1)  As of this moment, both Vasari races are easily the best 2 factions...for VL, you have Strip to the Core...for VR, you have Orkies that can phase jump...both factions also have phase stabilizers that when set up basically allow you to get anywhere in one jump...pick either VR or VL and then try to master that race...can provide more details if you settle on one...

2)  Depends...colonizer caps (Akkan, Progenitor, Jarrasul) in general are the best to lead with, make sure to pick colonize ability...that being said, for Vasari leading with a skirantra (and putting repair aura on it) is a viable choice...this is because a common strategy for Vasari is to rush the nearest enemy and build a starbase on their homeworld...repair aura + the extra strikecraft on the skirantra provide the best early support for that starbase...

3)  In general, research as few technologies as possible...key things to go for are 1) ship prototype technologies (corvettes, long range frigates, anti-strikecraft ships), 2) economic structure prototypes (trade ports and culture centers), 3) colonization techs (the ones that allow you to colonize ice/volcanics), and 4) weapon techs that benefit the units you are currently building....most economic techs are not actually economical (trade techs, development mandate, pervasive economy, and population upgrades for terran planets are some of the exceptions)...as the game progresses you should fill out most of the military techs...

4)  Generally speaking, horizontal growth trumps vertical growth in sins...colonize as fast as you can...colonizing well is really an art and a discussion entirely of its own...

5)  Refineries generally should be ignored, trade ports almost always outperform them...you usually start trade ports after you have 4 to 5 planets...culture centers are only needed sporadically, usually one for ever 3 or so planets...

6)  Virtually no serious MP games involve pirates, most people play with them off....typical MP settings are all faster game speeds, locked teams, no pirates, quickstart enables...most games are team games (4v4s, 5v5s), very few FFA games...

7)  Use the black market in the top right corner to buy/sell metal and crystal....late game, you will mostly be exclusively buying resources, very little selling...you generally shouldn't be storing up resources unless you are saving for something big (like a titan or SB)...spend as you earn, don't sit on resources...

8)  If you are looking to become a competitive MP player quickly, then see if you can find some replays or play a MP game and watch the replay of that if you feel a particular player did really well...once you know the basics though, it really is more about execution and developing intuition than watching replays and "knowing what to do"....

Generally speaking, it is easier to get help with specific questions or issues...people are human, they are only willing to type so much at a time...

This is truly legit...most pirate ships will chase trade ships before focusing on structures, so trade can keep them running around your gravity well indefinitely...

Excellent, someone else who has played all these games. Not that I check often, but I rarely run into people that have.

TEC have the best economy as a race [I believe], with a lot of that strength coming from Trade ports, and their tier 8 tech 'Pervasive Economy' [I think that's the one anyway]. I don't believe it varies too much between Rebels and Loyalists in this regard.

Strengths of each race?

TEC Loyalists have Dual Fortresses or W/E its called - which allows them to place 2 Starbases on each planet as opposed to one. In addition they get Novalith Cannons 2 tiers early, and get them for a lower cost in both resources and tactical slots if I remember correctly. They also have techs that add additional armour and firepower to any of their ships fighting in their own gravity well. Their Titan, the Ankylon, is ok, and good at fleet support. Its shield ability and Inspire and Impare can help your fleet to win, though I've seen it ranked as one of the weaker Titans in game [Can't argue, though I'm not sure how it scales with a fleet].

TEC Rebels have Truce Among Rogues, which makes all Planet Militia and Pirates neutral towards them. This allows them to rapidly expand and makes them immune to pirate raids - indeed sending a pirate raid against a TEC Rebel with the tech actually helps them defend their planet. They also have the ability to call in pirates from Broadcast centres, though I haven't experimented with that ability so I'm not entirely sure how it works. Their Titan, the Ragnarov, is great for single target DPS. It kills things fast, and 1 on 1 I think it wins against most Titans [Not sure if all, I haven't fully tested]. Their Corvettes are also IMO quite decent, reducing the armour of enemy ships.

Advent Rebels have Wail of the Sacrificed, which allows them to sacrifice 1 planet to deal massive damage to all enemies on adjacent planets pretty much without warning. Seriously good ability, if costly. I'm not entirely sure of their other useful techs, as I haven't played that much as them, however their Titan, the Eradica, is quite powerful. A large number of targets, fairly decent DPS, nigh on unkillable if it has a supporting fleet and an AOE attack that can devastate Frigates and Cruisers. Its ult is underpowered, but only if you're facing an enemy who knows what it is and will just run from it. If you're facing someone with no idea what it does, the Ult will slaughter them.

