reasearch and moe starting stuff

i'd say... ALWAYS start with communication theory and then universal translator otherwise you can't speak with the other races... ALWAYS build a couple of colony ships at the start of the game... and for social i usually start with Soil Enhancement... after that its really up to you and the type of civilization you want to play.
~SDC~
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(a) If I am war happy, I might rush to Impulse Drives so I can build transports, and then rush to Phasers so I can build starfighters, and then knock out an enemy civ or two.

(b) If I am in for the long haul, I will do the research to be able to build Habitats ASAP, and then go to DIPLOMACY - which lets me build Banks as well as upgrade my government (and talk to aliens). Then maybe Trade, if I can't trade for it from the baddies - but basically, I develop techs no one else has so I can trade them for the ones they have built...

No matter what kind of game I play, I always go to Diplomacy first. The combination of banks, the ability to speak to aliens and +20 economy (IIRC) for the Republic government is unbeatable.

I do the same thing every game: Start with sliders on military 100, get some colony ships out to make the initial rush. Then shut military down and go social/research 50-50. My first seven research projects are the same every time: communications, universal translator, diplomacy, medical, basic environment, industrial, interstellar refining.
Then I start varying it up but if grav accel have not already been built by someone, I go artifical grav then controlled grav to start work on that. I then check to see if other races have nano-metal composition and advanced trade. I then get these as quick as I can and start building tri-steel and galactic stock exchange. then things usually diverge for me depending on if someone I'll likely be at war with is getting close to battleship(intersteller tactics and warp drive). If so, I get tactics and warp drive. If not, I go intersteller business, cultural trade, intersteller marketing, intersteller capitalism to open those wonders and the nice stock market improvement. On crippling and below this can be pulled off. What I do on crippling and below is build habitat, manufacturing center, and fusion power plant then start building the wonders/TGs tossing in an entertainment network when needed.
On maso, after hitting intersteller refining (and even before that on maps bigger than small, wonders/TGs are already being built by the AI so things tend to fall apart for my tech plan after that. On maso, I try to stay a step behind ship wise if possible. That is, I want to have frigates by the time the AI gets battleships. If you can stay close and weather the storm and can survive to get dreads, it's over (assuming some AI doesn't already have overlords).

~SDC~

I left banks out of my last post. That's the first improvement I build because I get that before habitat.

~SDC~

Agree with DonFESQ. On Maso, most of the early wonders, and all of the early TG's, will be built first by the AI. Concentrate on building your infrastructure (banks, Governments, PQ-improvements, trade routes, research labs, stock markets, fusion PP/mfg centers/anti-matter PP's) and set yourself up to acquire the "second-tier" ones.

In this regard, Maso GalCiv is a lot like Deity-level Civ3. Tech-whore to parity and focus on one or two mid-game TG's to trade for long-term tribute. Build tons of starfighters to maintain mid-level military strength, so AI's don't demand tribute.

~SDC~

Thanks for the tips DonFESQ, using a technique similar to yours I easily dominated the galaxy. Thank god for combat transports.

Military domination through Populists +max diplo... who would have thought