I made the jump, and Id like to share the little things I changed to make the jump.
- stop playing the humans, other races get better bonuses ie. the drath
- transport rush! you get transports first, then rush a few opponents. If youre lucky you can take over a minor race. voila, 3 capital planets.
Everyone else feel free to leave their own bit of knowledge
Ah, and what everyone said about making your way up the diplo tree and then trading for combat tech ? right on.