Advent Loyalists... Aren't really to great from memory. They have Cowards Submission, a tech which causes enemy ships leaving a gravity well owned by the Advent Loyalist to have a chance to convert to the control of the Advent Loyalist. They also gain additional buffs in their own culture, though culture is kinda bleh in Sins. Their Titan is, IMO, one of the weaker. Its abilities are alright, but I don't think there's anything I'd really recommend it for, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Vasari Loyalists are possibly the most OP race around right now. They are able to research a chain of technologies that allows their Capital Ships to give them Credit income and act as up to 2 Research centres of each type, as well as allowing them to continue playing without any planets so long as their Titan is alive, and allowing them to scuttle their planets to receive a massive boost to Credits, metal and crystal. This allows them to get an end game fleet in under an hour if played well, and not have any planets for the enemy to target. Their Titan is alright, though a little weak until level 6. At level 6 it unlocks an ability known as "The Maw", which allows it to consume all enemy Frigates and Cruisers infront of it for a certain distance, killing them and turning them into Credits, Metal and Crystal for the Vasari Loyalist player.

Vasari Rebels are also immensely OP. They have the ability to research a technology that lets their Starbases perform Phase jumps, allowing them to basically field 2 Titans in every battle, with an infinite number of spares backed up each planet, ready to jump forward as needed. Their Titan is also almost impervious to Frigates and Cruisers - it has, thankfully, been nerfed to limit the maximum amount of hull regenerated from memory, however it has an ability that drains health from all nearby ships and repairs the Titan for an amount proportional to the number of enemy ships nearby for a period of time. The more ships you send against it, the more it heals.

Generally Colony. Makes for faster early expansion, though if you are rushing a Carrier is the way to go - they beat the Battleships 1 on 1 and can dish out some decent DPS thanks to their Squadrons, and their abilities range from deploying missile turrets to repairing allied ships, dependent on the Race.

Depends. Rushing I'll generally pump out LRMs, Corvettes and Flak quickly, put points into Hull techs, then push forward with whatever I can muster to slow enemy expansion. Going for economy I'll unlock LRMs, Corvettes and Flak, then go Civic to unlock Ice and Volcanic planets for colonisation as well as trade ports. If I'm turtling - which generally I think you should try to avoid - Repair bays and Starbases are what I rush for, whilst still getting LRM, Corvette and Flak frigates.

Far as I know as fast as you can. Get 1 Colony Capital ASAP and send it to one planet, and get 2 Light Frigates and 1 Colony Frigate and send them to the nearest Asteroid. Keep pushing out as fast as you can until you need to defend - but keep building up some military so you can defend unless you are in an Eco position [Only Allies around you, no enemies].

Trade ports easily. Refineries aren't worth the logistics slots IMO, and broadcast centres you only put out when you need them - to stop enemy culture or when you unlock abilities like Wail of the Sacrificed that require Broadcast centres to use.

No Pirates. Trade ports work well for killing them [With some planetary defences OFC], though I generally just  put down 2 Repair Bays, 3 Gauss cannons and 2 Hangars on any planet that will get hit heavily, and 1 Repair bay 3 Gauss cannons on anything that will get hit lightly, and they'll hold the line for a good half hour or so until your fleet gets there.

Well, Light Frigates don't cost Crystal, so you could pump them out, but otherwise yeah - just buy more crystal and use that.

I'll leave this, and correcting any mistakes I've made, to those far more experienced than I am, such as Selucia.

Yes, but its cheaper, uses less fleet supply, can be built from the beginning of the game, and is just more useful all around. You tend to have far more colony frigates as Vasari than anyone else.

There is no limit, but some planets are more strategic than others. You should generally try to expand towards key choke points, then fill in the rest of your empire.

Its not that important. Its provides an economic boost and just 1 can affect multiple planets. Its not very good offensively, since culture naturally weakens over time and capitalships repel it, so just try to build one every few planets or so, preferably in the center of your Empire, and you'll be fine.

If there is a colored line touching the planet, you are in culture.

Not quite. What you don't want to do is build trade ports on planets that will shorten your trade lane. If building a trade port won't change your max trade route size, its still fine to build one.

Refineries are rarely as good as trade. Don't even think about them unless there are several good Ice/Volcanic/Neutral planets with lots of extractors.

You got some great replies here.  I'd like to add some observations, and answer your other questions.

Re: Vasari Rebels.  I wouldn't put too much time into learning this faction yet if you plan to play them online anytime soon.  Because they are currently banned by consensus from almost all online games (because Jumping StarBases are too OP), and surely will be nerfed further.  TEC is the easiest race to learn first. 

Team games require some coordination, and different roles, and in fact are quite different from 1v1s.  Online play also feels quite different from single player.  Single player requires much more focus on econ to beat the cheating AIs (hard & above).  In online play, any early econ at all will often get you killed against a rushing opponent.  Likewise in colonizing, its often best to ignor Ice planets and Volcanics online and focus only on building fleet as fast as you can (including correct counters).  (2 rock Volcanos give especially poor returns).  One culture tower at your home is usually adequate until later when you need to repel, or possibly use culture offensively.

Picking Cap ships now depends alot on what you want to do with them.  Jarrasul, Skirantra is fine.  But once titans (and bombers) are out you'll probably want Kortuls. 

