Kalil Chernov

One cleverly evil tactic for upping your war rating early on: A cargo hull has the same amount of space as a large hull, for half the cost, and is available from turn 1. I had one game in DA where I built a 'fleet' of paper tiger cargo hulls packed with weaponry, and successfully intimidated the AI into leaving me alone. Combined with the Spin Control Center, they provided a very large, relatively inexpensive boost to my military score.

What about the Planet Quality bonus? Is it worth the 3-8 points? I usually take the 3-point version, and find it works decently. At the very least, it makes all those size-4 planets that the Torians keep 'giving' me suck a little bit less.

Another issue with the custom races: Some abilities that the standard races have are not available to customs - notably, Miniaturization. This means you can get more variety by choosing a premade 'base' race to customize.