Best way to play?

GC2 is very flexible with lots of choices for how a given game will work. Starting at lower difficulty levels will give you some slack to learn the basics of building your economy, researching techs, designing ships, and dealing with the other civs. If you like quick games, use a smaller map. If you like longer games, pick a larger map size with more plentiful stars and planets.

Basically, the "best way to play" is the way you figure out for yourself. Unless you are already focused on getting a maximum score. That requires playing on the largest maps with maximum habitable worlds and higher difficultly levels earn bigger scores than lower ones.

There are also several threads around here about whether or not to start with DL (the basic game) or jump right into TA (the 2nd expansion). Opinions on it vary--I think it's worth trying DL until it starts seeming very familiar, then doing the same with DA. The expansions each add pretty significant new features to the game (extreme environments for DA and unique tech trees for TA). The base game is the simplest version, so it's easier to learn.

As a new player who has just started his third game, I'd suggest Easy and Small settings, keeping the galaxy settings at default.  I'm trying a Medium sized galaxy with habitable planets Abundant, and I'm not sure I'm familiar enough with the game mechanics to deal with the micromanagement of that many worlds effectively. (Though I'm going to stick it out because it's an interesting galaxy.) I did leave the number of opponents at five, which was the setting for Small. 

A question for vets:  Are there default settings for number of opponents for each map size?  Or do you just set it to what you please?  I found Small crowded with 5 opponents, and now playing at Medium with the same number of opponents is more to my taste as there is a longer colonization phase. 

In any of these sorts of games, I like some breathing room for better development of my civilization and the AIs.  "Axe-rushing" in Civ IV is effective, but dull since the AI can't really cope, and so you take out 1 or 2 AIs early and get the advantage of the resource-rich starting spot that was their capital city.  I can see that there's no equivalent in Gal Civ II as Planetary Invasion is not a starting technology.

I believe the standard number of starting races is 5, regardless of galaxy size.  When you start a new game, it will default to whatever your last settings were and you can change the map size or whatever from there. 

The only thing that changes is the Tech Rate if you choose a Metaverse game.  I don't recall what it reverts to.  I just set it to very fast for every game without paying attention to what it said before.

Ah, yes.  The "Rush" strategies.  The first one I recall was the  Russian "Tank Rush" way back in "Red Alert".

In MOO2, the quickest victories were in the smallest galaxy, taking Telepathic, rush building/buying a cruiser (just big enough for telepathic takeover), and getting to the home planet of a production-oriented race before that race could defend itself.

In DA, the addition of the Extreme planets made a great difference, IMHO.  As long as there are races in the game that begin with those special colonizing techs, the player cannot easily out-expand those races.  If the player takes one of those races and the other is not in the game, the player seems to have it easier in the early colony rush.  SEIV consistently achieves the effect by making each race choose a starting atmospheric environment.

I'm playing the largest galaxy, all abundant (and scattered), the max AIs, and the max minors, SLOW tech.  I've worked up to the level just above "Tough" and it is beginning to seem repetitive.  Initial expansion, grab what mining bases I can, run down the research tracks to stock exchange and manufacturing centers, picking up  a few other improvements along the way, throw out an extra few survey ships, change gov't once or twice, then dive into Extreme Colonization hard.  My intent is to get enough economic base to fund the next colonization wave, starting with the types no other race seems to be colonizing.  In some games, that's all 5.  So, as the Banks or Stock exchanges get finished, the colony ships start building.

Sometimes I have to bribe a race into a war or two to buy time but, once that second colonizer wave is launched, the game is essentially over due, in part, to planet flipping. The thing then is just to choose which victory I want for that game.

I'm guessing that the higher difficulty levels will give the AIs enough bonuses that they are able to better contest in the expansion phases and/or turn on me before I get that second wave of planets built up.  The AIs already are getting Invasion before I do, but seem still unable to mount an escorted invasion soon enough.  I suspect that will change.

One more map size question.  Eventually, when I am more comfortable with the game, I want to play with all the official races in a galaxy.  What would be a suitable size for a galaxy with a little breathing room?  It's subjective, I know.  But I'm liking five opponents in Medium galaxy, so based on that, what would be about right?

I like Gigantic and Immense maps with 9 majors, slightly above-normal habitable worlds, and tight clusters. But I'm a 'turtler' at heart, so if you like an aggressive game, you might prefer more worlds, loose clusters, and/or just a Large map. Again, you're really the only person who can give you an answer to your question unless you are interested in top-ranking Metaverse scores. If the latter turns out to be true, Motti has plenty of peers who can help you on the way to scoremonster status.

On number of opponents, unfortunately, your options are limited there.  You can only play against 9 major enemies out of the 11 that you can choose from.  Well, 12 if you play a custom race.

I'd say a gigantic map should give you some breathing room against 9 opponents plus the 8 minors available.

I've never played an Immense map, but I'd bet that it would give you a tad more space.

GW Swicord:  Thank you.  Actually, I'm a turtler myself so similar settings should work for me as well.  Might set Habitable planets to common or occassional, though.  Not worried about score: I think a game that simulated the GC II backstory would be fun to play which is why I wanted all of them in play at the same time.

MottiKhan:  Thank you.  If I can't have all of them, I guess I can randomize who is in the game when I give this a try.

Edit: Sorry about the text color, but for some reason it will only let me change the last sentence to black.

I always enjoy small or medium with max ennemies and max minors. It makes for interesting games with everybody trying to kill each otehr for space.

I do not enjoy big maps because it's to long to clean up. And I care very little for the score.