Terrans

Research: 1 level of housing: so you can get the free lv's from missions
                  rest pure commercial
                  Secondary choice Research Agriculture

Terrans have a great per turn income. The second best there is for the races. They need this income cause their ships also have some of the highest upkeep. Terran ships have about the 
same upkeep as A Miner ships. Terrans can also make a good amount of money with food. Researching Agriculture and selling food on the market can also be a great source of income. Especially for those who like to use the fluctuating market to make money. If the food prices are high a terran who produces food could ultimately make more than one who relies on commercial. But this is a bit more risky since it depends on market prices.

Ships: Terrans have one of the best ship selections in the game. A wide variety of ships with 
various attacks and weaknesses. They also have a large list of missile ships. The P class or
Photon class ships are pure missile attack. Which is handy for attacking guardians who's ships 
are notoriously weak vs. missile. Terran ships selection makes them good for attacking any race 
though. Also are ok in the defense department.

A Miners

Research: Many ways to do research for A Miners. Only thing that should not be researched is Commercial though. Commercial Modifiers are so low that an A Miner wouldn't make any worthwhile income with it. For most income tax is the way to go though.
An A Miner should do at least 1 level of mining for the free levels. A Miners have negative agriculture modifiers so should start buying their food as soon as possible, or produce it only on forest/U Fertile (GC only)

A Miners are the richest race in the game. A tax miner with pure housing has the highest per turn income possible. Although this depends on food prices at the time. If food is high tax miners won't make as much. If food is low they will make much more. Minerals and goods depend on server and going price. A server with slow turn regeneration typically has the highest prices. Buy no matter the server if current market prices are high an A miner who sells goods and minerals Will be very wealthy. Goods are always in demand so can never go wrong producing goods.

Ships: A Miners are noted to have the worst ships in the game. But this is not true. However what is true you have to be very good at stacking to be able to use A Miner ships. Attacking on careful and letting the hull do the work is the best offense. A Miner ships are large hull ships. However remember the ships are more defensive in nature. A good strategy would be to build a defensive stack, take a few hits, then use their impressive money to build to an extremely high pr and counter to get planets.

Collective

Research: Housing or Agriculture or both

Collective have high production rate for agriculture. Collective have basically no per turn income. Collective make money from plundering planets. High pop on a planet means more money from plundering it. A basis for Collective to make money is to research both housing and agriculture, build agriculture to make food for future use while your pop is growing. Build pure housing on planets and clusters to get the most from plundering it. When your pop is growing this is where your food reserves you made will come in handy.
Note: Collective cannot use U Class planets cause they cannot assimilate them. For a collective to be able to use a planet they must assimilate it.
Collective assimilate planets so they can use and cluster them. If they assimilate a cluster they capture it becomes a similar cluster and cannot be clustered further.
Note: Collective are a warrior race and cannot explore. They must attack and fight for their planets.

Ships: Collective only Have H Class and Neutral ships. They have a small ship selection but can capture ships from other races. Being a warrior race and having to attack for planets this can be an extreme advantage since you will not only capture planets when you attack but also your opponents ships. Collective depend on their credit reserves to pay for the upkeep of their ships so they must always be careful not to go into debt. But also their ships are on the lower scale for upkeep costs.

Marauder

Research: Pure Housing

Marauder makes all their money from plundering. They are a warrior race that must attack for their planets. To attack is to make money. To have money is to attack. It's a never-ending cycle but it's fun. 
U Eden is a gold mine to Marauder. It has an incredible pop growth rate so if they capture one they can fill it full of housing and it won't take many turns to max the pop so they can make the most from plundering it.
Note: Marauder is a warrior race and cannot explore for planets. They must fight and win their planets.

Ships: Marauder have offensive ships. Their ships are primarily offensive. They can be used in defense but good defensive Marauder stacks are hard to come by. Their ships though have a great power to upkeep ratio. The Pyth has the best power to upkeep ratio in the game. Marauder are most effective up to 1 million power. Though they can fight above this they are not quite as effective.

Guardian

Research: Pure Housing

Guardians have negative racial modifiers to all stats. But they use no food. Since they use no food you can build pure housing and make money off taxes. Since you only research one infrastructure and build one infrastructure, you maximize credits this way. The draw back to this is population also adds to power rating and you will have a very high base power, therefore will not be as effective battling at lower powers and will be more effective at the highest powers. The higher the power the better when battling with Guardians. Guardians have the lowest income in the game.

Ships: Guardian ships have the largest hull in the game. Their ships also have the highest power. They can build power faster than any other race but have a primary weakness. Missile. Guardian ships are notoriously weak vs. missile attack. With all the missile ships terrans have they are constant pray to them. Also with using pure housing they are also a target for Marauders since a Marauder won't have to change infrastructure for plundering. A Marauder can make very good money off of plundering Guardian planets. Guardian ships have the highest cost to produce them but very low upkeep to maintain them.

Viral 106

Reasearch: Commercial or Housing

Viral can make money either with commercial or Housing. Either way they should research pure. A Viral making money from taxes with housing will make more then one using Commercial. Though commercial is a more stable income then housing. Tax Virals income is dependant on food prices. The higher the food market the less they make. If the food market goes to high they may not make enough to pay for the food. Viral must infect planets to use them. 
Note: Viral cannot use U class planets because they cannot infect them.
Viral won't make as much as a Terran or A miner no matter which way you do your research.

Ships: Viral ships are few. They have a starbase, a scout, and a destroyer. But cause of the lack of ships Viral can capture ships and can Reverse Engineer 3 ships from the Terran, 3 ships from the A Miner, and 3 ships from the Marauder races. Reverse Engineering ships allows a Viral to build the ship and adds it to their ship list. The drawback to this is Viral dosn't make as much income as Terran or A Miner but has to pay the upkeep for their ships. The advantage is they can use the low upkeep Marauder ships that have incredibly low upkeep. But basing a Viral fleet solely on Marauder ships is not taking full advantage of the Viral and will not lead to as many victories since unlike the Marauder which has a full ship list of low upkeep ships Viral will only have the 3.

Final Note: U Class planets cannot be assimilated by Collective or Infected by Viral because assimilating and infecting planets changes a planet's class and would allow a large land U class planet to be clustered.

Written by Lothor on 21 November 2004