Faster on all of the Game Options (settings).  Access chat by hitting enter, then type /a first to ally chat, or tab to whisper etc.  Auto place is the easy, lazy way to place buildings, but most often you'll want your factories and repair placed strategically. Cap ships with a level available will appear with a plus symbol in the empire tree.

wow dude well done no homo

Their special abilities and research are straightforward and easy to understand. Most of the Cap abilities are simple "Damage/Heal" target or "debuff/buff" the particular stat, and their main late game bonuses are economic, focusing on either overwhelming the enemy or winning a war of attrition. You don't need to know the mechanics of the game like how shield mitigation reacts with phase missiles, or the nuanced micro needed to exploit things like repulsion and Advent synergies, that the other races excel in.

There's a button next to your build menu. I don't think there is a way to only autobuild logistics. That said, you should only let it autoplace resource extractors (a separate option). Everything else you should manually place fairly close together, so that you can protect them easily if needed with defenses and starbases. If you're really distracted and need to build something important you can always switch it on for a few moments, but I wouldn't get in the habit of using it a lot.

@GoaFan77 : I think you’re right: it seems better to group buildings (without autoplace) so that I can defend them: it’s just that on my few first games, I felt overwhelmed, but now it's ok: I just defeated the hard computer on 2-3 times !

@Greg30007 : wow ! I didn’t know 3 frigates factory on the same planet is better than 3 planets with 1 frigate factory each! I definitely have to learn when to retreat, but it’s hard as I have difficulty evaluating if I will win a battle by looking at the pieces on the battefield.

New questions:

Is the Vasari’s Kostura Cannon still useful after patch 1.2 ? (no dmg, no stun) If so, what’s the optimal number of Kostura canons ? (those things are incredibly expensive !)

What’s the range of “special engame canons” like the Kostura? Is it unlimited range?

As a Vasari Rebel, what ship composition do you aim for ? I open with Kanrak Assailant (LRF) then go for Skarovas Enforcer (Heavy cruiser). I like to have a lot of those 2 (heard it’s a good idea). What should be my other ships for the midgame and lategame ? Carriers? AA frigates?

My capitals: Jarrasul Evacuator, then Skirantra Carrier then Kortul Devastator (to counter fighters and bombers, and because the wiki says the Korthul is good with Enforcers and Jarrasul Evacuator's Gravity Warhead). After that 3rd capital ship I guess it’s time to go for moving starbases.

To that line I should add factories need to be build near your front-line where you will be fighting for quicker response to build counters to his fleet. 

And lets say you do need to fall back. He will push you and son you will be fighting at planet where that factory of yours is. You are building ships but 1 at the time and he is killing them  1 at the time. You simply cannot get numbers up because other ships have to travel a bit. In instance you are building AM dependant ships by the time they come into the fight they wont have max AM therefore their support is handicapped from start.

And skilled players if facing weaker fleet be sure they will attack constructors first then snipe that factory and then you need to retreat more because your reinforcements have to travel.  

What's up with the anti-modder sentiment lately from the old timer MP crowd. 

Not to mention the "modders" that replied here all play MP regularly (couple of us back from Entrench and Diplo).

Honestly at this point, the lack of understanding of the game with the current MP crowd is pretty striking.

Well If you play against same skill player it might tell you how are you doing.

But it is possible to destroy larger fleet with much smaller fleet that consists of counters to larger fleet..... Microing is also very decesive in who is going to win fight. Most useful statistic from display is economy and research positions I guess. Especially if you play 5v5 and you are team eco.

Each armor provides enough damage mitigation to make your hull last 5% longer.  If you have 1000 hull, with 2 armor it will take 1100 (1000*1.1) hull damage to destroy the ship.

This also means armor increases the efficiency of any hull repair abilities.

that said, most of the time your best bet is a mix.  Each point of armor makes future hull upgrades more efficient and likewise each hull increase makes future armor upgrades more valuable.  In situations like this it usually means you get more bang for your buck grabbing all the cheap upgrades for both hull & armor rather then trying to go straight down one upgrade patch through the expensive upgrades.

That said, the situation also matters a great deal.  If the enemy has a lot of armor reduction(such as a high level discord or evacuater) you may want to upgrade armor a bit more as due to the way armor damage redux is calculated allowing the enemy to make your ship's armor negative is an enormous boost to damage.

However if you're relying heavily on units that have a very high base armor such as titans & starbases, hull upgrades may be slightly more appealing as armor suffers from significant diminishing returns(each armor does a bit less then the armor point before it).  Conversely Armor may be more appealing in situations where you posses an extremely large amount of hull repair(using lots of repair-capable frigates and/or using a titan with strong repair options such as the kultorask).

So while there's no hard-cast answer the advice I would give boils down to this:

Upgrading both equally rather then maxing one or the other is usually a  safe bet- Just try to be thinking about your strategy and the current situation when teching armor & hull and when you think the current situation suits one more allocate a bit more money to upgrading it.