Power Grid is a great game, plays in under 2 hours. Some of the ones my friends and I keep coming back to are Starfarers of Catan, House on the Hill, Twilight Imperium, Ticket to Ride.
The one thing I'd really like to see is when Council votes come up that are of the sort like limiting number of starbase modules it should be a pair of votes. The first vote is "Should starbases have a limit of modules?" If that passes then vote on the number of modules.
A lot depends on the type of map you are playing. I prefer small games with uncommon habitable planets that I can finish in a night. I normally play the Yor. My typical build strategy is on my home planet I build queue up a couple factories, followed by one of every basic building. After that I alternate between money and labs until I run out of space on my home plant. The little PQ4 planet in the Yor system always gets a factory, starport and lab. I buy all my colony ships out right and c
