The first turn is the most important turn of the game!

If you start a game and find yourself in a corner, RESTART THE GAME!

Cheese. Part of the game is dealing with whatever hand is dealt to you. If you're stuck in a corner, deal with it.

If you start a game and find yourself in a corner, RESTART THE GAME!

Why? U r less likely to be attacked. Also u will have just 1 or 2 neighbours, so its easy to plan yr attack. As galaxies do not wrap around u do not after worry about 2 directions.

do not have some great resources on your homeworld,

U may be missing out. Had a lot of games with nothing on my planet but a couple of turns of exploration found something really good, like a bunch of high PQ worlds, 2 economic resources, 3+ 2,500 BC anomalies etc...

Have a look around before u restart...

I actually like being in a corner, considering I usually don't expand in a circle but more in a fan shape... so I expand in one direction mostly

Cheese. Part of the game is dealing with whatever hand is dealt to you. If you're stuck in a corner, deal with it.

So what? This is just one persons way of playing. Did it really require you to jump in with both feet and act like the almighty?? Besides another part of the game is the inbuilt ability to restart any game should you wish it.

Overall very good advice, but I never use auto explore. I do some exploring with my survey ship but mostly I'm looking for income from anomalies. I mostly explore with my colony ships, using the mini map to determine where to send them. The ctrl-n is a matter of taste. The corner starting position can be an advantage as long as you aren't squeezed in too tightly. Also Meglobob's point about home planet bonuses vs. nearby resources is a good one.

The game works on an exponential scale

Absolutely the key thing to understand about this game. Because of this it's more important to get a mediocre benefit early instead a great benefit later. This means you're better off going for the PQ9 that you can colonise this turn over waiting 4 more turns to get to a PQ16. This is also why, I always make my home planet my manufacturing capital, I buy the first factory and start building the manufacturing capital first turn.

If you start a game and find yourself in a corner, RESTART THE GAME

Starting in a corner is no problem for me or most experienced players.

Begin researching Planetary Improvements (the best overall improvement tech in the entire game!)

I agree it is beneficial to research Planetary Improvements before doing any production.
Personally I set Research to 100% and research to impulse engines, then planetary improvements and space militarization.
After that I start using MP to produce a colony ship every 2 turns and use the rest of my spending for a bit of research.
I do the impulse engines first because I buy survey ships and upgrade them with impulse engines so if I research the engines first, I have my fast survey ships faster. ( your basic premise of a very fast start )

Buy you Capitol world a basic factory the first turn.

I buy 2 basic labs first. ( only 1 if I have any research bonus tiles ).
Then I buy 4 basic factories ( or the equivilant of 4 basic factories on normal tiles ).
I do this while researching my first techs ( see above ).

Send your colony ship back to you homeworld and put 500 colonists on it! Otherwise you entire expansion is slowed down dramatically

definitely a good idea and I really kick myself when I forget to do this.

Go to the shipyard screen and upgrade the colony ship design and add another engine.

Launch your colony ship and send it to the nearest star. AFTER it moves, upgrade it to your new colony design.

never tried this -- but unless it is dirt cheap I wouldn't bother -- after all I'll be producing a colony ship every 2 turns that has 2 impulse engines on it starting on my 9-12th turn.
I may or may not go to the nearest star -- I usually expect the initial colony ship to be used to create a colony that extends the range of my survey ships.

Set your flagship for auto-explore (the A button)

I've never tried the auto-explore or the auto-survey but I would think that you'ld want the flagship on auto-survey if anything -- survey ships have a device that knows where the nearest anomalie is wether or not the anomalie has been discovered.
Personally I like micromanaging my flagship and 3 ( initially, I add more as production/colonizing allows ) survey ships -- If they are on auto they'ld probably not co-ordinate their efforts too well -- also I'm both scouting out planets and resources and grabbing anomalies with them.

Set your production slider in the domestic policy tab to 100% and adjust your tax rate until your Morale is at 50%. Begin building another colony ship

I delay building colony ships till I can put 2 impulse engines on them and till I have all the techs that give +10% to MP.

As for tax rate and morale% -- there are a couple of viable strategies.
Prior to update 1.3, I always went for 100% morale to get the double population growth bonus.
However with 1.3 the basic population growth rates for low populations was drastically increased so it is not that big of a deal anymore.
So with 1.31, I pretty much go for high tax rate and keep my morale above 42% on all my planets.

After this read some of the other posts for advice. What you do on the first turn affects the rest of the game dramatically. The game works on an exponential scale, so small changes at the beginning have a HUGE effect later

I do believe in being very efficient with my opening moves.
I do believe that a player should have an opening strategy.
The opening startegy will vary quite a bit depending on what type of game one plays -- I play games with larger maps and 8-50 habitable planets per civ.
There are a lot of events in the colony rush that'll come down to being a turn or 2 ahead of or behind the AIs -- the colonizing of the last few planets, grabbing an anomalie or resource, or even worse yet -- getting pinned in and not being able to colonize out of the starting position area.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

When you get up, look for something healthy. If you find a candy bar, KEEP LOOKING. While a banana is ok, a banana with cereal and toast is the best way to start the morning.

You see, it's a small breakfast but breakfast is exponential. Later in the day, the fact that you ate a healthy breakfast will be HUGE.

breakfast is exponential

Breakfast is monotonically increasing but *not* exponential.   

monotonically? Fundamentalistically, "monotonically" is not a word. Perhaps breakfast has a geometric effect?

"Opening moves" sounds like a chess concept. One of the reasons this game would be great in MP.

