true effect of differing priorities. It may even mean I have to look at early military techs in favour of the diplo techs, something I never do at present. Even though everyone says the AI overvalues military techs nothing stands in the way of Diplo Translators,  good government and total majesty.  It is very easy to find a minor willing to trade all the early military techs for something as simple as Advanced Trade or Repuplic.

So what settings do you all find most enjoyable?

p.s. Does anyone actually trade the trade-goods. I NEVER do.  To me it is a no-brainer, yet if I miss out on one the AI will give you those all important  gravity accelorators (or whatever they have) for next to nothing.