"monotonically" is not a word.

The concept of monotonicity is a common one in higher mathematics. You should probably at least google a word before saying it doesn't exist. If you're interested, the Wiki has a reasonable article about monotonic or ordered functions.

Wiki definition of monotonic function

But as to how monotonic, exponential or geometric functions relate to breakfast, I really have no clue. I was merely responding to what I thought was your joke.

I stand corrected.

I'd say that using Ctrl-N to get the uber starting position makes the game monotone.

Didn't the ctrl + n cheese thing get dealt with months ago? And now it's back recommended?

Blast the circular nature of forums.

That's "monotonisticified", buddy. Get it right.

Didn't the ctrl + n cheese thing get dealt with

You really consider control-n cheese?

I think control-n is a minor crutch at best.
When I first started playing GC2, I thought it was very important to get good bonus tiles on my homeworld but after getting more experience I now feel it matters very little.

If a player prefers a basic map starting position because of the type of game he likes, I say control-n your heart out.

Myself, I just go with whatever I get now and don't control-n.

Ctrl-n is as likey to hurt the player as well as help. There are many other good things that can happen besides having good bonuses on your home planet. Ctrl-n due to a lack of home planet bonuses potentially excludes a number of good situations.

I found I can pretty much play and win just about any start, however....

When playing military conquest, getting a rough start means your game is going to take longer. You can't really move toward the win until you can start overpowering races. A good start gets you there a lot sooner.

It really depends what you're into. If you're into the challenge of coming up from behind and don't mind a long game, take the first hand you're delt. Personally, I go for the good start. I'm going to get there eventually anyway, why not take a couple years off the game, cheese or no cheese.

There are also random factors like cash anomolies and fat planets close by that there's no way of predicting at the start. So, what looks like a bad start could turn out to be a good one. Conversely, what looks to be a good start can turn out to be a bad one.

Personally, I would have rather seen fixed bonuses or no bonuses on the starting home planet. If the planet came up the same every time, it would somewhat reduce the temptation to hit Ctrl-N.

Corners are the best place to start, not worse. Also You should not Restart the game because, even if there is someone next to you.. You back them into the corner (because you can out Colonize the AI everytime if you do it right)! Let them build up the planets they manage to get for you. Surround them for they can't expand. Then when ready attack them and take them over.

I disagree about the Build order. (but comes down to whatever works for u) I suggest getting Sensors first, for you can build more Anomoly grabbing ships. This way you can get many more of those needed Money anomolies, and out Colonize the AI.

I never bother with the Sending starting Colony ship back for more people. Oh well, never really hurts me. Maybe on The Higer Levels above Challenging thats a good idea.

This is what I buy first! Only 3 things, Moral Building (IE FOR YOUR HOMEWORLD CAN MAKE MORE PEOPLE FASTER) and then 2 factories.

Great idea on the colony Ship.. I go one step further. If I use custom race I make sure I have the first Ion engine to beat the others out the gate first. Then After I Discover Sensors I go for The 2nd engine. Then Universal Translators.

Flag ship should be set to Anomolies, not explore.. Use your First Colony to find the first few Worlds. After sensors build and send out a Decked out Transport with the Fastest engine setup, and Anomolie Grabber, and sensors. Let your Anomlie ships and Flagship do the exploring while they are searching. It works everytime. I always Quick build the two new Explorer ships right away if I have good money. (hopefully the flagship has found at least one money Anomolie already)

Set tax rate to 30%. If you don't your home world cannot keep up with the colonization. 50% will kill you in a Huge Universe (which is what I play now) Maybe in smaller ones it doesnt hurt as much.

I play Challenging, Huge, 8 AI. And it has gotten pretty easy with this setup. Of course every Difficulty level is different.

It almost sounds like Your Either Playing an Older Version of game with Moral Penalties, or Easier Difficulty.

Lots of approaches work in this game so it really depends on what pops your bubble. I mainly go for a starting position that allows me to grab as many planets as I can. Backing another race into a corner is an approach I hadn't considered. Constrain them and then invade them first thing. Great idea. Have to try that sometime.

Send your colony ship back to you homeworld and put 500 colonists on it! Otherwise you entire expansion is slowed down dramatically.

I actually re-launch my initial colony ship with 1 colonist and upgrade it immediately. Then I re-launch it after the upgrade with full capacity. This way you get max population growth on your homeworld while the colony ship upgrades for one turn. It may not make much difference (I've never crunched the numbers), but, as you say, the first turn is the most important.

Never be afraid to cheese! You bought the game (I'm assuming), it's yours to play how you like.

I meant Either playing Older Version of game Without Moral Penalties, or easier Difficutly lol.

As you will find though the game is extremly fun no matter how you play it. And Everyone has stategies that work for them, and might not work for others. Thats what is great about the game. Good luck.

I'm a gouger, I work those taxes hard, always at the bottom of the yellow just above the red. First thing I do is set spending at 100% and taxes at 50%. I research Xeno Ethics right away, select neutral, and crank the tax rate to 60%. It sucks to be a citizen in my empire, hehe.

Craig what Difficulty do you play and map size? Moral effects Population growth which will effect Colonization, and taxes in the end.

Easier to understand though If I know what your playing.

You really consider control-n cheese?

Yes, I consider Ctrl-N to get a better starting position cheesy as it gives a considerable advantage against the AI. That said, feel free to use it!

Hmm, does anyone else agree that having a good starting position was more important back in GalCiv 1? I remember to have used it quite frequently back then, I'm not using it that often with GalCiv 2.